Can you guys give me an example of a day in the life of a nursing student?

Crazed · Aug 21, 2012

Really? Live in MO. What about you?

Okay then never mind. Maybe you just have one of those, "You remind me of someone I can't place," kind of faces.

That was the funniest thing I ever read about first days!!
Thank you for that!

Thanks :)

I'm a fan of humor EBP.

Mslecia20 · Aug 22, 2012

First days are pretty slow. Instructors tell you what you'll be doing, where you'll be going, and that they own you for the next semester.
You'll have a break where some of your fellow nursing students run outside to smoke.
Then you come back and inevitably someone will ask a series of questions that was covered before the break, yet will forget the answers to in a short 15 mins. At some point during the day you'll hear about someone/everyone's children and what adorable thing they did this past summer. There will be some posturing as people gleefully announce their past patient care experience.
You'll have at least one girl in your class that could pass for a playboy model. She'll outscore you on every test.
...
The nitty is - I have a clinical bag. My clinical bag contains the following:
A nice Littman
A BP cuff
Blue and black pens
An iPod touch (drug guide, lab values, wifi for looking up things on the go)
Little note pads that fit into my pocket
Breath mints
A book that has nothing to do with nursing
Alcohol wipes I forgot to take out of my pocket at some point
Water
My lecture bag contains:
Whichever of the 85 text books we're currently using.
My nursing diagnosis book
A binder I always intend to keep neat but looks like my 6th grade locker midsemester
Sharpie gel hi-lighters
Pens
Pencils
Notebooks
Gum (I have a paranoid tick about bad breath I think)
Gum wrappers
Water

OMG hilarious!!! This made my very long day!

Mslecia20 · Aug 22, 2012

Really? Live in MO. What about you?

Where in MO? STL area for me

andreastine · Aug 22, 2012

Lol..this is SO very true. And yes thank you for the laugh!

bear14 · Aug 23, 2012

Crazed,

That was hysterical!!!!

Anoetos, BSN, RN · Aug 26, 2012

First days are pretty slow. Instructors tell you what you'll be doing, where you'll be going, and that they own you for the next semester.
You'll have a break where some of your fellow nursing students run outside to smoke.
Then you come back and inevitably someone will ask a series of questions that was covered before the break, yet will forget the answers to in a short 15 mins. At some point during the day you'll hear about someone/everyone's children and what adorable thing they did this past summer. There will be some posturing as people gleefully announce their past patient care experience.
You'll have at least one girl in your class that could pass for a playboy model. She'll outscore you on every test.
The instructor will go over the books you'll be using. About 10 or so mins into this speech something shiny out of the window will catch your eye. You'll start daydreaming about an ice cream cone, only to look over at playboy model girl and reconsider. At this point you will have missed something important.
You become that person that asks the question that was just stated.
You kind of feel like a jerk.
You'll write some notes, maybe utter a few sentences to the person next to you.
You'll leave, lay out your books on the floor and possibly cry.
You'll eat ice cream.
...
The nitty is - I have a clinical bag. My clinical bag contains the following:
A nice Littman
A BP cuff
Blue and black pens
An iPod touch (drug guide, lab values, wifi for looking up things on the go)
Little note pads that fit into my pocket
Breath mints
A book that has nothing to do with nursing
Alcohol wipes I forgot to take out of my pocket at some point
Water
My lecture bag contains:
Whichever of the 85 text books we're currently using.
My nursing diagnosis book
A binder I always intend to keep neat but looks like my 6th grade locker midsemester
Sharpie gel hi-lighters
Pens
Pencils
Notebooks
Gum (I have a paranoid tick about bad breath I think)
Gum wrappers
Water

Most excellent.

rubato, ASN, RN · Aug 28, 2012

Crazed,

Love it! After getting through my first week, I have experienced all of those things, except we have quite a few of the playboy bunnies?????? Oh well, they'll make some old guy patients very happy in a few years.

One thing I didn't get was the shiny thing out the window. We have no windows and I think I know why. But, I did get an ice cream!

Ginnym1981 · Aug 28, 2012

Starting my second year on September 24th and I'm not really sure what to expect as far as clinical goes (they tell us pretty much the first week of school so you HAVE to be FLEXIBLE with your schedule!)

And things can still change so be EXTRA flexible!!

Class wise, we generally go to class 2 or maybe 3 days a week. 1/2 days for the most part. 8am-12 or 12-4 type stuff.

Sit through a lecture which may or may not be informational depending on the instructor. I've had teaches read the ppts word for word and others who just tell us stories (which are cool and very memorable) but are hit or miss as far as being helpful on the tests.

It just TOTALLY depends on the instructor!

For lab (once per week for me), we listen to our teacher do a quick run through on a few of the skills we are learning that day and then we generally have a couple of hours (sometimes less) to practice them. Seems like enough time but it's really NOT.

We are then responsible to continue to practice at home or during open lab times which isn't many for my school.

But this is where that being flexible comes in handy again.

Studying wise, I focus on the ppts and refer to my books only to what I don't understand. I learned after many meltdowns that I don't have time to read all the assigned readings and it was information overload. Now I'm lucky to even skim the chapters but when I do I focus on the tables and boxes. Then I do as many NCLEX style questions as I can to practice and test my knowledge. Make sure if you do this that you read the rationales (even if you get them right) and look what the reason WHY if you don't already know it.

