first semester foundations!!

[j812]

I am currently in my first semester of nursing school. As with the 75% rule to pass, I am having some struggles. Surprisingly I am passing pharm, but what should be easy- foundations-the intro class, I am not. Does anyone have study tips??? Because they put the info that we are supposed to learn into situational form, but they do not go over what to do in those said situations. Any recommendations????

[mrsboots87]

There is not always a cut and dry answer for what you should do in a situation because one changed detail about the patient or the conditions will change the answer. You need to study the disease processes and skills in question so that you can critically think about it to know what to do. This skill takes time. Get an NCLEX style practice book. Study your lecture and reading notes, then practice questions on what you have studied to practice this type of thinking. You will need it to pass NCLEX later as well as to be a minimally safe nurse in practice.

[ShelbyaStar]

I agree this can be kind of difficult since there is often no right answer. Two things: safety first and breathing first. If given a situation of what the priority action is, rule out answers that are in any way unsafe. For example, we had a practice question where there was no really good answer. You have a medication that takes multiple tablets. Do you: ask a nurse about it, ask the practitioner about it, or leave the pills with the patient while you go check it out? (I forget the fourth choice). It seems silly to ask a practitioner about it and you will probably annoy him, but the other choices are unsafe, so that is what you pick.

Also airway first. Say a pt has pneumonia and high blood pressure and pain. Are you most concerned about wheezing, low blood pressure, or pain? Airway, so wheezing. That's more likely to kill them more quickly than the other two options.

Also think about the most efficient thing to do. Say this pt has pneumonia. If you have to choose between an antibiotic, getting the pt up and moving, giving a hypertensive, or giving a pain med, what do you do first? Probably the antibiotic to get it going, then get them up and moving because that will help clear the lungs and will probably go a long way toward solving the other problems.

Watch wording very carefully. Sometimes one word in there totally turns a valid answer into a bad one or vice versa. Sometimes there is a distracter in there that isn't really relevant to what the question is looking for. Yes, practice helps. There's some other tips out there, like it's rare to have the answer be "refer elsewhere" or "ask the provider" (other than my previous example, ha) because they are mainly looking at independent nursing interventions.

Yes, practice! If you have access to ATI they have lots of practice tests and questions, there's apps, and of course the books.

[Wave Watcher]

NCLEX type questions will follow you all the way through nursing school. Practice and practice some more.

Hang in there!