I am now an expert on passing your first semester of nursing school, having just done it myself. (you'd see me wink here if you saw me in person)
Here's what you need to know:
1. Just getting to the first day of class is a big first step. Wading through all of the assorted paperwork and requirements is its own good preparation for what you are up against. Get in the habit of reading all directions carefully. Twice.
2. Get there early on day one and sit in the front. This will assist you greatly in step 3.
3. When any of your instructors are talking, shut your mouth and listen. Believe it or not, the things your instructors say are much more likely to help you than the things your classmates say. If you are a bit less polite than me, you might want to firmly instruct your classmates in this same idea early on.
4. Read your textbooks carefully. Sometime during the semester you will figure out that nursing tests are not like other tests. Many of the questions will be about what YOU should do. So pay attention to those sorts of things. Know when you should be washing your hands, when you should or shouldn't put on a mask, etc. You'll need to study the other things too, but really focus in on those nursing actions when you study.
5. Study early, often and regularly. While you probably don't need to spend every waking hour studying, it would be good to read your chapters before class, review after class, have a regular time each day for study, and find that extra time right before each exam as you can.
6. Skills. If you have skill check-off sheets like my program does, just memorize them word for word. Start doing this ASAP. You can pretend they are lines you have to learn for a play. Even if you don't understand all of the words now or don't know exactly what you should be doing on each step, just go ahead and start learning it anyway. This will save you lots of grief and heartache.
7. Clinicals. If you have clinicals during your first semester, whatever you do, don't be shy. If you have ever spent time in a hospital as a patient, or even just spending significant time with someone else who was a patient, think about whether the doctors and nurses asked you if you wanted to have your vitals taken or wanted your wound looked at. No. They just said, "I'm going to take a look at you now." That's going to be you now. You can be polite in how you say things, both to the patient and to the staff, but you really need to just jump in there. If a nurse or doctor is there with you go ahead and ask them questions about what they are doing. They normally won't mind. Or just tell them you'd like to watch and then move into a good position to see. This is the whole purpose of you being there, to practice your patient care skills and to learn from others.
8. Technology. For the most part technology will be your enemy in nursing school. Turn off your phone at the beginning of class and leave it off until after class. Leave your laptop at home. Take notes with paper and pencil. There are several studies showing that students perform far better on exams when they take notes by hand, as well as studies showing big drops in performance when the temptations of messing around during class are available. Give yourself every advantage you can here.
9. Be pleasant and polite. This means with everyone. Make every effort to treat your instructors well. Don't gossip about them after class. Same for your classmates. And the nurses at your clinical site. You will need to work with these people and they will play a big role in determining how you do. Some of them will be easy and some will be difficult, but treat all of them well.
10. Mistakes. This is probably the most important bit of advice. Mistakes are your biggest learning opportunities. While its preferable to learn from other people's mistakes, you'll make plenty of your own. Don't get mad when one of your mistakes is pointed out. That's how you are going to learn. Don't get mad when you get a test question wrong. You can argue about it and discuss it, but your main goal should be to figure out why your instructors thought the OTHER answer was the RIGHT one. Ask about what would happen if you made a mistake in various scenarios.
Good luck to everyone getting started in school and those who are continuing like me. Feel free to add other bits of wisdom below as well.
We only had one CP this semester, but got told that next, we'll have like one a week. Don't know if that's true or scare tactic or study incentive.
We had Ackley 9ed. as a required text. Something tells me we'll need the 10th or even 11th before we're done.
For those pushing Saunders, how often is it updated? Would it be better to wait to buy it next year or get it now and maybe need another?
Thanks for everyone's help!
Best, all!
Bill
When does the care planning homework begin?
I've read that the nursing diagnosis handbook 9th edition by ackley is really good but it was from 2011. There's a 2013, 10th edition now. Does it matter which edition we buy for more accuracy?
Only 1 CP lucky we had 1 every week starting our 2nd clinical week in 1st semester. It was horrible but I learned a lot. Then in the other semesters they got bigger and fewer like 2 per class. The SAUNDERS I had was 5th i believe there was a 6th and since the NCLEX was revised in April of 2013 I would recommend getting one that was published as close to that as possible.
So there's Saunders Q and A review for the NCLEX exam book and also Saunders comprehensive review for the NCLEX exam book. I've seen and read tips stating that NCLEX review books will help during NS exams. Is this true? What book( the Q and A, comprehensive) should students buy that will be of help while studying for exams?
Those are two different books by the same authors, not different editions of the same book.
The first book is a content review book with review questions while the second only has questions and answers (along with the rationales for correct and incorrect answers, which is very important). I would get a q&a book and a content review book. The content review will provide summaries of the material you learn in class and in the textbook. Review questions will give you more practice applying the content you learn.
I can't comment on the first book, but I used the second one in my fundamentals course (our professor was one of the reviewers for the book and she "highly suggested" we get it). It was very helpful in getting more practice with "nclex-style" questions, and just having more review questions to do besides those in the textbook when studying for exams. The rationales are especially helpful as well, especially if you find yourself getting stuck between two answer choices.
On a side note, from a clinical instructor and ICU preceptor, my advice to everyone in nursing school is to take a deep breath. You may feel overwhelmed but you will get through it with hard work. Don't do the bare minimum to get by, as you'll be doing yourself, your coworkers, and most importantly your patients a great disservice.
For me it would be very hard to read and study if I haven't been given a lecture or direction because just going through it with no knowledge of what is important about each system and how to really look at the nursing care to be provided while honing in on your critical thinking seems complicated and there may be s newer edition. I wanted to try to jump ahead every semester lol yeah never did
we had 1 every week starting our 2nd clinical week in 1st semester. It was horrible but I learned a lot. Then in the other semesters they got bigger and fewer like 2 per class. The SAUNDERS I had was 5th i believe there was a 6th and since the NCLEX was revised in April of 2013 I would recommend getting one that was published as close to that as possible.
Bill E Rubin
20 Posts
We only had one CP this semester, but got told that next, we'll have like one a week. Don't know if that's true or scare tactic or study incentive.
We had Ackley 9ed. as a required text. Something tells me we'll need the 10th or even 11th before we're done.
For those pushing Saunders, how often is it updated? Would it be better to wait to buy it next year or get it now and maybe need another?
Thanks for everyone's help!
Best, all!
Bill