Any tips on survival?

TLizS · Jan 11, 2015

Congrats on getting accepted! I start my program Tuesday also!

I think that I let myself get a little stressed out by reading other people's horror stories....I psyched myself out and got REALLY stressed out before I even started. That's when I decided that from now on I will be taking other people's experiences with a grain of salt. If I go into this already freaked out I'm not helping myself at all. Do I expect it to be "easy"....not at all....but I can't assume that other people's experiences will be anything like what I experience. I am choosing to go in with positive expectations and not stressing anymore (easier said than done). I am a firm believer that your attitude/outlook plays a huge part in the outcome. So choose to embrace the excited/accomplished/prepared (or as prepared as you can be) feelings and dismiss the rest as much as you can manage. Get organized, read ahead if you already know what you will be covering the first week....and Good luck!

I know people who have already been through this will have more advice...and I am looking forward to reading it....but this is what has helped with my nerves.

Gooselady, BSN, RN · Jan 12, 2015

Let's see . . . I dumped a full 20 oz cup of coffee and creamer on the carpet during my first nursing class :) That I can still remember it (and what I was wearing) says a lot about how worked up I was :)

I can't remember how it felt, though this far out :) Nursing school is like a womb for a fertilized egg. Not much happening except for cell division and differentiation during school. School was quite a bit of fun, actually, and very exciting.

Instructors will give you a syllabus to follow, which outlines the course objectives. The course objectives are (ostensibly) what you take away as a learner from the class. The course and testing ought to follow the syllabus closely. The syllabus gives you a 'back bone' to work from, rather than spinning in confusion. Utilize the syllabus!

And I hate to say it won't be NEARLY as hard and challenging and exciting as you might think At least not the first semester. That's a good thing. By the time you start putting your hands on the patients, you'll be ready, just by getting used to going to nursing school.

thatnurseBSN · Jan 12, 2015

read... and if it doesn't make sense... read some more. stay off this site, also. =)

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jan 12, 2015

While you'll probably already have some things to do and turn in prior to, or on, the first day of class, I would expect that the first day will be full of introductions and going over things like the student handbook for the program along with the course syllabus. You might even get a lecture on something that first day!

For the most part, the first day will probably be a LOT like any other first day of a semester for you. It'll be a lot of paperwork and administrative stuff that pretty much sucks the fun out of any class. After that you'll have to make sure to keep up with the reading assignments and any other "homework" that they provide you. There will be a LOT of information coming at you pretty quickly. There will be a lot of stuff to go over and a short time to do it, but you'll get used to that.

If you're used to having study groups, go ahead and join or create one. Keep the group small and meet at a place where distractions will be at a minimum and you can all take turns teaching each other the material.

Also, when you're taking notes and studying, keep trying to find the most optimal way for you to do so. If you already know how you learn best (visual, auditory, tactile), use the method you learn best with and a second way to reinforce your learning.

Lastly, you'll be learning the very basics (foundation) of nursing during the first few weeks of school. Make sure you know that stuff solidly well because you'll be using that stuff throughout school and everything else you learn will be built off of this knowledge. If the stuff seems pretty basic to you, well, it will be. It's that way because your instructors will assume that you have no medical background aside from what you learned in your prerequisite coursework and they will teach you what you need to know to successfully get through your first weeks of doing patient care... which usually comes a few weeks into the course. At my school, the 1st semester students don't get to clinical until about week 5 or 6, so they're in class 4 days per week until then.

It's OK to be nervous and such, but don't let the first day psych you out. It'll be OK... and you'll meet your nursing school "family" that you'll be with for the next couple of years.