New Rn Student

originally posted by toutou

hi everyone,

i'm a new nursing student and i was wondering if anyone can give me any advise on surviving nursing school. please help:eek:

hello and welcome to the board!

i am a new rn student and there are many of us at the student nursing board, come join us! all the best to you.

my adivce, being a little positive, determined, believe in yourself, study, study, study, learn be young the "home work", ask question and by all means, keep the faith! we will be here for you and vent anytime!

breathe a lot........that always helps.

and................

pray!!!!!! :chuckle

good luck to ya!

Welcome TouTou:)

After your health and the priority needs of your family, PLEASE put school first for a while.

Nursing school, especially first semester is more than a full time job.

I don't know how those students who work near full time and have no help at home survive. They certainly show their stress, and their progress shows it.

The good news is, that there is lots of support and guidance available at most colleges. They can help you with tutoring, finding financial aid, helping cope with childcare arrangements, ...the works!

Also good news is that nursing school is a very small time of your nursing career. You won't always be studying instead of going out with your buds, and you won't always be so poor you eat ramen noodles 6 days a week. It will be worth it all in a just a few more semesters!

Now is the time to ask for and gratefully accept any help you can get from family, friends, classmates.

Don't forget to enjoy what you are learning. Nursing knowledge really is great. I'ts empowering!

I agree...if there is any way possible, don't work while you are going to school. I didn't work until my last 3 semesters, and then I only worked 16 hours a month...just to get some hospital experience beyond clinicals. My only other advice is to tune out the nurses you'll meet when you start your clinicals who are very negative about nursing.

I absolutely love my career and can't imagine why I didn't go to school sooner for this. Nursing school is a big challenge, it takes a lot of perserverance and time, but the reward at the end is well worth it.

Best of luck to you!

welcome tou tou. enjoy the journey !

:)

Thank you Everyone for the advise. Please keep them coming. I'll offer mine soon.

Best of luck to everyone also.

TouTou

TouTou,

Study what you learn that day every night, don't wait until the night before a test. It's too much. Don't laugh, but I kept my notes in the bathroom and every time I went in, I spent a little time studying. It's the only quiet place I could find. Good luck.

TouTou, Welcome! Unless a person has been to nursing school they cannot appreciate how intense it is! My advice to you is this: Do not procrastinate. Put your energy and studying in at the front end. The concepts you learn in the beginning will be visited again in greater and greater detail until you begin to put it all together into "the big picture" Some of my fellow students had the attitude of "just getting by" in the first few terms only to discover that we used that very information as a foundation for deeper learning. Don't dismay if it seems like you are "behind the curve" I was top in my class but felt very apprehensive about my progress (and so did everyone else). It really didn't begin to jell until well into my last year to school. And do not feel like you have to be an ace in school to be a good nurse. We had a joke in our school that C=RN (in other words, when it comes to grades and GPA's passing is the ticket to the profession). So strive for the best but don't be too hard on yourself. Remember that school is very artificial. The real learning happens when you get out there and nurse....and if you pay attention you will realize that nurses are ALWAYS learning something new. Good luck!

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

Just remember nursing school has never killed a student yet anyway

doo wah ditty

***TOOTHPICK***

To remind you to pick the good qualities in everyone, including

yourself.

***RUBBERBAND***

To remind you to be flexible.

Things might not always go the way you want,

but it can be worked out.

***BAND-AID ***

To remind you to heal hurt feelings,

either yours or someone else's.

***ERASER***

To remind you everyone makes mistakes.

That's okay, we learn by our errors.

***CANDY KISSES***

To remind you everyone needs a hug

or a compliment every day.

***MINT***

To remind you that you are worth a mint to your family.

***BUBBLE GUM***

To remind you to stick with it

and you can accomplish anything.

***PENCIL***

To remind you to list your blessings every day.

***TEA BAG***

To remind you to take time to relax daily

and go over your list of blessings.

Hi TouTou!

I can't offer much advice...since I'm not officially a nursing student but I just wanted to take a second and say WELCOME!!! :D:D

Always remember -- YOU CAN DO THIS! My tips:

Join a study group or start your own. In your study group, ask each person to review something from lecture and present to the group members (see one, do one, teach one -- the best way to learn!). If you start your own study group, be sure to ask people you feel comfortable with because you will be seeing a LOT of them over the next 2 years.

Don't miss ANY classes.

SKIM your reading material prior to the lecture. Post-lecture, reread CAREFULLY any section you didn't understand.

TAKE NOTES or record lectures.

Don't let clinicals make you nervous. There are plenty of people there to help you.

Accept that your fellow nursing students (no matter what age or walk of life) have a lot to teach you and learn from them as well as the instructors.

Saying "I don't know how, could you show me?" or "I need more practice, can you help me?" are much better than trying to muddle through on your own. The toughest (and best) nursing instructors are also the ones who want you to ASK when you don't know.

There are no stupid questions so ask away!

Learn to say NO in other areas of your life and practice saying it before you have to implement it.

If at any time, you feel like school is too much and you want to quit, talk to your nursing instructor FIRST.

Keep a good attitude and an open mind.

Finally, I will say that I got through nursing school with a high B average after a devasting divorce, with a full time job and 2 children, in a city where I had no family close by to help. If I could manage, so can you!