HOT TIPS: a NuRsInG school survivor's guide for dummies ;-)

[CaLLaCoDe]

recently i was reading rnsoon's thread titled too many negative remarks regarding nursing school here!! stop the discouragement!! and i really enjoyed reading everyone's posts. and for some reason, don't ask me why, i thought of this subject. what would you have liked someone to have told you before you'd ever started or while you were in the trenches of nursing school?

i won't be a hog and fill up web space with all my precious tips, that would be just plain selfish and wouldn't add to the pleasure of hearing all of your amazing tips. besides, i know you have something you're dying to share! and please add as many tips you can muster up!

i will take the liberty to begin:

tip # 1! don't ever correct your instructor ever!!! no matter what! even if you know in the heart of hearts you are right!

explanation: don't be surprised if you fail your first care plan with this instructor. it might just teach you to humble thyself and get through the darn program!!!

[vashtee, RN]

#20. Buy the best shoes you can afford to buy (with arch support!) and consider the compression socks if you don't want varicose veins.

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

#21 If you can, carpool on clinical days; others can catch up on their sleep while an alternate does the driving. Additionally you can vent with others following a difficult clinical rotation.

[jojotoo, RN]

Keep your mouth shut, your head down, don't make waves. The whole point is to get through nursing school, pass the NCLEX, get a job, and THEN learn what nursing is all about.

There's going to be a lot of posters that say ,"No way", and that I'm too cynical, but that is my personal, first hand experience.

[allthingsbright]

Learn to skim-read. There is no way to keep up with all the reading and do the 1000 other things required of you each week. Skim, pay attention to areas you really dont understand, & use references like the Incredibly Easy series and NCLEX review books.

Also, share notes/study guides/note cards with a couple friends. Its amazing the stuff you will miss in lecture and they will pick up. Study group are cool.

Never EVER correct/argue with your lecture instructor, clinical instructor or the RN whose patient you are caring for at the clinical site (they are the pros, after all). (I cant believe people have the you-know-whats to do this!) If you have a valid complaint/concern, address it in a non-argumentative, professional manner.

(I'm almost done w/ nursing school! SHEW!)

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

#29 If you have an instructor go over something you did wrong in clinical, don't even try to make excuses! You'll be digging you're own grave!

Don't be surprised if you fail your first nursing exam. Even if you made A's in all of your other college classes.

This is so true! Tell this to my straight A UC IRVINE wife and she'll shrug in disbelief. We had a Mills College Chemistry major graduate report that she never quite knew where she stood regarding test results prior to seeing those test results mind you!

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

#30 Tape all lectures if permitted to by the instructor. Great way to 'study' while on the road. Transcribing a lecture is a great way to review prior to test time.

PS. I know I've added three tips so far and I stated in my beginning post that I wouldn't be a hog and use all of them up, but wait! Others have survived nursing school and are begging me to allow them to give even better tips on this matter of getting through the program...

[amberfnp]

#31 For those of you who have "test anxiety", ask your instructor/head of school if you may take your test separate from the class, for example in the school library, where you can be proctored.

We had a few students in my diploma class who utilized this option and their test grades improved. This may not be an option in some larger schools/programs though. In our library, we had small rooms, like closets with a small desks really, where people could go to read/study in private. No materials were allowed and library staff proctored.

#32 If your school offers or recommends and NCLEX review upon graduation--take it!

And I 2nd the need to have a current NCLEX review book. One of my instructors was an item writer for the NCLEX and getting the book was the best advice I received! I believe it was the WB Saunders review. I reviewed the corresponding chapters to the material we were covering and found many similar questions on our tests! Not to mention, it gets you prepared for the NCLEX as you go!

[linzz]

Do not complain about anything. It will not go over well. The school will not change their ways, you have to fit with them and with the clinical sites. My other tip is to reflect on any criticism you get and take responsibility for it, in nursing you need to get used to eating lots of humble pie.

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

Turn off your cell phone while your're in class!

Case in point: We had a premadonna in our class who would receive a call in class while the lecturer was lecturing, just sit there as if she was in a phone booth or proceed to walk out of the class continuing conversing with the other over something in particular....talk about gaul! LOLOLOL