how can i study for the psychiatric class?

[chariot]

i'm in my psychiatric class right now and i am having a horrible time with the exams. i was a A student in my previous classes, and now I am barely passing. I study and look at a lot of nclex questions, but it seems like the questions on the exams are harder than the ones in the book. please help

[Despareux]

I think the ones in the books are always easier. The instructors usually change the questions that will require you to think through them, instead of just using memorization. Mental health is not one of my favorite subjects and I found the material very boring (except for neurotransmitters and meds).

Seems for mental health, safety among staff, patients, and meds are priority--keeping the patient stable. When I think of safety within the mental health context, I always ask myself about what is currently happening and why and what interventions do I take to quell the situation, or I ask what could potentially happen and why, and what interventions do I take to prevent an escalation? It's also important to remember what a nurses scope of practice is in mental health.

Know your meds and how they work and what they're used for. Know your interventions and therapeutic communication practices for particular symptoms.

Hope that helps.

[mpihl]

When I took mental health I would take a disorder/disease and try to find someone in my life or television/movies and remember it that way. If I know a friend that has bipolar even though all of the symptoms may not be there it was so much easier for me to be able to picture how that disease works and what it looks like. Sometimes I would even have a couple people in mind that way I can see different angles from it. Also to prepare myself for the exams I would use as many resources as possible to take practice exams from. I used the questions in the book, evolve, nclex books and I would just google and find practice exams that way. This way I have so many different types of questions and set-ups that it was easier to find challenging questions. Also, if you are not using the study guide that you can buy for most books I would definitely try that.