I need help with Fundamentals of Nursing

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jul 9, 2012

I think the reason fundamentals is hard is because you are learning a new culture, a new language and how to really and truly study. It could be that the test questions are on a higher level than what you have had in the past and that makes them "harder". When I was in graduate school I had a course on how to write test items and how to dissect the questions. I kept thinking I should have had that course way back when.

My recommendation is, after you get your test results, make an appointment with the instructor to see if he/she has any insight into how you could have improved your score. Ask to see the questions while in the office, so you can learn how the structure of the question might have "tripped you up". Perhaps a study partner would help?

brillohead, ADN, RN · Jul 9, 2012

i posted this in another thread, and i'm just going to copy/paste it here to save time.

i would recommend that you get some academic counseling from someone in the nursing department. you need to figure out what you're having problems with and what you can do to work around that problem. because if you don't fix what's wrong, you're going to struggle with every subsequent class the same way you're struggling with these -- nursing classes are all pretty similar in the way they are set up and the types of questions that are on the exams.

for example, do you have trouble learning the diseases? maybe try reading the same chapter from a different textbook to see if it makes more sense (one semester our book was a real snooze-fest... all the information was factual, but it would put you to sleep if you tried to read it!). different authors have a different approach to things, so reading the same info in a different book might be enough for you.

or do you have trouble remembering the nursing interventions that go along with a disease? maybe write them out longhand, then type them up, then write them out on a whiteboard in the room where you study. make flashcards to carry with you (or to download onto your phone). come up with mnemonics to help you remember them. put them in a rhyme. sing them in a song.

or do you have trouble "reading" the questions on the tests? this inability to read the critical-thinking format is the biggest problem that i see with my classmates, to tell you the truth. you need to be able to find the stem of the question and work from there. there are several books that help with this. this one is just an example, there are several others out there as well. another thing that can help with this problem is to read nclex review books that have both questions and rationales in them. it's not enough to just know that "c was the correct answer" -- you need something that says, "a is incorrect because _________ and b is incorrect because _______ and c is correct because ___________ and d is incorrect because _________". this helps you to look back at the question again to analyze what exactly they were asking for.

i've found that nursing exam questions typically offer up four items from which to choose, and two are easy to throw out as being totally wrong, then there are two others that both seem correct. reading the rationales in a book of nclex questions can help you to discern which of the two correct answers is "most correct".

but first, you need to figure out what exactly it is that you're not getting and figure out a way to get beyond that issue. use the resources that are available at your school -- i guarantee you that the nursing instructors have helped hundreds before you and have a lot of valuable information to share with you.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2012

brillohead said everything i was going to say. i've been faculty. believe me, faculty want students to pass. they love nursing, they want others to love it too, they want students to graduate and be good nurses so they can take care of their faculty in their old age. faculty tear their hair out over students who don't ask for help when they can see a mile away that the student is struggling.

my daughter is a physics professor. she had a haiku on her door when she was teaching as part of her phd program:

office hours.

no one comes in, though i am here now.

perhaps they'll all fail.

go in. ask them. they have seen it before.

missk88 · Jul 10, 2012

Brillohead,

Wow, thank you. That was a very insightful answer. I think that my biggest problems are trouble remembering nursing interventions that go along with disease as well as problems reading the questions. I will definitely check that book out that you recommended. I actually ended up getting an 80, which is far better than failing, but since I'm usually an A student I definitely want to improve. Thank you so much for your reply, I really appreciate it!

missk88 · Jul 10, 2012

GrnTea,

Thank you for your reply! It is reassuring to know that teachers wants us to pass. My Fundamentals class actually has two teachers, one of which seems to fit what you say, she's super sweet and is always available to talk and answer questions. The other one, not so much. She's pretty cold and when you ask her questions she'll answer them in a way that passively aggressively says "Why am I answering this, you should know this." Thank god for the nice one! I think I'll be alright if I follow brilloheads advice and keep yours in mind. For now I will try my best to stay on top of material and ask the "nice teacher" if I have any questions. :)

johnny depp23 · Jul 10, 2012

Just buy one of them MADE INCREDIBLY EASY or DEMYSTIFIED books on Fundamentals of Nursing.

LunaPuma · Jul 10, 2012

Speaking as a current nursing student who is only half way through the first trimester, I can tell you that Fundamentals isn't that big of a deal. Don't get me wrong; It's an important subject, but there are soo many more important subjects to be focused on.

