Medical Surgical Nursing

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How do you study for this class??

when you read, don't read as if you're just reading the words. you gotta read and understand what you're reading. so, just read and re-read until you understand i guess.

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Specializes in long term care.

Everyday after I get out of class I go home and start making a study guide of what my instructor emphasized on. Then I got a buddy who reads my study guide and puts information she felt was important on there or stuff that I missed, so we have one study guide to look at before the test to study. That helps out a lot. I'm the type of person though I need it said bluntly and I'll get it.

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Everyday after I get out of class I go home and start making a study guide of what my instructor emphasized on. Then I got a buddy who reads my study guide and puts information she felt was important on there or stuff that I missed, so we have one study guide to look at before the test to study. That helps out a lot. I'm the type of person though I need it said bluntly and I'll get it.

This would be great. Too bad my teacher doesn't actually teach us much of anything :( She reads out of the book, sometimes makes us wait 3 hrs to take a test (she said "i'll be there in 5 minutes" over and over so long that the class was not just over, but the next class had already started before she finally gave us our test, and I hear almost every class period about how she doesnt like being there, is not paid enough, is looking for another job so she can leave ect (which would jeopardize our program as she's our only MSN). The tests are super tough and I am learning a lot, but when I've tried to use my teacher as a guide, I've ended up bombing the test, because half of it was on things she didn't even read, and her "lectures" are just her reading the book (and skipping big important parts/stopping early and telling us to finish it ourselves) We had a substitute who reviewed everything pertinent with us, really helped us comprehend the material and reviewed test material before the test, and when she left she was treated badly and we were "lectured" for being let off the hook too easily/somehow conning her into doing things she wasn't supposed to. Nobody did, and she did not "give answers" but since everyone's grades jumped a good 10-15 points on average our regular teacher and the head of the program just assumed that the problem was the substitute, and not our teacher.

Sorry just ranting. Really sick of nursing school atm lol

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Specializes in long term care.

That's horrible! The only thing I can think of right now then for you is to kinda disregard her lectures. Listen to important stuff, but focus more on outlining the chapters. Go through every disease if you have to. It will take a lot of time, but while making the outline and rereading it you should know the material.

Are there any teachers there that you can go to about this teacher? If nothing else a group of you need to go to the head of the program and let them know how she's acting. That's not the way a teacher should be.

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Are there any teachers there that you can go to about this teacher? If nothing else a group of you need to go to the head of the program and let them know how she's acting. That's not the way a teacher should be.

We did this yesterday. Our entire class stayed after the test (minus 1 person who had told off the teacher the day before - I'm suprised she was not kicked out of the program honestly). We asked our teacher to come to the class room so we could talk. She brought the program head with her (we were trying to follow chain of command). We were very mature, asked in a positive way for more help, a different teaching method (interact with us, break down the material for us, ect), and brought up that it was unfair that half of the class was able to review their last test before our final and the other half wasnt because they were in her clinical group and we were not. (our final is made up in part from questions from prior tests as they all come from the same test bank) We tried very hard not to make anything personal or attack anyone or place any blame. We just wanted help. We were told to find a tutor for one, and that if we did not like it we could find another place to go to school. We were also told by our teacher that she "can tell it (the material) but she cant teach it, she just doesnt have those skills" (her words exactly) We were also told that the way the substitute graded tests/quizzes were wrong and they were going to be re-graded, some going up and some going down. So nobody has a clue what are grades are for the past 1/3rd of the semester until we sit down with her on Monday (she wants to sit with us each individually and review our grades monday)

All that being said though, we're just waiting to see how this is going to play out, because I think that after everything settled back down they had time to think about it, and I'm hoping that they have had an opportunity to rethink things. All I can do is give them the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. The tests have been taken and its in her hands to decide if we can proceed. We have two students who definitely are failing out, and I know that students fail out every semester in nursing school, but even the "smart" students are in jeopardy. It could very easily be down to like 3 students left after this, if we all bombed this test.

Praying hard atm. :)

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http://www.flashcardmachine.com/med-surg-nursing.html

a GREAT website ...theres so much to choose from, so if you just go back to the healthcare, there are many more. I just found this website and i wish i had found it earlier since my final is on thursday...but better late than never

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Specializes in A wide variety.

Do you have ATI books? Great tool to help summerize the material and it is easier to understand and retain.

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Do you have ATI books? Great tool to help summerize the material and it is easier to understand and retain.

maybe I'm just having a blonde moment (I am, I do :) ) but what are ATI books? Could you post the name or ISBN or whatnot so I can find them? I'll try anything at this point to help me understand. Especially if there is one for Pharmacology. My brain is spinning atm.

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Hi there,

This is for DarkRainyDays (are you in Seattle?? ;)

"... Could you post the name or ISBN or whatnot so I can find them? I'll try anything at this point to help me understand. Especially if there is one for Pharmacology..."

ATI books are put out by a company called Assessment Technologies Institute and can be found at ATItesting.com. I haven't ever seen their stuff in a bookstore. I know of them b/c my school uses it as a supplement to our studies. It is a series of books, dvds and online practice tests for each subject area of nursing. They are supposed to increase your ability to understand the subject matter and pass the NCLEX.

We haven't really used them much yet in the first half of the program, but the students in the second half are required to use the materials all the time. In fact, they have NCLEX predictor type tests, and the program director has made passing these a requirement of graduation.

Anyway, hope that helps :)

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Hi there,

This is for DarkRainyDays (are you in Seattle?? ;)

"... Could you post the name or ISBN or whatnot so I can find them? I'll try anything at this point to help me understand. Especially if there is one for Pharmacology..."

ATI books are put out by a company called Assessment Technologies Institute and can be found at ATItesting.com. I haven't ever seen their stuff in a bookstore. I know of them b/c my school uses it as a supplement to our studies. It is a series of books, dvds and online practice tests for each subject area of nursing. They are supposed to increase your ability to understand the subject matter and pass the NCLEX.

We haven't really used them much yet in the first half of the program, but the students in the second half are required to use the materials all the time. In fact, they have NCLEX predictor type tests, and the program director has made passing these a requirement of graduation.

Anyway, hope that helps :)

Thanks for the info. haha no not from Seattle. I was just having one of those super bad days one day and it was dark and pouring rain for almost a week straight so it seemed appropriate. :)

We started Pharmacology and once we got to the meds part suddenly Med Surg didnt seem so hard anymore in comparison. Its funny how that works. I am definitely always searching for ways to better understand my material though. This semester has been killing me

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