7 is my lucky number this semester! Please help!

aflanagan9 · Aug 18, 2010

Ah yes - we had to hear that "C means Continue" crap throughout my school; but you're right - B is Better (and A is Awesome!).

Anyway - the trick to Peds (at least at my school) is getting the growth & development down, the milestones. As a matter of fact, I had a couple of questions on the NCLEX that hinged on this, so don't assume it's filler and overlook it. At the risk of appearing gender biased (if so- sorry, no offense meant), our guys did seem to have a harder time in Peds; they seemed to have less experience observing children than the women, especially women that have kids. Not many of our men were dads, though, and those that were maybe watch their kids differently? I dunno, just a theory. Anyway, I was talking with a friend in Peds clinical, and he mentioned he was having a hard time getting the the G&D milestones; I don't have kids either, so I told him how I was relating to it by matching up behaviors I've seen in my niece & nephews as they've grown over the years. A couple of weeks later, he told me he was starting to make the connection by making a point to observe his friends' kids and see the developmental milestones in action - they really don't stick until you see them.

As for Psych, I had a very demanding instructor that built everything on a foundation of the 12 Ego Functions. I sweated bullets in her clinical, and not because of the psych patients, either, but I made an A in lecture, and breezed the psych parts of Exit & NCLEX exams because of that scary woman. Although the Ego Functions aren't the key to Psych the way that G&D is to Peds, I found understanding the big six was very helpful in recognizing features of different illnesses, and from there you can start to analyze patient communication, and then work on your Therapeutic Communication. The big six of the Ego Functions have the handy mnemonic RJOIST: Reality testing, Judgement, Object relations, Impulse control, Sense of reality of the world and self, & Thought processes. Another important thing she instilled: from a certain psych approach, all behaviors are attempts to reduce or avoid anxiety - remembering that came in useful quite a lot in Psych.

So I hope this helps - good luck

itsmejuli · Aug 18, 2010

To repeat myself again:

Get yourself a Saunder's NCLEX review book. There are hundreds of questions from each subject area. Use the cd, do all the questions and read the rationales for the subject area you're covering in class. Get in the habit of doing 100 questions a week.

I did this all through LPN school and made straight As, did well on HESI exams and passed the NCLEX the first time.

I'll do exactly the same for my RN classes.