First semester ADN student

What are you so busy doing? You can't find the info? Your assessment takes too long?

Nurse's Pocket Guide - Diagnoses, Prioritized Interventions and Rationales by Doenges, Moorhouse, and Murr

Care Plan Book - by Doenges, Moorhouse, and Murr

- Drug Guides on Phone

Davis Nursing Notes - based on class - (Med Surg, Peds, Ob, etc). The nursing notes books which may come in electronic form has the basics of what a student nurse needs

Running around like crazy is part of the learning process. It can be exhausting. Having the right tools at your fingertips helped me a lot. In the beginning, a clinical partner or group helps. Drugs use to take a long time to write out. So I just had a couple of drug quides on my mp3 player. Some students had the drug info prewritten on index cards which you pulled when it applied.

Take a look at the Med Surg Davis Notes for RNs and LPNs. Also, see if there is another nursing notes quide that matches your floor better. The nursing notes gives you fast basic info that you need on the floor.

There are also, drug books or notes that are available that fit into your pockets, and assessment notes.

Have a free app on your phone for meds. I recommend micromedex. Also find out how the other students in your clinical day are organizing their time.

Remember, your patient has a RN, and it's not you. Usually, if my patient has food, that is the time in which I glean information from their chart. Drugs, allergies, latest vitals, labs, and the vital trends. I'll look up any info I need about the diagnosis before meeting the patient. Do your assessment. Leave your patient. Fill in a section of paperwork as quickly as possible.

A routine that you can use with every patient is a great thing. I personally think of them as goals for the nursing student (IE: I will fill in five lines on my assessment form and come up with one goal for my patient before I am able to go see a cool procedure/eat lunch/take a bathroom break). See if that might help.

Hang in there, you'll get it!

Always get there early and...

(1)look at labs/diags, then fill out any pathology, lab results and medications due for your care plan,

(2)next attend rounds with your nurse(s),

(3)meet your patient and dive into your head to toe w/vitals ASK ABOUT PAIN! (remember when you're talking with your patient you can examine little

(4)things about them without taking dedicated time for it such as vitals and brief neurological),

(5)I usually then will ask pt about any preferences for the day such as bathing or walking, (if ortho you need to talk about getting them up and checking their last dose of PRN pain meds),

(6)then meet up with CNA find out any quirky things about the patient,

(7)chart all above,

(8)get meds ready and pass,

(9)help with pt bathing/walking/anything else,

(10)lunch comes,

(11)do any procedures that you have reserved for the day,

(12)chart some more.

This is a really wacky schedule that is pretty much for any basic med/surg floor, if you do that you should have plenty of time to fill out your careplan in the beginning or after lunch, that includes all your NANDA diagnosis/interventions that are applicable.

As for books, any NANDA diagnosis book will save you time, and any care plan book really will half your time. You also might want to consider a labs and diags book too such as Mosby's manual of laboratory and diagnostic tests 8th edition. Thats what I personally tote around.

Nurses are usually rude wherever you are, just know your place and keep quiet and it will all be fine. Nurses eat their children and don't think twice about it so always keep that in mind.

I almost forgot to tell you too that you should definitely consider an App on your phone if you have an iphone called Skyscape, its pretty pricey for the subscription but it is a lifesaver because it can tell you anything from careplanning, to medication dosages.

Nurses are usually rude wherever you are, just know your place and keep quiet and it will all be fine. Nurses eat their children and don't think twice about it so always keep that in mind.

At the risk of making somebody say, "See? See? She's a meany too!" I have to take issue with this throwaway bit of hackney.

Many of us spend an inordinate amount of time, often to the detriment of our other professional responsibilities, trying to help students. We think a great deal about how to do that most effectively and care very much that they understand, so that perhaps they will be better off than we were when we were young and stupid, or at least clueless, or at least inexperienced. Or all of the above.

You will hear this bit of nonsense wherever you go. There are two answers to keep in mind if you do.

1) "Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

2) No one will want to chew on you if you are tough. Have a good sense of self and you won't have to worry.

As to the rest of the OP's question: We have all been there, done that. The reason you are in school is to learn the skills and talents it takes to be a nurse. Of course you don't have them yet :) But you will. Time will take care of the opportunities to learn everything you need to know, sooner or later, in school or after you finish it and go to work. Venting is good, but don't be down on yourself because you aren't achieving at a higher level when you're just beginning. You're just ... new.

Part of what you're experiencing is normal! We have all gone through it!! It's all time management.

1) Like mentioned listen to morning report it will give you a clue what to look for when assessing.

2) get that vitals machine!!!! When you walk in with the machine ASAP get your 8am vitals as well as do your morning assessment. Practice your assessment and get it under 10 minutes.

3) get to the chart!!!! Look at your labs, review your orders, look at your MAR and be ready for med pass.

Chart as you do things. As a 1st semester student you will never remember everything.

Be patient with yourself, the learning curve is so steep in nursing school. Just remember you can do it.

At first it felt like a hill ten. For the first semester, what are your objectives. That is what are you suppose to know. We were required to know how to do a head to toe assessment, and do a nursing care plan. The other items we were responsible for the first semester was caring for our patient: changing bed linen, feeding, and bed bath. The other very important target for the first semester was how to give medications and the nursing interventions/side effects for the medications being given. We were required to do three checks of 7 items originally it was 5(right patient, right drug, right time, right dose, right route).

On the second semester: we were required to know about the medications, side effects of the medications and nursing interventions. Also, we were to practice nursing skills.

So when you are learning, concentrate on meeting the main targets for the professor. Use your tools: nursing notes, and electronic drug quide.

Also, if you are unsure on a key item. Please get corrected on it right away. This way you build your skills up a little at a time. Don't forget to have a clinical partner or partners in the beginning if you can where you can guys can support each other.

Our school had videos on the skills we needed in the library. So we just had to watch them for the area that we were weak in before going to clinicals or you could watch on youtube.