Nursing School with a toddler

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I am closer to the age of thirty, a former bartender, a new wife and mother to an 18 month old who is me; I have become accustomed to 4am study nights because that is the only time I can study. Working full time as a CNA at the hospital and being a mother doesn't leave much daylight. I started reading my Pharmacology book and on page 7 and I began to cry realizing that I didn't know anything, AP I and II and micro did nothing to prepaid me. Any advice anyone can give would be helpful, not to mention some encouraging words will be greatly appreciated.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

Just breathe. It's going to be okay. Starting nursing school is a very scary thing. Sometimes we allow that fear to overwhelm us. Think about it. Is it the fear of failure that has you feeling unprepared or do you think that you honestly need to review? You'll become familiar with the material once you've had more exposure. If you still feel like you aren't understanding maybe you could reach out to a classmate for help.

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Specializes in Psych.

First off, here's a >> because I totally get where you're coming from (single mom, 3 kids, you know the rest of the drill).

Pharmacology is very technical, but it is more similar to A&P than most other nursing classes. It involves a lot of plain old memorization. You will learn drugs by class. Most classes have a prototypical drug that gives you a strong idea of how all drugs in that class will behave. Focus on learning the action, special warnings and rough dosage/signs of toxicity for your prototype, then get the other drug names from the same class in your mind with the prototype. When you bump into a drug that you didn't really study, but you can link it to the prototype, I would expect you to have the right answer 90% of the time. Exceptions to that will stick out in your mind and they will be emphasized by the text and hopefully, the teacher.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community!

Take a deep breath. You aren't supposed to know anything....that is why you are in school

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

You will also need organization these have been developed not only for graduated nurses but two have been specialized by our beloved Daytonite (RIP) for students.

brain sheets.......here are a few.

5 Pt. Shift.doc

1 patient Float.doc

MTPMedSurg (2).doc

Report Sheet.doc

FinalGraduateShiftReport.doc

DAY SHEET 2 doc.doc

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