Advice before entering 1st Med/Surg course?

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 1, 2013

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Of course you are nervous....you can come here with your questions when you have them...we are happy to help.....:)

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mysquirrel · Jan 1, 2013

Same here for my school, the advice I got was stay ahead of the game.

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Jan 2, 2013

Welcome! I teach 2nd semester. It truly is the "choke point" (I like that term better: weeding out suggest we need to get rid of a certain # of you. It is not a reality show; everyone who starts is allowed to finish. There is more than one winner )

The biggest issue I find is that the student needs to transition from memorizing to thinking. Now you will be learning about disorders and illness. You need to remember all you had in 101 (the concepts), plus the A&P, and the patio, and put it all together. You need to understand not only what is going on, but WHY. You need to fully understand the disorder, and figure out what symptoms you'd expect (before you start memorizing the PowerPoint or notes). It needs to make sense.

Utilize whatever resources your instructors give you: case studies, articles, videos, test questions. Come to lectures prepared (easier said than done, I know). Come with questions for your prof. If you have any.

As for clinical, don't assume your patient who can walk and talk is not interesting, or sick. If they only have PO meds, know them inside and out, the doses, the onset, peak and duration. Don't focus on the side effects of nausea and vomiting, or hypersensitivy being a contraindication. Focus on the things that stand out about the particular med. when your instructor asks "what do you need to know before you give this med" don't say Vital signs (you should know that before any med you give, and in some cases the morning set will do just fine). Look for what this med is going to do to your patient. The one that always trips my students up is the miralax one (its real easy- why are we giving it? And if he had a bowel movement an hour ago, do you think he wants to take it. Others aren't always so straightforward.

Know how the meds affect your patients and how they affect his current diagnosis. Know what his comorbities are. Don't Tell your instructor you don't know. Ask your patient (he may be a walke-talke, remember?). Get as much information as you can from your patient. Don't be in a rush together out of the room and hold up the hallway walls. Don't ever tell your instructor you're bored.

Finally: make sure you correlate lecture to clinical. Some students forget that they are related.

dayanara · Jan 2, 2013

I'm taking my first med surg class as well, and some second semester students told me it is intense. I'm reading ahead, so it doesn't take me by surprise.

ProfRN those are great tips! Thanks for sharing:-)

Nursestudent14 · Jan 2, 2013

I just finished the first of two medical surgical course at my school. I agree that you may need to reive the patho but also keep on top of the readings. I found the review and rationales book by Hogan very helpful for this course.

lb_2014 · Jan 2, 2013

Thank you all so much!

littlebear23 · Jan 3, 2013

READ EVERYTHING AND TAKE NOTES! Don't skim over your text book and make short-cuts! I remember the seniors telling me, "Oh, you don't have to read that. Just read your hesi book and you'll be fine." WRONG! The trick is to know the concepts and apply it to your lab/clinical. Memorizing things will only hurt you because every patient and every situation is different and trust me, your instructors will test your knowledge in ways you wouldn't think possible. If there's a question that you aren't sure of, and you can't find the answer in your textbook, (which is very, very rare) be wary of where you look for your answer on the internet. Cover all your basis, and study as much as you can without burning yourself out. Not sure if you have one now, but get into a study group and make studying together fun without digression of the subject. The only way of getting better with your critical-thinking skills (and in Med/Surg you need a lot of critical-thinking skills), is to gain more knowledge. Good luck!

mchssrn8813 · Jan 3, 2013

Use your sources !!! We use the "iggy" Evolve book and they have a ton of great study questions. most textbooks come with resources like that I think. Also, use ATI if your school uses it.Good luck dear :)