Need Help To Prepare For Clinical

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Specializes in I don't have much experiance yet..

:nurse: I will be starting my first semester of clinical at the end of August, at DTCC in DE. It is for my associates degree in nursing (4 semesters) to become an RN. I have completed all of the prerequisites for the nursing program. However, it has been almost 2 years since I had A&P1 and 2. I just had Clinical Math last fall. I am trying to reveiw as much as I can before the semester starts. I do know that the first day of class, we have a math test for the instrutors to see where we are at and what we may need extra help on. B/c it has been so long since I have had courses like A&P, I am afraid that I will not remember certain things I may need to know. :o I did very well in all my courses but once class was over I was lucky if I remembered even half of the info. :banghead: If anyone can give me suggestions on what to reveiw, I would greatly appriciate it!!! Also, if anyone knows of websites that could help prepare me for nursing clinical, please post them or send me an e-mail ,([email protected]).

Thank you,

Jennifer :idea:

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Specializes in post-op.

Jennifer-

I don't really have any suggestions for you, but I also took my pre-reqs prior to being in the nursing program at my school and it had been 2 years for me as well. I have found that the nursing textbooks go over things enough for me to remember what I had learned in A and P. Also I saved my A and P books to reference if I need to. I also bought a pretty good Nursing/Medical dictionary which has been very helpful for things that I have forgotten, your school bookstore probably has them, I believe that mine us made by Mosby's. Good Luck! I am sure that you will do great!

Colleen

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Specializes in Cath Lab, OR, CPHN/SN, ER.

In my med-surg book, the beginning of units have an A&P chapter. -Andrea

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:nurse: I will be starting my first semester of clinical at the end of August, at DTCC in DE. It is for my associates degree in nursing (4 semesters) to become an RN. I have completed all of the prerequisites for the nursing program. However, it has been almost 2 years since I had A&P1 and 2. I just had Clinical Math last fall. I am trying to reveiw as much as I can before the semester starts. I do know that the first day of class, we have a math test for the instrutors to see where we are at and what we may need extra help on. B/c it has been so long since I have had courses like A&P, I am afraid that I will not remember certain things I may need to know. :o I did very well in all my courses but once class was over I was lucky if I remembered even half of the info. :banghead: If anyone can give me suggestions on what to reveiw, I would greatly appriciate it!!! Also, if anyone knows of websites that could help prepare me for nursing clinical, please post them or send me an e-mail ,([email protected]).

Thank you,

Jennifer :idea:

How are your clinicals structured? If its following the traditional format you'll probably only be doing Nursing Process stuff during the first semester clinicals. Process is very basic stuff like safety, ADLs, medication administration, etc. The med-surg semester clinicals that follow are the ones for which you'll need to freshen us on your A&P. They are going to go over all of that A&P stuff again (and much more in-depth) during the med-surg lectures.

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Specializes in ED.

Remembering back to my first experience, I would go over basic medications, so a good drug book is a must. Like Insulin, asprin, tylenol, antacids (to include H2 antagonists and antiulcers). Find out what clinical rotation you will be doing first. My first one was at a Geriatric Facility so we also gave alot of heart medications.

Know how to do vitals before you go. Know safety. Start to familiarise yourself with the nursing process and what a care plan looks like (it should all be in your fundamentals book). Also get familiar with disease processes common with aging (atherosclerosis, dementia, stroke). Skin integrity was a biggy with us.

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Specializes in I don't have much experiance yet..

Thank you very much for the advice!!! In the first semester I will be taking Nursing Care 1-A and Nursing Care 1-B. In the schedule, it says that we will be learning how to do vitals, medications, etc. So, you are probably right, the 1st smester will more than likely be pretty basic. I guess my nerves are getting to me.

Thanks again,

Jennifer

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Dont worry about the gap between your Prereq's and nursing school (i took my prereqs about 5 years -the max limit-before i started nursing school). All that stuff will come back to you as you go along in nursing school. But do know that nursing is an APPLIED learning style where you study the material and then apply it to situational case senarios. Its not like A&P where you can study about the heart and the questions consist of things like 'where is the pulmonary artery located?'

As far as clinicals, you might want to invest in a nursing med-surg handbook (Brunner). Its a small little book that contains the most common medical diagnosis and the nursing processes that go with it. That way when you get your assignment for a patient that has a small bowel obstruction, your handbook will tell you what it is, what to asses for, some common nursing diagnosis, and nursing interventions (the Nursing Process).

I wish you much success!

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