This is various hours during the week (sometimes only minutes if I'm slacking that day)

I take Friday nights off and spend it with my family (we do movie nights).

Weekends are more studying, grocery shopping, cleaning and more studying/completing homework assignments.

Nscorpiored, BSN · Aug 31, 2012

Like a first year nursing student? :) Just to give me an idea of how my schedule may be when I start soon. Thank you!
--Also can you tell me what it was like your first couple of days, what to expect, what to carry with me at all times? What you do to destress? To stay healthy, and fit? Do you stay on campus, or off? How did you work that out?
Thank you again!
xoxo

For me my first semester was a let down due to a personal problem I was having but before that happened, it was exactly what I expected. I spent my first week studying 6 hours a day doing Med Math, then had to find time to read for fundamentals, journals were due for professional communications, and the highlight of my weekends was washing my hair and deep conditioning it. I was always busy no real down time and when I got down time I spent it just lounging, sleeping, or getting away from the house for a break. I would sometimes get up early to leave and hop on the computer just to ease my stress

I do not stay on campus. I am a commuter and my classes are in the evening usually from 5-8 pm. We had clinicals either in the morning or evening (I got lucky and got all morning clinicals for fall last year and spring of this year). Those times were spent practicing foley catheters, PEG tube care, NG tube care, syringes/injections, bed making (occupied/unoccupied), etc. The worse part was care plan writing. My first care plan was based on our clinical in a retirement home and I still to this day hate writing care plans. I will be glad when I no longer have to do all this paperwork for a darn care plan

My advice take one thing at a time, always have on your --especially for clinical--name tag, bp cuff, stethoscope, light pen, writing pen, and a small notebook for note taking. Watch your weight you will find yourself gaining weight as the semesters goes because you are working late, need a quick bite to eat, or start to crave nothing but what I call on the run food. Try to make healthy choices and make time to go to the gym just don't lay around the whole day be active (heck I need to take my own advice LOL)

daniellenursing · Sep 1, 2012

I'm going into my 2nd year of a fantastic ADN program, just went through summer school for my LPN.

My school uses angel, which is basically an online classroom, which helps supplement and communicate out of school - our lectures and lab and clinicals and the like. Before school started, I had my calendar for the quarter *for you it may be semester, but nursing school is basically the same - the first day is orientation, though you may start content. We just got adjusted to angel and the lab and got lab bags and told what was expected of us* The calendar was CRAZY detailed. It told of clinicals, when and where, lab times, groups, class times, the lecture for that class, tests, the class ID - everything. I got out five-six different highlighters *THEY WILL BE YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND! lol* and assigned a highlighter color to each thing: lecture, test, lab for my group, clinical for my group, book day *which wasn't all that useful. This is all I remember from my first quarter, lol.*, and important days - which were basically tests, days off, days on my calendar that were important, and skills test.

Your first semester will probably be fundamentals. You gotta start somewhere. You might be terrified. I was so excited and mixed up I entered the wrong classroom, lol. Oops. But I got there in time. Surrounded by 72 other new nursing students, who are now some of my amazing classmates as we head toward the NCLEX-RN together. We have lost some, gained some. All experience.

ORGANIZE YOURSELF. Period. Figure out what works for you and stick to it. Edit if you have to. I have edited over time how I organize myself, to better fit myself, but stick to something. Know what you need to read for the next day, and skim it. After a topic, find what studying helps you. I LOVED to answer questions. I used google. (this site is amazing: LearningNurse.com - Learning Nurse Tests and Quizzes ) Questions. Sometimes flash cards or your books or apps on a phone help. Find your hole.

If you get the chance, make friends, have fun. Introduce yourself. Be awesome. lol. Be prepared for clinical and take EVERY opportunity in clinical. You may start out in a hospital, or a nursing home - skilled nursing facility. My school did. It was amazing, even after nursing assistant clinicals that summer before.

Have a study group, unless working alone works for you. I work alone because I do best that way - sometimes. Identify what you need early for the best success. Ask questions. All the time. No question is stupid. Ask your teachers anything and everything - when it is appropriate.

Your books are there for a reason. Use them. I have a TON of nursing books. But they are there for your use. You bought them - use them. They will become your second best friend after highlighters lol.

I wish you BEST of luck! Always have a snack with you. Stay hydrated all the time. Dumb calculator *one that can add, subtract, multiple, and divide*, black pens, a notebook/paper of some kind, highlighters, and a smile. Take your learning in school seriously. You got there, make the best of it. And be proud of yourself. You got in. :) Don't forget to treat yourself. You will work hard.

I live a mile off campus, because of going to a community college. No dorms. I try to exercise, but I'm lazy... especially after a 12 hour clinical shift, where I was on my feet the whole time. BTW: be open to ALL areas. My mom is an ICU/open-heart surgery nurse. I don't want to do either - peri-op is not for me *I missed that rotation because of snow and ice. Clinical was cancelled lol*. But be open to even the stuff you DON'T want to do. OB, peds, oncology, surgery, ICU, med-surg *you really learn a lot there*, ER, same-day surgery... mental health, community... everything.

Have fun!!!