anxious about med-surg.

[janetrette]

hi everyone,

just a little intro about myself: i'm attending at bmcc and this fall semester would be my last semester. however, i'm feeling very anxious. i'm excited but scared as well. there's so many rumors how hard the very last semester is and i'm just afraid i'm not going to make it through. i'm thinking if i didn't make it through then all my hard work is going to down. i study very hard but i don't often get the grades. is there any tips how some of you manage to study for medical surgical??? there's a lot of patho and seems like a science class to me. one graduate student told me there's barely questions about patho in med-surg but we need to understand how it goes. i'm getting very confusing on how to study. my study skills change throughout the nursing program because each professor handles thing differently. would u recommended me writing notes while reading? i try that last semeter and there was barely enough study time to do both. so sorry i'm venting too much.

[PennyLane, RN]

Hi, I just finished this class. I agree, each prof is different, and you will have to feel him or her out for what they emphasize. What I found to help tremendously was to write down all the little 'extras' that were mentioned in class but that weren't in our handouts. You will often see those again on the tests.

My professor really emphasized nursing interventions for each disease or condition, and yes, you will need to remember your patho and pharm. But not nearly as in-depth as you did for those classes.

If you have doubts, meet with your prof outside of class and ask for study tips. Or contact someone who already took the class. Are there any resources for you, like a peer tutor program? Oh, and I wouldn't recommend taking notes while reading. You'll spend hours and hours doing that. Concentrate on what's emphasized in class.

[healinghand]

My advise would be

*Record the lectures of your professor.

*Read the topic as soon as possible after the lecture.

*Make notes while reading,but on the handouts given by your lecturer.

*While writing care plan,refer to your old ones.

*Think your patient as a whole person rather than thinking in terms of his medical diagnosis.Your individual Nursing intervention and Nursing diagnosis will be more appropriate.

*You may need to refer to your Anat-Physio book in order to understand some pathophysiology.So read up Endocrine,Cardiac and Respiratory physiology.

*Get your Fluids and electrolytes and Acid-Base refreshed.

You will do just well in Med-surg

Good luck :)