Help! 2 exams away from my RN degree

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

I am in my last semester of an RN program in Rochester NY.

The program has been great up until this last semester.

I have the professor from hell. He is cocky and arrogant and worst of all does not teach anything. I need to do very well on my last two exams (at least a B) I have very little in the way of outside help, so I am turning to all of you for HELP!!!

My next exam is on everything cardiac........ kinda vague but so is he (my professor) in 2 weeks. Any useful information anyone can give me will help as it will be better than no information LOL specifically on the meds and rhythm strip interpretation. And of course the dreaded NCLEX questions.

Thanks in advance

Debbie

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Hi and welcome to the site

Check out our student section and CCU forum sure you will find some help there, CCU can be found under the specialty tab and students under the student tab

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Good luck! Welcome to Allnurses!

I'm moving this post to the student forum where you might get some help, or at least some comiseration from people who understand.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

hi, debbie, and welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

is this a class in anatomy, pathophysiology or nursing? i have lots of links on the heart that you can take the time to explore during the vacation. the heart basically has two systems, the pump and the electrical system. you need to know how both work. all diseased conditions of the heart can be explained by how the normal anatomy or physiology has gone wrong. all arrhythmias can be explained by how the electrical pathway has gone heywire.

• http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/1056719919740hsfacts2003text.pdf
  
• http://www.fi.edu/learn/heart/
  
• http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/pharm/
  
• http://texasheart.org/hic/anatomy/anatomy.cfm
  
• http://www.skillstat.com/heartscapedemo.html
  
• http://www.gwc.maricopa.edu/class/bio202/cyberheart/cardio.htm - cyberheart - tutorials for basic heart anatomy, physiology and ekgs
  
• http://sln.fi.edu/biosci/heart.html
  
• http://cvphysiology.com/index.html
  
• http://www.guidant.com/physician/media/animation.shtml
  
• for specific disease information search the weblinks on this thread: https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/medical-disease-information-treatment-procedures-test-reference-websites-258109.html - medical disease information/treatment/procedures/test reference websites

you will also find links to anatomy and physiology websites on post #47 of this thread on allnurses:

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/pathophysiology-p-fluid-electrolyte-resources-145201.html - pathophysiology/a & p/fluid & electrolyte resources

you can find weblinks for information on rhythm strip interpretation on these threads of allnurses:

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f15/helpful-information-unit-140706.html - helpful information for the unit
  
• https://allnurses.com/forums/f9/excellent-resources-cardiac-nursing-172090.html - excellent resources for cardiac nursing

and, for help with answering nclex type test questions there is information on this thread:

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/looking-test-taking-stratagies-224581.html - looking for test taking strategies

i would just like to also say, and i am aware that you probably won't like hearing this, but you will do much better if you change your mindset to the thinking that it is your job to learn. the job of a teacher is to facilitate (assist) you in your study. professors can be friends or foes--it's your choice. if you take advantage of their office hours and ask them what other resources you can use to help learn the material, ask for advice on how to study for their tests and look around their office at the titles of the books they have stashed on their shelves there is much to discover that just may benefit you. you are also going to find that as a future practicing rn you will have to find a great deal of information on your own--no one is going to remind you to learn it unless it is a boss who is telling you this after you've screwed up. some nurses never "get" this and go through their careers as mediocre nurses who just barely get through each day of work.

[Conrad283, BSN, RN]

Please post your specific questions/concerns, and we'll help to answer them.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

after i posted my reply i got to thinking about some of the different cardiac conditions and thought of some things. heart failure and cad (coronary heart disease) are two biggies that get tested on a lot. both are very vague terms, however. heart failure manifests in several different forms: right-sided heart failure, left-sided heart failure and congestive heart failure. pulmonary edema is a symptom that occurs with each type. you need to know what is going on in each. ordinarily, left-sided failure occurs first followed by right-sided failure which proceeds to systolic dysfunction followed by diastolic dysfunction. a book of pathophysiology will explain the progression of heart failure and if you do not have a pathophysiology textbook a trip to the library to find this information would be worth the effort in developing an understanding of this subject. one of the best explanations i've seen of heart failure was in pathophysiology: a 2-in-1 reference for nurses published by lippincott williams & wilkins on pages 181 -188. one of the nicest explanations of preload and afterload that i saw was actually in a pharmacology textbook! here are some websites that have information about congestive heart failure:

• http://www.mahealthcare.com/practice_guidelines/congestive%20heart%20failure.pdf - clinical practice guidelines for heart failure
  
• http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=339 - signs and symptoms of heart failure
  
• http://www.chfpatients.com/ - chf patients.com

coronary artery disease is the biggest killer of people in our country. it is also known as atherosclerosis and the reason cardiac bypass surgeries are done and the reason people have angina and myocardial infarctions.

there is lots of information about the various heart diseases at this national institute of health website the specializes in the heart:

• http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/ - national heart lung and blood institute