Nursing school advice

Nursein2006 · May 24, 2005

Hi

congrats on starting, I just finished my 1 st year :) , the best advice I can give, is do the reading and DON'T get behind. I also found that learning it as opposed to memorizing things really helped, it brings it all together

Good luck

Denise

I'm starting my accelerated nursing program in July. I'm really excited but I'm also REALLY nervous. Any advice about what I can expect, what I can do to prepare myself, what supplies may be beneficial, etc. Any thoughts or comments would be very much appreciated!

:flowersfo

njh0325 · May 24, 2005

HI! I'm starting an accelerated program in August, and I am nervous too. I spoke with a bunch of people, though, and everyone said to study lab values. Good luck. :icon_hug:

JustJen, BSN, RN · May 24, 2005

First, Congrats....I will graduate in December but I remember how excited I was before I got started....its still exciting!

As one posted said, do the reading (at least skim the material) try to stay a day ahead of your class in that respect.

Second, buy a NCLEX book to go along with what you are covering for any given semester. I have really loved the Prentice Hall Review and Rationale books. I used one for Med/Sug , OB, Peds and it really helped pare down all the information into the real "meat and potatoes". The ones I have are basically outlines laid out body system by body system. They were really worth the money.

Third, if you get in over your head, ASK FOR HELP. Ask fellow students, ask tutors if your school has a mentoring program, and people here. THis is a great place because nurses are great teachers usually!

Again, good luck to you-

Jen

Jen2 · May 24, 2005

My best advice:

1. Do not get behind. (I was one of those students that actually read all the required readings)

2. Get into a good study group with students of similar goals and values. I had several people in my study group and we would divide up the assigned readings and we would each outline and type up notes for our assigned chapters and pass them out to everyone. This way we would have very detailed notes along with our class notes to compare. Therefore instead of outlining 10 chapters, I would read 10 and usually outline 2 or 3 and still have excellent outlines from everyone else. Then when we got into study group we would teach each other our assigned chapters. This worked wonders for all of us, because the instructors pulled many test questions from the readings.

3. If you can, stock up on needed items like deoderant, toothpaste, shampoo, pencils, highlighters, pens, paper, printer ink etc. I noticed being in school I was often too busy or tired to go shopping. I would be in such a rush to get to class that I would realize that I forgot to put deoderant on so I always kept spares in my bookbag and car. The whole time I was in nursing school my car looked like a studio apartment filled with snacks, water, deoderant and so forth.

4. Get a good pair of shoes you will need them.

5. Schedule some me time every week. You need to keep your sanity and your health.

6. Study every night, even if it's just reading over your notes or reviewing a NCLEX book.

7. Have fun and best of luck to you.

JustJen, BSN, RN · May 24, 2005

And another thing.....

If you have a family, it might not be a bad idea to start stocking up your freezer with meals that you can nuke and serve. For example, chili, meatloaf, etc. I know my first semester I ended up spending WAY TOO MUCH money on Boston Market, McD's, and Wendy's because I was too tired/busy/stressed to cook a decent meal. I learned my lesson and over Christmas Break I made extra spagetti sauce, meatloaf, chili, all kinds of good stuff and it was nice to know I had alternatives to buying junk if I wasn't able (or in the mood) to cook.

Jen

lady_jezebel · May 25, 2005

review anat. & phys. -- you will need that knowledge throughout school & beyond. you can never know enough. really know the systems. i recommend buying an a&p review guide NOW (one from the nursing section at a book store), something concise & with essential facts, and reading through it from cover to cover (& understanding all of it) before school starts.

i've been a nurse for 2 years now, and recently started working in the icu. i am expected to know pathophysiology (and a&p) in great detail, just to do my job.

nursey_girl · May 25, 2005

It's really important that you find the way to study that works for you. Everyone is different. My sister had to write and rewrite, I had to read and be comfortable with the info. All the advice given here has been good, reading, staying ahead, etc... Good luck!

lcazgirl · May 29, 2005

Thanks to all for the advice and well wishes. I really do appreciate your input. I've already begun some of the suggestions mentioned! Thanks again!

:)

GrnHonu99, RN · May 29, 2005

wow some really great advice already! first off, congrats!

I just started my acc. MN program 3 weeks ago...and in accelerated program world thats a lot of time!!! LOL....here are some of the things that have kept me going thus far...

1)make sure to get enough sleep, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to function if you dont...

2)get one of those digital voice recorders, you can transfer it to your computer and save all your lectures...also when im driving i listen to the lectures over and over again

3)frozen lunches/dinners...they are such a godsend

4)plan your week out on the weekend before...i gather up all my syllabuses and write everything out that is due that week, when its due, rank what i need to do first, etc..

5)read before class...

6)make friends you will need them!

7)most improtantly DONT GET BEHIND!!

njh0325 · May 30, 2005

Hey!! I'm doing an accelerated MSN program as well! What program are you doing, exactly? I am SOOO nervous! Was your undergradutae degree in nursing? Good luck, and please let me know how it goes!! ~Natalie

GrnHonu99, RN · May 31, 2005

Hey!! I'm doing an accelerated MSN program as well! What program are you doing, exactly? I am SOOO nervous! Was your undergradutae degree in nursing? Good luck, and please let me know how it goes!! ~Natalie

Sorry if you post was meant for the OP...I kinda assumed you were asking me? lol....My degree program is an M.N. program, which is a generic masters in nursing, I don't have the option for advanced practice but I can still go into management and teach down the road. My undergrad degree was in Psychology and Sociology. We started 3 weeks ago and let me tell you in acc. terms that is half the term already! We have covered sooo much and they arent kidding when they say accelerated! We have Pathophys twice a week every other week and we just had our fi rst test over 8 chapters! weve only ever had 2 classes and there several chapters she didnt have time to get to but we were still responsible for knowing them...its a lot of work and there is no way id have time to work! Im also finishing up 2 pre req classes at my local cc college (ap and micro) so that adds on to my stress level..lol...so far im doin ok but im workin my butt off...there definetly isnt time for slacking! its nothing like undergrad:) there are 30 students in my program and so far everyone is soo nice and very supportive! since there are so few of us we all know eachother pretty well, we study together, help eachother out...quite a change for me coming from an undergrad school of 50k (OHio State). All in all its a lot of work but I really like it, i'm sooo glad I chose this program:)

I was sooo nervous too my first day, I had no idea where I would fall in the whole realm of things, how my educational level would compare with everyone elses etc. The first week was wayyy overwhelming, i wont say it gets easier but you find your groove and things become bearable:) good luck and let me know how it goes for you, when do you start?