med surg help

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I am in my second semester of school to be a LPN. We just started med surg in January and have already had 2 HUGE tests. Although I did okay on these two, I am finding it kind of hard to keep everything straight. Is this normal? We have two clinicals a week on a med surg floor and it's not that bad. It is just the testing. It just seems like I can hardly keep a grasp on some things. I think that I know the material well, I just have extreme test anxiety. Does anyone have any advice?:o

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Ok, I'm a second semester RN student up to my eyeballs in med/surg right now, and let me just say this.

Med/Surg is a whole other ballgame. It's disease process. You have to know the disease process before you can even begin to answer questions on a test about priorities, assessments, interventions, and outcomes.

My advice is this: get the physiology made easy book. It's not that expensive, like between 30 and 40 dollars. It will help simplify everything.

And some test anxiety tips? Well, for me, I started taking our scratch paper or the scantron and placing it over the answers while I read the question. I'd read the question and underline the most important info then ask myself, what is the question really asking me for? I'd come up with my answer, then look at the options.

Take a deep breath. Know the material. Take your time. NEVER second guess yourself-- your first response is almost always right.

Good luck to us both! (: We'll make it through Med/Surg!!! We will make it!! (:

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

hi, kad13579, and welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

many times in lpn school you are getting all the subjects that are often taken as pre-requisites for rn schools combined with your nursing studies. nursing school isn't just about learning the nursing care. you also have to know the normal anatomy and physiology of the body as well as what the abnormal anatomy and physiology is when there are diseases (this is called pathophysiology). in addition, you also have to learn about a number of medical diseases and conditions: their signs and symptoms, how the doctors diagnose them, what they order to treat them, and what your role in carrying out those treatment orders is.

some time ago i found a wonderful list of helpful weblinks on an lpn school site that was posted to help lpn students help find some of that disease and test information. since then, i've expanded upon the list. it is posted here:

there is also a critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students attached to the end of this post. it is actually a link to a word document that you should be able to open up and print out when you click on it. [if you have any problems opening the file send me a private message and i will make sure you get a copy of the file.] it will help you organize information about each medical disease that you study. in a nutshell, each disease produces signs and symptoms that correlate with the failure in the anatomy and physiology that is going on during a disease. learn those and it is easier to remember all the drugs and treatments that also go along with it. the doctors (and us nurses), in general, aim treatment, drugs and labwork at those signs and symptoms. once you realize how this is being done, it is easier to organize the material in your mind and learn it.

the application type questions (critical thinking questions) in lpn and rn nursing schools require that you apply knowledge of a lot of different material that the question assumes you to know and reach into your mind to help you figure out the answer. the question will give you no help as to what material you need to recall to answer the questions correctly--this is where your ability to think comes in. that is the little trick about these questions. that is why they say these questions involve "critical thinking" and "applying" information you should know. that is why they are called application, or critical thinking, questions. and, nursing schools aren't the only groups that use these types of questions to test their students. so, don't feel that we nurses are being singled out here.

the basic strategy for answering critical thinking (application type) questions in nursing is as follows, you must:

  • know and consider the normal anatomy and physiology
  • know and consider abnormal anatomy for the disease in question
  • know and consider the resulting signs and symptoms when the disease occurs and how they proceed from mild to fatal - each sign and symptom can be related back to the pathophysiology of the disease
  • know and consider how the doctor diagnoses and treats the disease in question
  • know nursing interventions for the signs and symptoms you are being asked about
  • know the steps of the nursing process and what goes on in each of the steps and consider how they are affecting the question you are being asked
  • know and consider the principles behind the actions being done - there are many kinds of principles: principles of nursing, principles of biology, principles of chemistry, principles of physics, etc.
  • read the stem of the question carefully and answer that because the test makers try to trip you up by distracting you with conflicting information they give you in the answer choices that sound good but have no relationship to what the question is asking for
  • ask yourself "why" a patient is experiencing some sign or symptoms to get at the underlying problem. nursing like other disciplines treats the problem/signs and symptoms.

there are also two threads on allnurses that you should review the websites on for study and test taking information:

here is information and advice on test-taking anxiety:

good luck. see you on the allnurses student forums!

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I am taking Meg Surg 3 right now. I managed to get a 3.4 so far in all nursing courses. The best advice, read the book and understand the pathophysiology of the disease processes and know what would the next do first. I have noticed my instructor asking alot of questions about initial signs and late signs. For the medications, the side effects actions and timing are important. When I did Neuro, I compared in contrast diseases. Med Surg is not that bad if you can understand the patho. Good luck to you

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thank you guys so much!! I just had my respiratory med/surg test and i made a 98!!! I couldn't believe it. Thank you all for your advice.

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