I wish sombody would have told me......

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I start nursing school in 6 weeks (5 weeks, 6 days to be exact) and I'm sooo excited I can hardly stand it! My question to all of you is; What do you wish you would have known either before, or during, your program?

I wish sombody would have told me...

Specializes in Correctional Nursing, Orthopediacs.

Flying under the radar never works. Nursing instructors can figure who is flying under then use you as the example of what not to do. The hardest nursing instructors are the ones minus personality but you learn the most from. Enjoy nursing school because after graduation those same pts. become your responsiblity not your instructors. You can and will make it through although at times it seems like your in school forever.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

1) Just because you are getting A's in pre-reqs does not mean you still will

2) It is possible to maintain your GPA or even raise it, but don't expect to have much of a life for the next few years

3) Some people will tell you to start studying for the NCLEX now...I did do HURST three times (twice before graduation on winter and summer break before my 5th and 6th semester and then right after graduation) but just focus on now

4) Get good rest before a test, a good nights sleep is very important; if you do not know all the material the night before its too late, cramming is not going to do you much good, but it will affect your concentration not sleeping well the night before

5) Ignore all those people that say the test was easy, avoid comparing your grades with anyone else

6) EVERYONE is nervous the first few times of clinical

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.

How hard it is to find a job after nursing school. It took me nine months and some of my peers ended up going into other fields because they couldn't find jobs after a couple of years.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

**** happens in all colours and forms.

As a 17y/o going out on the wards I was not aware of how black malena was, how red fresh PR bleeding was how green pseudomonus could be and how much some little old lady could pass into a pad!

Also ask questions, volunteer to do things with/for your preceptor nurse. Walking a pt may seem boring but it is a great assessment tool. You can see if they are able to walk independently, their stamina, do they need oxygen on return, can they stand up straight post operatively, can they deep breath and cough, can they manage stairs that they have at home independently. Feeding all of this back to your preceptor can change how this pt is going to be discharged, they may need rehab, home oxygen, a CXR etc. And that is just a walk. Imaging what you can learn showering someone.

Plus if you are doing these things your preceptor nurse is more likely to say to her colleagues XYZ is a great student, do you have anything fun/ interesting/different that she can observe you doing today. If you are just a tail and follow your preceptor around aimlessly (s)he is going to complain to her colleague that you are annoying/ show no knowledge ask no questions and they are not going to offer to take you to do something cool. Trust me :)

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AND MOST IMPORTANT: You can do everything wrong, and they can still live; you can do everything right, and they can still die. There's only one Person in charge of that, and it's not any of us.

So true! It's so easy to question yourself when you lose a patient.

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1) How you will feel 100% clueless some of the time, especially at clinical. Then, someone can ask you a question and you can rattle off information and sound like a "real" nurse or one of the "real" nurses complements you and you think, "Maybe I am starting to know what I am doing after all".

2) The first time you actually realize that you have people's lives in your hands and all of the emotions that go along with this.

3) You can study your patootie off and still get a C on a test.

4) Get your hands on any skill that you can. Practice makes perfect.

5) I agree that nursing school can make you feel every aspect of emotion. I have never been through anything like this before. I love it for the most part but there have been days I've ended up in tears, have been defeated, and have had my very last nerve tested. These days are the days that will teach you the most about yourself.

6) Take it one day at a time.

Good luck with nursing school! It's quite the adventure!

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

I wish someone had told me that my textbook bill for the entire course of nursing school would be more than $3,000. Dang.

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you WILL in time feel like a competent nurse, but it will probably take a lot longer than you think.

The more experience you get, the more you will realize you don't know. Learn from everyone and everything around you: how to do things better, what not to do, why this or that was ordered, why this or that is happening to the patient.

Everybody asks questions. it simply is not possible to know everything, no matter how many years you've been a nurse.

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get NCLEX question books and use them to study for tests throughout the semester. My professors would actually use the exact same questions out of the books or change the answers around......so if you are say learning cardiac or psych or endocrine system--whatever it is go to the questions in the book(s) for that topic and learn them. They give you the rationale for why the correct answer is the correct answer and why each of the others is wrong. I didn't learn this till pretty far in and wish I would have known earlier....they are trying to get you ready for HOW the questions will be asked on the NCLEX. I had two different books with just questions-- Saunders was one and another, can't remember which one. And then to study for teh NCLEX at the end I did as many questions as I could get my hands on.......and ready the rationale for the answers.........this was a tip I had gotten form a nurse friend of mine..............it worked....I passed first time.....75 questions and knew I had passed when I finished...........Good luck to you.

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get NCLEX question books and use them to study for tests throughout the semester. My professors would actually use the exact same questions out of the books or change the answers around......so if you are say learning cardiac or psych or endocrine system--whatever it is-- go to the questions in the book(s) for that topic and learn them. They give you the rationale for why the correct answer is the correct answer and why each of the others is wrong. I didn't learn this till pretty far in and wish I would have known earlier....they are trying to get you ready for HOW the questions will be asked on the NCLEX. I had two different books with just questions-- Saunders was one and another, can't remember which one. And then to study for the NCLEX at the end I did as many questions as I could get my hands on.......and read the rationale for the answers.........this was a tip I had gotten form a nurse friend of mine..............it worked....I passed first time.....75 questions, and knew I had passed when I finished...........Good luck to you.

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Specializes in ER.

I had just as many emotional/mental hurdles to get over through nursing school as educational ones. I think being exposed to illness and crisis every day gives you a lot to process. Get a debriefing buddy or group, and talk about your experiences.

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awesome advice here so far.

also, don't just learn things to pass exams. learn them because you need to know them as a nurse. make friends in the program and help each other throughout the program---exchange notes, remind each other of when stuff is due, quiz each other, drive to clinicals together... always challenge yourself---pick harder clinicals, study more than you have to, pick harder patients... all these things will pay off.

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