How should I prepare for nursing school?

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I was accepted into the nursing program (YAY!) and I start in the fall. Right now I am not in school because I was rejected last application period and did not have any classes I needed to take. I would like to start preparing for nursing school. Would brushing up on anatomy & physiology II help for pathophys? I saw that there are note cards posted on this website for pharmacology under the Nursing Assistance forum. Are those helpful? Would it be worth going through those? Anyone have any other ideas? I am so excited to start school again!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Clinical Documentation Specialist.

It's hard to figure out what a program wants before it starts, so personally I wouldn't worry about any of the pre-studying until you are there. I did that and found my efforts to be generally wasted. What I would suggest is getting your household in order. The one thing I wish I had done before hand was buy a freezer and fill it full of pre-made dinners. My cholesterol is now through the roof thanks to fast food.

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not really too much to get into order... i'm only 20 living with a couple roommates. I have two jobs but i'm still bored. been spending more time with friends, my boyfriend, and hobbies such as piano & working out, but i need more lol. i'm trying to find something to study to keep me busier. i think boredom is more stressful for me than business lol.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Clinical Documentation Specialist.

Oh! Don't stock up with roommates, it will all be gone in a week! lol And, you are young enough to recover from eating crappy for a couple of years. ;)

Have you considered volunteering? I started volunteering with the Red Cross for something to do this summer. I am becoming a CPR, First Aid & AED instructor for them. They pay for the instructor classes and you just have to commit to teaching 8 classes in a year. I plan on continuing to volunteer when I get my license and then can help in disaster relief too.

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I am about to finnish my first quarter, and it's been great so far. I am going to be volunteering at my local hospital once a week. In some places the job market is super tight, so getting a little exposure via volunteering could definetly help out your resume. Im in an RN program, after I take Fundamentals, i can take the CNA test and get licenesed for that, I don't know how other states handle that, but it's worth looking in to. Volunteering with the Red Cross is a great idea too!

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Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.
would like to start preparing for nursing school. Would brushing up on anatomy & physiology II help for pathophys?

No.

If you want to prepare for nursing school, punch yourself in the face out of the blue a few times a week. Hole up in a coffee shop with textbooks for 16 hours straight on a beautiful Saturday.

Start randomly yelling at your friends and family, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!," or, "I AM NOT PARTICIPATING IN FOR TWO YEARS!!"

Sorry. Kidding. (Kinda).

Prepare by enjoying your life and living as healthy and fun as you can until school starts. You will spend plenty of time studying and focusing your efforts where you need to once you enter the program.

Which school did you get into?

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sand_dollar is right though. without knowing what you need to know, you would just be wasting your time trying to study ahead of time. if you really need something nursing related to fill your hours until school, check out some nursing/medical (non textbook) books. I read a ton on frontier medicine and folk healing over the summer after my acceptance. you would be surprised how smart you look when you can explain the rational behind honey or maggot therapy to your class. congrats on your acceptance!

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Specializes in Neuroscience.

Take a nice long mental vacation. Your brain and psyche will thank you. You will have plenty of time to study in nursing school. For now, I suggest you read every book you ever wanted to read for fun, spend as much time with family as you can, sleep in as much as you can, shop til you drop, see a bunch of movies, spend time with friends outdoors, spent time petting and kissing your pets (if you have any), watch all of your favorite TV shows, and take a lot of vacations.

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Specializes in NICU.

Haha, I'm glad I saw this. I start in the fall too and I am lucky to have July and August completely free of work and school before nursing school. I think one of the worst things about waiting for the program to begin is the anticipation of how "hard, stressful, etc." it is going to be. I'm excited, don't get me wrong, but I'm dreading the horror stories I'm hearing (and that's with taking everything everyone says with a grain of salt). I will definitely be getting my house in order (got to get that office all ready to be studied in), exercising A LOT, practicing cooking meals that are quick (or freezable) and spending as much time with my "new" husband as possible (we are getting married late June). I've also been trying to explain to my husband/family that I will be VERY busy and to not take it offensively if I don't make it to much during the school year or if I'm irritable (we get summers off). Oh and I've also been looking over some time management skills and have started becoming best friends with my planner as I know I will depend on it heavily soon enough. Cheers to the "fun" of NS!

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