Entering nursing school in Sept. Any suggestion??

sltenbroeck · Mar 23, 2011

I do have an nclex review book. Most of it seems like common sense except for the drug questions. Of which I know nothing about! At what point in nursing school do we start learning about medications?

microtutor · Mar 23, 2011

Marion Diamond's lectures do rock, tho I often wonder how she survived around all that chalk dust! LOL

I got a list of books to check out, not sure how useful the list is? But maybe some veteran nurses and/or nursing students could comment on it??? I am starting in September as well.

Clinical Calculations

Drug Handbook 2011

Med/Surg Reviews and Rationale

Nursing Diagnosis Handbook

Saunders NCLEX

Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary

Rapid Interpretation of EKGs

Pharmacology and the Nursing Process

Thank you!!! :heartbeat

Jonathank · Mar 23, 2011

Marion Diamond's lectures do rock, tho I often wonder how she survived around all that chalk dust! LOL
I got a list of books to check out, not sure how useful the list is? But maybe some veteran nurses and/or nursing students could comment on it??? I am starting in September as well.
Clinical Calculations
Drug Handbook 2011
Med/Surg Reviews and Rationale
Nursing Diagnosis Handbook
Saunders NCLEX
Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary
Rapid Interpretation of EKGs
Pharmacology and the Nursing Process
Thank you!!! :heartbeat

Those lectures got me through A&P I, when I had a professor whose lectures were unlistenable. I had a great professor for A&P II, so the Cal lectures were just gravy then... Dr. Diamond is so thorough giving it to you old school style, she got a lot of concepts into my skull that might not have gotten into there otherwise.

RileyLola1018 · Mar 26, 2011

Marion Diamond is amazing!!! Definitely a fabulous professor!! She makes a thousand times more sense than my A&P teachers did! :yawn:

student.nurse · Mar 26, 2011

my biggest advice: DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT right now.

why? because once nursing school actually starts you'd be stressed out of your FREAKIN MIND! it'll really be hard to make any time for yourself.. or for anyone

preparing early on is good, i guess.. but will all those information really stick in your head once you need them (for when the time comes)?

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Mar 26, 2011

my biggest advice: DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT right now.
why? because once nursing school actually starts you'd be stressed out of your FREAKIN MIND! it'll really be hard to make any time for yourself.. or for anyone

preparing early on is good, i guess.. but will all those information really stick in your head once you need them (for when the time comes)?

See I would have to advise any student about going in with this mentality. This doesn't have to be the case at all. I have remained relatively stress free most of nursing school. (although each semester did have it's own hell week) But majority of the stressed I had were from my home life not related to school. I have made PLENTY of time for myself and for others. Nursing school did not take over my life and I did not give up anything in my normal activities for it. You don't have to let nursing school take over.

AKA_Glamour_Pearl · Mar 27, 2011

I was just like you. Wanting to do "more" before I started school because I didn't want to be behind.

Honestly, the best advice that I received (and that I didn't take) was to enjoy the time off. So, I'm telling you to enjoy this break. When you start class there will be plenty of time to be freaked out about something. There will ALWAYS be something and you can only be so prepared. You also don't want to spend countless hours on material that no one will really go into depth with. Even worse, just confusing yourself.

So, go to the movies, spend time with your family, kiss your boyfriend/husband, take a cruise,go shopping, go to ALL of the weddings/baby showers/cook outs that you can possibly fit into your schedule.

When school starts you won't have much time for anything else.

The only other thing that I can say is just make sure that you have your immunizations up to date. That's the one thing that really stressed me in school. We had a never ending list of immunizations. They just kept adding more to the list. It can get pretty expensive. So, get your immunizations squared away and enjoy your summer.

pitaya · Mar 28, 2011

Hi all,
I plan to enter nursing school in September, and I am finished with all pre-reqs. I will be twiddling my thumbs for seven months. Is there anything I can study to help prepare me??
Thanks in advance!

Get a job to save/hoard the money that you won't be making in nursing school. (I speak for myself - some others may find time to work, but I would never be able to study if I worked. )

or

TRAVEL! Get out there, see the world, have fun, visit your family, reconnect with old friends, do things you've always wanted to do, because you won't have time to do these things once school starts.

Emilynn09 · Mar 28, 2011

See I would have to advise any student about going in with this mentality. This doesn't have to be the case at all. I have remained relatively stress free most of nursing school. (although each semester did have it's own hell week) But majority of the stressed I had were from my home life not related to school. I have made PLENTY of time for myself and for others. Nursing school did not take over my life and I did not give up anything in my normal activities for it. You don't have to let nursing school take over.

I couldn't agree more! Although I do have significantly less time that I used to, I'm not ripping my hair out and drowning in stress. I still have time for a couple hours of me time every day, as well as a day off to spend time with family. I get good grades; honor roll. It's all about time management.

I also do not work, which helps A LOT with the free time. Every once and a while there will be a test or some material that stresses me out but, it's not anything that is all encompassing. I guess it depends on how you handle stress. Everyone's different I suppose.