medsurg & pharm

[jessjay]

so i just started my second semester at chamberlain and it includes med surg and pharm. i was just wondering if anyone has any advice? my program is accelerated so ill have an exam each week for 16 weeks in medsurg and one exam a week in pharm. ive bought several study guides for medsurg but was interested if anyone has some helpful hints or tips for doing well... medsurg is feared at chamberlain bc instructors, students ahead abd even other faculty say this course ia very difficult.

[charli_appleRN]

Do you guys use ATI? If so, I suggest watching the pharm videos, doing the practice test, and making flash cards for your notes.

Med-surg is pretty much taking what you learned in funds and appling it to different disease processes. So far, it's been pretty easy and that's the part that is scarying me. I feel like it's almost too easy....where's the catch?

[jessjay]

im not sure if we use ATI, we do a lot of Hesi so im not entirely sure. the book we use is apart of evolve so i have those resources which seem to only help with the exams. i feel the same way about medsurg right now! we have over a week to study for our first exam which is on fluids electrolytes and acidbase balance and i feel like i know it better than i did in funds but i feel like its simple.. haha after my first semester, ive realized that practice questions help me a lot but im just curious as to what to expect from the course.. so i know how you feel!!

[mkatts19]

As long as you know your basics... You are as prepared as you can be. It's going to feel easy now, which is good.. way better than being confused.. but in med surg you're going to learn how to apply everything you know. Why does the patient have hypocalcemia when there's more phosphorus in the blood? Which diseases are affected by too much calcium and what do these people look like when thy are? Stuff like that. On the boards, you have to be able to apply all the info not just spit it out, so that's awesome that your classes are hard! It will challenge you and make sure you know that info before you leave that school. The most fearsome thing is an easy class.. meaning they're not preparing you or they're not challenging enough. Who wants to be taken care of by a nurse who didn't get as much info/understanding as the one who had to know everything in order to pass? If you're ever finding that you can't understand a concept through their lecture, there's a lot of books that will help you understand it in their ways too aside from what they recommend :). Good luck! Remember to have fun during school too and not just focus on studying!