I was able to make it through Fundamentals with an 87 average. What I did was read, read, read! I think the reason that subject is harder for some people to grasp is because it's more critical thinking and opinionative than it is dead set facts. You'll probably be amazing in A+P, if you're anything like some of my fellow classmates. Something else that helped me was highlighting ONLY WHAT THE TEACHER GOES OVER!! That helps to narrow down the study content greatly, so as to keep you from getting too overwhelmed. Not saying that you shouldn't read over the entire chapter(s), but if you'd just like to make a good(and not excellent) grade, than I would focus on key points.

Another thing that my instructor sugggested to us is write down some questions with some classmates overnight or whatever, and then swap question lists with each other. That way, you are both reading different areas, and you'll be more used to seeing questions worded differently, making you more prepared and better familiar with the subject.

Good luck!

brillohead, ADN, RN · Jul 10, 2012

brillohead,
wow, thank you. that was a very insightful answer. i think that my biggest problems are trouble remembering nursing interventions that go along with disease as well as problems reading the questions. i will definitely check that book out that you recommended. i actually ended up getting an 80, which is far better than failing, but since i'm usually an a student i definitely want to improve. thank you so much for your reply, i really appreciate it!

you're very welcome! that book was actually recommended to my entire cohort at our orientation by a member of the faculty. there are others in the same series, too, like med-surg, etc., if you find it helpful.

as i said, the biggest problem i see in my classmates is confusion about what the question is actually asking for, and my instructors just love putting in answer choices that are factually correct, but not actually what was being asked. it's not uncommon to see a question asking "what intervention would the nurse add to the care plan" and then offer choices that include three really great goals and one intervention. so while all three of the goals might be things you'd love to see happen in this situation, they aren't actually interventions, so you can't choose them as your correct answer.

people complain that these are "trick questions" but the long and short of it is that as a nurse, we're going to be asked to pick and choose the relevant information for a particular situation, and so asking these "trick" questions helps prepare us to stop, take a breath, and figure out what's really important to know right now. if you've got someone on your unit with pneumonia, do you really need to know the range-of-motion they have in their left hip?

it's kind of like story problems in math class when you were little... some people just get so discombobulated by the combination of numbers and words, that they see the test like this:

if you're allowed to have highlighters with you during exams, go ahead and mark up the question. use one color to identify the stem of the question -- what are they wanting you to give them? use another color to identify info that you know to be relevant. go ahead and cross out info that you know to be totally irrelevant (does it really matter that the patient's name is p.w. and that they're in room 308?) -- just watch for stuff that may-or-may-not be important. sometimes age or gender is relevant, but often it is not (you're not going to bring a urinal to a female patient; some lab values are different for male/female or younger/older patients... but lung crackles are lung crackles in any age/gender).

when faced with a "select all that apply" question, look at each option like a separate true/false question instead. if it's true, it's one you select; if it's false, you leave it be.

and congrats on the 80%!

brillohead said everything i was going to say.

wow, i feel special!

aachavez · Jul 11, 2012

I DESPISE 'select all that apply' questions. If I'm going to miss something, THIS is where I'll miss it.

When faced with a "select all that apply" question, look at each option like a separate true/false question instead. If it's true, it's one you select; if it's false, you leave it be.

Great tip! Thanks for sharing! Also the cartoon... i Just finnished algebra and that's what was in my head the whole term! haha

Pat2012 · Jul 13, 2012

My advice would be to do NCLEX style practice questions on whatever you are being tested on, and make sure they have a rationale so that you can understand why the answer is right or wrong. Reading, listening, etc, is all good, but what they really look for is can you apply it and think critically. Practice questions that are NCLEX style and have rationales, can help you think this way. Do you have the book "Fundamentals Success" by Patricia M Nugent and Barbara Vitale? This was a great help to me, and it's divided off into sections so that you can focus on the areas you need to focus on. It includes rationales, and CD and is part of the Davis's Success Series...

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jul 13, 2012

don't think that studying the same way you did with non-nursing courses is going to be as effective for you as it was then. nursing is different-- it requires a whole different way of thinking about the things you've learned in the past and putting them together to make nursing judgments. (this is what they call "synthesis" in the ed biz.)

you have to learn how to put it all together. find an nclex-style review book that gives you the rationales not just for the right answers but tells you why the wrong ones are wrong. you'll need to know all of that.