Advice on LPN school success

suri_wild · Aug 23, 2010

Hi and welcome to the fun adventure of LPN school! I am so close to finishing my first round of classes at my LPN college. Ok for your first question : general studying tips, for myself I find it best to study at school right after classes. I finish classes most days at 3pm, so I stay at campus until 6pm studying. I do this because I am still in school mode, if I go home right away I am not motivated to study

I do the same on weekends, rather then studying at home I go to our library instead. It's just a way to force my brain to work lol. Also, you will really need a planner or something to keep your time VERY organized. I learned that one the hard way, it's too easy to forget about a chapter you need to read, homework assignments, I even write down what check-off sheets and powerpoints I need to print before class. Trust me you will be so busy and you're brain feels fried sometimes it becomes easy to forget. So if you remember to write everything down in your planner and check it every night you will be better off.

Next question: stories from their time at LPN school

I got one for you that happened today. Our teachers have really hammered on "identifying your patient twice" and "guarding patient charts with your life". I started clinical almost a week and half ago and goofed on those today. I caught myself, it didn't become a problem but I was ashamed of myself. I had been shadowing the MDS nurse and just pulled a patient chart to go over with her. I sat it on the table and then my clinical instructor asked me to go check in with the charge nurse to see if she needs help with the patients. I went- and left the patient chart on the table...unattended. When I got to the charge nurse station (down the hall) I remembered and had to go back to return it. I was so mad at myself. THEN, when I went back to the charge nurse she asked me to help "Mr. Chester, the one over there with the walker, to the lunch room". I walked up to a man in a walker and said, "Mr. Chester?" He nodded his head so I introduced myself and asked him if I could take him down to lunch. He was really happy and let me walk him down. As we started down the hall a nurse stopped him and said, "Where you going Mr. Clarence?" he told her. Oops, I then realized I had the wrong patient. No harm done, but had it been a different procedure I could have. Do try to be careful at clinical!

Next question: tips on how to balance both school and personal time

Oh gee, to be honest I don't have "balance". No personal time really at all. It's either you are at school, at clinical (which is and hour and half drive one way so that really cuts time). Or studying. Outside of that I am cooking, cleaning, and sleeping. I really don't see how the people I am with are working, I would not be able to pass if I was working.

Last question- Anything basic about what to expect from my time at school would be greatly appreicated.

I think most LPN programs are probably the same. I started out learning in the fundamentals class about Hygiene, Infection control, and Safety precautions. In concepts we learned about the history of nursing, learning styles, and culture. Next we covered body mechanics, nutrition, and legal and ethics stuff. Anatomy & Physiology is a beast and you will learn everything about the body from head to toe, from the biggest organ to the tiniest itty bitty thing smaller than a cell. For me, it's the hardest class out of the ones I am taking now. Hope this helps!

suri_wild · Aug 23, 2010

Oh I forgot, I was going to give you a few websites that might help. For organizing things you want to study, I use studystack.com

For math I just found a couple websites on a different site that look great:

dosagehelp.com testandcalc.com

for A&P these sites are great

Anatomy Drill and Practice

Dr. Ross's Biol 217 Anatomy and Physiology I at CBU

kd2010 · Aug 24, 2010

Oh I forgot, I was going to give you a few websites that might help. For organizing things you want to study, I use studystack.com
For math I just found a couple websites on a different site that look great:
dosagehelp.com testandcalc.com
for A&P these sites are great
Anatomy Drill and Practice
Dr. Ross's Biol 217 Anatomy and Physiology I at CBU

Thank you for such a detailed post! It sounds like I'm in for quite a commitment for the next year. Your studying tips are excellent and I'll probably do the same or similar as you did. Is there any subjects you found diffiicult to follow in such a short period of time? I've picked up extra materials on Anatomy and Physiology but I didn't realize there would be much math involved in the course. The links are very helpful by the way thank you. Your story gives me a lot of insight. It's so easy to make simple mistakes that could be costly. Quick, insightful decisions seem to be important and I'll definetely work on that. What is the clinical work like for you? I'm excited to get into a hospital setting but nervous about the pressure of it all. Thanks again:)

suri_wild · Aug 24, 2010

Well, don't worry tooooo much on the math. It's not like it is so much that my school made it a separate class or anything. But we did have to learn conversions and how to calculate medicine dosages (like drawing up syringes etc). You will have to learn to read different types of syringes and there are different types of vials as well. It might be a little confusing at first but you will get it, trust me math wasn't my strongest subject in high school but the teacher will work with you until you get it :)

As for subjects...ummm for me personally nursing concepts has been rather easy. Fundamental of nursing (the safety hygiene etc) as long as you practice practice and practice at home you will also be ok in that. For example before we did check offs for pulses and blood pressure, in addition to lab practice, i practice 3 times on my grandparents and a few times on my husband lol! For peri-care and head to toe assessments i just practiced on a stuffed animal :)

Really I just found A&P to be hard, hard. I mean the bones and muscles chapter were my saving grace, I got the chapter easy. But we just did neurology and circulatory and it was OUCH, painfully hard. Going over Endocrine now and I have a feeling it's going to take me a few reads to really start to get it.

Clinicals is awesome. Our instructor gives us two days to spend with one patient. Each week we are assigned a different patient. They give us paperwork to fill out each day like we really are charting for the patient. We fill out a head to toe assessment, data collection sheet, nurse notes, a care plan, and a daily evaluation. Just a rough idea of how the day goes: pre-morning conference assignments given, check in with charge nurse, review patients real chart, wake up patient take to bathroom (potty), perform initial assessment and data collection, take patient to bathe suite and give bath, dress patient and take to breakfast, return patient to room to nap etc. checking in periodically. Before lunch time re-check vitals and see if they need to use the rest room or anything, take patient to lunch, return to room, and go to end of day conference. We usually arrive at 7am for pre-conference, start work at 730am and go to post-conference at 12 or 1230. We leave at 130p. Its not too bad :)

kd2010 · Aug 25, 2010

Im relieved to hear that the math involved isn't the same math I did in high school that would be exhausting to relearn It sounds like once I work with all the calculations and syringes I'll get the hang of it all. As for the other subjects I'll take your advice and do a lot of practicing. I know I'll be stressing about every little thing at school and probably the only thing to come out of that will be the want to study and practice a lot so I feel like I know everything. It sounds like your family is wonderful to help you with your studies :)I'm glad I picked up extra materials on Anatomy and Physiology after reading your post. I didn't do wonderful on Biology in high school but that might have been lack of focus. Thank you very much for the break down of your clinical day. I was curious on what activies I'd be doing as a student. It sounds like hard work but definetely worth it all at the end of the day. How many people are in your class/clinical studies?

Thanks so much:)