Fundamentals of Nursing

CuriousMe · Jan 27, 2011

I'm so excited to get into the program, i had all my books ready and now i'm starting to buy items i'll be using during the clinicals. I know fundamentals is common sense but here's our dilemma....our quizzes....we read 4-5 chapters and our quiz questions only have 15....believe me when i say that i use my "common sense" while answering the quiz but for some reason i keep picking the wrong answer! the passing is 75% so that's 12 points...i got 6 on the 1st quiz, 7 on the 2nd, and 8 on the 3rd (yeah its progressing but bot as much as to give me at least a "C")...i still have 7 more quizzes to go....and i'm starting to stress...i use my textbooks, i use the cd, i use the online practice, and i even use 2 more books but i just can't pick the right answer....by the way i work full time so i can't read for the first 8 hrs. on weekdays....
Can anybody recommend the best pocket guide for clinicals?
Anybody give me some advice please...i really do need it....

This is a very common reaction to tests in nursing school. Focus on the rationale for the right answer when looking at the questions you got wrong. You may assume you're answering in a "common sense" way, but they're trying to teach you a nurses' version of common sense.

CnmAshley · Jan 27, 2011

How do common sense and nurse's common sense differ exactly? Do you pick an answer that doesn't make "common" sense and hope it's right? I don't follow your advice Curiousme. Any help would be great, thanks!

Good luck to the OP!

CuriousMe · Jan 27, 2011

How do common sense and nurse's common sense differ exactly? Do you pick an answer that doesn't make "common" sense and hope it's right? I don't follow your advice Curiousme. Any help would be great, thanks!
Good luck to the OP!

Common sense for someone who isn't a nurse may not take in to consideration something a nurse would know.

I can't think of a nursing example off the top of my head....but another example would be...if someone had a bad fall, a layperson might think it's common sense to sit the person up to see if they're ok, whereas someone with first aid training would know to not move the patient, until they are evaluated for a spine injury.

Common sense only makes sense in the context of someone's knowledge base.

whitn23 · Jan 28, 2011

We had a long discussion about this is in my fundamental class today. this class is a learning curve... you have to change your way of thinking. it's hard when you are getting as much out of it (like grades!) that you are putting in. i am really glad that they are showing what the tests are going to be throughout the program instead of letting us take this and then get to med surg and fail out :)

just try and focus on what the question is really asking and try and figure out what they have put in to distract you. when we were going over our test today i realized that i look way too much into that instead of what it's really asking. i'm not sure if this is really that great of advice but i know it's what has helped me. good luck!

jnick31 · Jan 28, 2011

"Common sense isn't the same as nursing sense" was what my fundies teacher would drill into us. There are usually 4 correct answers on our quizzes and tests and we are to pick the best of the four. For example in CuriousMe's post would have a question like.

"You walk into a clients room to find them on the floor with a family member crouched over them. What would the nurse do in this situation?"

a) Help the client to the bedside and obtain an oral history of the event.

b) Assess the client for possible neruological damage and fill out an incident report.

c) Position the client comfortably and assess for pain.

d) Notify the physician of the incident and fill out an incident report.

These are all good answers and to the person without any training it would be easy to pick the wrong one. The lay person may not think. "oh, wait, maybe they hit their head on the way down... I think I should look for signs of increased intercranial pressure." or "what if they have swelling around the spinal cord from blunt force trauma. (if they can't help with their legs and you use poor body mechanics, there goes your back.)

a) yes you want to get them back to bed but you need to make sure they can get back there first. It's also nice if they remember who you are because it's never nice to be manhandled by a stranger.

b) good choice. :)

c) again, yes... needs to be done but there are more important things to be done first.

d) This will be done no doubt. But it will not be the first thing you do.

What is the question really asking. "if you walk in on this situation what is your immediate reaction?"

Read the question... read ALL the answers... re-read the question... then answer with the best option.

jellybeany · Jan 28, 2011

Do ALL the practice questions you can, and read the rationale! Its getting easier for me just because I heard the reason why. After a thousand questions I can finally get half of them right, lol. I have an app on my iphone called nclex cards that I bought a few months ago for $0.99, awesome! I do questions while im standing in line or whatever, and a handful have even been on my exams in class. Dont get frustrated, everyone goes through this! We were all like *** is critical thinking and how do I get some??? lol But So far passing 4.0 so hang in there!

KristeyK · Jan 28, 2011

Rationales, rationales, rationales...I don't do ALL of the reading, there's just no way I could. However, I do a ton of practice questions and learn the rationale behind the answers. The fall question above is a GREAT example. Check your textbook, there's probably an online resource you can use to get practice questions.

tokidokifantasy · Jan 28, 2011

Yeah, I struggled with my first test. I thought I did well too until I got my test, it was like..Oh....I really don't "think" like a nurse. I need to start rationalize everything. If the question is testing knowledge and how you apply that, it's pretty easy and straight forward. But when it comes to giving you a scenario and you have to pick the best answer, it seems I am always getting thrown off. I also read into the question and over analyzed. It's driving me nuts, because it's testing your critical thinking skill and I am just not good at it. It's not something you can just read off the textbook and prepare for. so, I can only hope by practicing more of the nclex form questions to become more used to it. I wish there was some kind of standard when answering this style of question. If there's like ABC to follow, or ADPIE to follow, then I can start breaking it down. But sometimes, it's not always that easy.

mangopeach · Jan 28, 2011

I'm in my 3rd week of nursing school so I can't give much advice. I've only had 1 Fundamentals test so far and I got a 90. Not trying to toot my own horn, but a classmate that I had been talking to prior to the test was saying all along, oh its just about using common sense. I don't think so. She failed the test. I agree with the posters that said its about a nurse's common sense and the nurse's knowledge on what is most important. IMO, one might have good "common sense" and judgment in their personal daily lives but that doesn't always translate to nurse "common sense".

Does your school use ATI? I have found their website and books to be extremely helpful for answering questions and I never leave home without my Prentice Hall Nursing Fundamentals Reviews & Rationales! Get a copy if you don't have one already.

Good luck to us all!

EVLGNUS · Jan 28, 2011

My school is barely new, nope we don't use ATI for now, but i'll try that, thanks a lot!

Also, thanks to all who replied, yeah i lack on critical thinking, i need to focus on the rationale in each questions and from there i hope i develop my thinking skills because i'm so gonna need that big time. My hubby started to practice me by asking me a question or saying a word from the book and i have to explain it in my own words. *whew! a lot of hard work but it's all worth it!! :)

INLPN93 · Jan 28, 2011

There are loads of critical thinking workbooks out there.

Every topic; med-surg, peds, fundamentals, psych...

Try one of those to brush up on those skills.

There is a book called Review and Rationales for Fundamentals by Mary Ann Hogan. Great book, its a series for nursing and they *rock*.

NCLEX type q's with a review and all q's have a detailed rationale for the answer.