Advice for someone preparing for nursing school

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

Hello, everyone!

I am new to this site, but have been looking through it a lot. It has a lot of helpful information and insights into the nursing world, and I hope to continue to use it for all my nursing needs.

I have applied for a nursing program at Ivy Tech and won't hear back until the end of May-beginning of June. I recently returned from out of the country, so I am currently not working and anticipating to begin school in the fall. I was wondering if current nursing students or RNs/LPNs who have graduated have any recommendations on things I could study during my downtime. Obviously, Anatomy & Physiology are a necessity, but aside from that, is there anything I could brush up on to ease the transition? It's a nerve-wrecking process, even though I'm fairly confident of getting in, so I would love to use this time wisely and prepare in any way I can and welcome it as a productive distraction. I would appreciate any advice anyone has!

[81shelbay]

I live in a different country from you we study physical health and wellbeing, mental health and wellbeing, ethics and law regarding nursing, mental health, psychology, sociology, clinical skills such as fluid balance and electrolytes, blood pressure etc... we also do a lot on prevention of infection.

[mikasa]

You could start by looking at certain skills like how to check a patient's blood pressure and you can practice on your family if you have your own cuff and stethoscope if not watch videos on youtube! And other skills such as intradermal, intramuscular, and subq injections. Know electrolyte imbalances like normal ranges and labs such blood count and what normal hemoglobin, hematocrit, WBC, etc are. I hope this helps a little :)

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I also applied for Ivy Tech Fall program. It's a killer having to wait, huh? I would just relax and have fun because when August comes, it's going to be busy.

[81shelbay]

Are you able to do intradermal Injections?, In Scotland we can only do IM or Sub cut when you are a student. Also in our first year we only learn the normal functions before we start abnormal functions in 2nd year.

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

Thanks for all the advice. I really appreciate any insight that anyone has! Waiting is a bummer, and I'm one who doesn't enjoy sitting around and doing nothing, so I'd rather take advantage of this time and brush up on things that will make the schooling a little easier.

@Heather: I know. We have to wait until the end of May!? But I guess it makes sense because the students who are finishing their prereqs need the time for their grades to go through. I wish you luck and hope we both make it into the program!

[ambitiousBSN]

The wait is killer! I'd recommend brushing up on dimensional analysis because when you're accepted, you will need to begin looking at how to calculate medication dosage as you will have a dosage exam. A&P is always a good idea to stay fresh on as well.

Relax in the meantime! :-)

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

Thanks! I've actually been practicing dosage calculations, but luckily math is one of my strengths so it was easy for me to catch on. It's the anatomy and physiology portions that I struggle with. There's just so much information about the body to learn and memorize that it can be overwhelming. But it is obviously one of the more important parts of being a nurse.