Tips for a new nursing student....

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 1, 2012

My very best advice? Read what's already been posted on these boards, there are hundreds of threads asking the very same question---and have been answered :)

There's threads about the best shoes, bag, and scope. The best organizer and the best study plans.

You'll find everything you need, already written.

weavers · Mar 2, 2012

teamwork and study groups. be a leader, get to know people, get numbers, cook them food, organize study groups. do favors for people. babysit for them, wash there car and call in favors later on when you need help. they will save your butt in clinical at some point. try not to judge people, understand people have bad days or have stress outside school. you cannot be successful in nursing school alone. the workplace is all about teamwork, same with school. team work starts day one.

studying pharm, make an excel sheet with the name of the drug in one box, classifications, action, side effects and nursing education. imo its helpful to have it all on one sheet.

diseases know, defining of disease, what systems it effects, sort of how it works, treatments, and most important nursing interventions and patient teaching you can do as a nurse.

online note cards, maybe share them with a few people in class. note cards take forever to make and by the time you make there is not time to study from them.

study guides. break up the work and share answers. tell someone to take question 1-4, you do 5-9, someone else answer 10-14, ect. always share the work load.

work on your organization skills. first week we are told wehave a paper due week 8, we are given the rubic and the instructors. do the paper week 1 and 2. get work done early.

share information with both higher and lower class man. if you make a study guide pass it down to the people below you. study guides take up so much time. imo share the info and save other peoples time.

spend lots of time every week to practice skills. 4 hours or so. maybe its making a bed, or turning a pt, or doing an IM inject or starting an IV. practice!!!

Quit your day job is possible. or atleast work less than 20 hous a week, 10 if you can. tell your husband/wife, girl/boyfriend, family members how busy you will be and that you won't have much time for them. get a sitter if you have kids.

I use a laptop in class to type notes. my keyboard is slient and the laptop weights only 3 lbs. I bought the digital books. if you have an iphone/touch or droid get skyscape and buy some books for clinical, like a drug book, NANDA, lab dx, ect.

NANDAs take a year or more to really understand and master. I think the key is starting the first word of every sentence. like assess, teach, encouraging, collaborate, ect.

get a tutor, even if your an A student. get one!

for me clinical weren't fun till year 2. so much stress the first year, its really hard. you will stress.

RT21 · Mar 16, 2012

Great advice!

pixiestudent2 · Mar 16, 2012

My very best advice? Read what's already been posted on these boards, there are hundreds of threads asking the very same question---and have been answered :)
There's threads about the best shoes, bag, and scope. The best organizer and the best study plans.
You'll find everything you need, already written.

Honestly the search bar doesn't work all that well