I Need help and tips. Need as much advice as possible. Starting nursing school in Jan

Ayvah, RN · Oct 5, 2015

Get a medical terminology book from the library and complete the book by the end of the year. Having this knowledge will help you out in multiple classes.

Nikki2015 · Oct 5, 2015

I'm in my second semester of the nursing program....Some advise is...... take one day at a time, get a group of two or three people for study buddies, figure out what assignments you can do when you feel like you only have 2 brain cells awake and its 2am. When you think you can't do it, look at your classmates. Look at the person who is working full time and has 3 kids. Tell yourself "if they can do it, so can I!". If that doesn't work, look at your family and friends. They believe in you, now you just have to believe in you. If you already took it, review your pathophysiology. Finally, remember to take care of yourself, physically and emotionally.

Good luck!

ladysushi · Oct 5, 2015

I am starting nursing school in January as well. I have found some nursing students on youtube that have given me some great advice and also shared specific books and materials they use to help get them through nursing school. You should check a few of them out, I find they help relieve my anxiety

queserasera, RN · Oct 9, 2015

I'd brush up on medical terminology on a site like quizlet or studyblue - there is a lot of content there for free. Other than that, just chill for now. When it comes to doing well in nursing school my advice is this: read the assigned material before your lecture so that lecture is more of a review of the highlights. Focus on identifying the most important information. Remember, you're in nursings school to be a nurse, not a pharmacist, not a diagnostician - a nurse so approach the material from a nursing perspective. Assessments, nursing interventions, and patient teaching.

Don't over think it. Honestly, nursing school has turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. People make it out to be such a gigantic deal. But with some discipline and scheduling you'll be fine.

Bailando · Oct 9, 2015

Wow thank you alll soooo much for good and advice!! Keep em Comin if there are any more things on whatever. I'm super nervous and scared ESP cuz all I hear about is negative horrible things about nursing school. Thank you all ðŸ˜€ðŸ˜€ðŸ˜œðŸ˜€

Bailando · Oct 9, 2015

I'd brush up on medical terminology on a site like quizlet or studyblue - there is a lot of content there for free. Other than that, just chill for now. When it comes to doing well in nursing school my advice is this: read the assigned material before your lecture so that lecture is more of a review of the highlights. Focus on identifying the most important information. Remember, you're in nursings school to be a nurse, not a pharmacist, not a diagnostician - a nurse so approach the material from a nursing perspective. Assessments, nursing interventions, and patient teaching.
Don't over think it. Honestly, nursing school has turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. People make it out to be such a gigantic deal. But with some discipline and scheduling you'll be fine.

Glad to hear positive things about school! Thank you I appreciate that! And the tips on med term etc u mentioned. Thank you

Bailando · Oct 9, 2015

Glad to hear positive things about school! Thank you I appreciate that! And the tips on med term etc u mentioned. Thank you

Question does everyone read every single word in the chapters? I can't imagine how much reading there will be and having to read every word!

Cherylthewoundnurse · Oct 11, 2015

My best advice to you is to find at least one knowledgeable friendly nurse whom you can ask questions and who will provide advice and perhaps teach you procedures which you will need to know. Many nurses are willing to mentor student nurses. Just start asking the nurses at work questions and see who responds. Also, the best book you can possibly purchase for yourself is THE LIPPENCOTT MANUAL OF NURSING PRACTICE. It's expensive but well worth every penny! It has edited versions of what you need to know about most diseases, drugs used to treat and/or control them, care plans and associated nursing diagnosis, procedures, tests. Everything you need to to know about a specific health problem in a few pages! It is sooooo helpful when you are in a time crunch. Once you start using it you won't want to be without it! There are different editions as well, so get a recent one. Maybe someone will get it for you for Christmas. Also, consider purchasing a subscription to NURSING or RN magazine. I used to look forward to reading them every month. They are geared towards new nurses and students and are full of short informative articles. I frequently found it easier to learn complex ideas from magazine articles than my textbooks. Good Luck!

Ayvah, RN · Oct 12, 2015

Question does everyone read every single word in the chapters? I can't imagine how much reading there will be and having to read every word!

I did, and because of this I was one of the 30% who graduated in my nursing school. It all depends on your teachers and how they test. Go strong right off the bat and you can later decide what pages you can skip based on how your first test goes.

dec2007 · Oct 12, 2015

I think you learn your own personal style of speed reading; at least I did. Somehow, over the years of school, I developed a method of reading the material but slowing down and actually studying the sections of most importance. I'm not saying this very well. I wish I could explain it better. I did read all of my assignments, but when I'd get to sections that were obviously going to be important in my overall nursing knowledge base I would slow down, highlight, and take handwritten notes on paper that I could refer back to later. I don't know if that helps at all, but I hope it does.

Bailando · Oct 12, 2015

Thanks so much to everyone who has responded! They're all great tips and advice that I will be trying. Anymore you think of feel free to share. Thanks

JuliaRaquel · Oct 13, 2015

I feel like my greatest advice to you before going into nursing school is to enjoy your time right now. Relax, take a vacation, do whatever you want to do before you start. Nursing school exams hit you hard, almost every week there is one exam. I'm not saying you won't have a social life, you can certainly make time for it but the tests are nonstop. Don't get me wrong, it is a stressful experience but completely worth it.

For the first few weeks, you kinda feel around in your classes, try to establish your mode of studying as early as you can and stick to it if you find that it works for you. For me, I was never a flash card person so making those just wasted my time and resources. I hand write my typed notes when I have the time and re-listen to recorded lectures.

Find what works for you so you can utilize your time and study efforts the best

For books, I have the comprehensive NCLEX saunders review and the HESI NCLEX review books as a go to guide for when i'm lost in class. The comprehensive NCLEX book (aka purple book) is thick. Treat it as a bible. It contains interventions, drugs, quick outlines for each disease or system that you're studying.

The HESI book I used for a quick study or simply to study the HESI exams. Another resource for HESI exams is yourbestgrade.com

It will give you practice exams for each HESI that you will take in your program (unless your program uses ATI testing). yourbestgrade is pricey, but you can split the cost with a friend and share your login info.

Here are the links for the books

Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RNÃ‚Â® Examination, 6e (Saunders Comprehensive Review for Nclex-Rn): 9781455727551: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com

HESI Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination, 4e: 9781455727520: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com