Nursing Students Unite

[Alexis4]

I am a BSN student and I know that most everyone who is in or has been in nursing school at one time will agree that it is tough, as it should be. I also know that with all of us who have been through it there have got to be some tricks of the trade, some hints, secrets, something to help make it through nursing school. Good study tips? Special snack recipes great for studygroup? How do you make the mindnumbing semesters seem shorter? Whats the best way to relax before a huge exam? Clinical stories to tell? Helpful hints?

Anything you would like to share would be greatly appreciated!

[Alexis4]

wow so much advice so fast! thanks to everyone all of your tips will be put to good use!

[algebra_demystified]

Oy mate I was impressed until you suggested wiki as a credible source lol.

Advice to all, stick to scholarly journals and skip the wiki. Wiki is not peer reviewed......

Anyway, maybe you were being a little sarcastic its hard to tell hehe

Wikipedia is a great source for the basics. I don't think you need peer reviewed journals to follow a drop of blood through the circulatory system.

If you want to look things up in paper books you're going to need a very large table to spread them all out. But, do what you want.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I second the "record yourself reading notes/textbook" and listening to it. My unwind pleasure this past semester was soaking in my jacuzzi bathtub. In order to justify the time I wanted to take out of studying to do that, I made recordings. And that stuff stuck with me.

Get your med-math skills down to an automatic "do it in your head" level.

Buy a crockpot and use it. It is a wonderful feeling to come home from school and not have to worry about making dinner.

In that vein, mind your nutrition closely. Almost all of my class gained between 3 and 15 lbs over the semester. Try to make time for exercise too.

When you have down time, enjoy your family and friends. Socializing is a great stress reducer. You will be tempted to say no to every single invitation. Accept a few.

If you are a partier, get over it now. Nobody struggled in skills lab, lecture and clinicals more than those who felt the need to tie one on and then show up hung over.

Make friends with your classmates and stay out of any drama that comes your way. Learn to walk the political line, to not take sides and to keep your eyes on the long term goal while still maintaining a good relationship with others. It is a skill that you will use constantly in life.

Let your passion for this guide you. There are moments of pure joy in this that really help carry you through the times that suck. When one of those hits, savor it, file it in your memory and pull it up to recall when you are low and struggling.

Learn to delegate. Get your family on board, make your schooling as much their accomplishment as yours. You will NOT be able to do it all.

[cmonkey]

Come hang out on the Student forum here at Allnurses! I have picked up tons of helpful tips.

I have picked up the habit of watching DVDs in 10 minute increments before I fall asleep. I watched 8 seasons of Scrubs this way, along with a passel of movies from the public library. It takes my mind off school, which lets me relax enough to pass out. My other option seems to be nightmares about whatever I'm studying or being too stressed to fall asleep, so I'll worry about altering this habit after I graduate in December.

We got the Wii disc from Netflix and it ROCKS. I just put a butt-ton of stuff in our queue (Buffy! Battlestar Galactica! All five DVD seasons of Lost!) and whenever we want, we can just plop down and watch a show. The kids have Rocky and Bullwinkle going right now.

I suppose this won't work if you have the Wii in the living room like we do, but it's letting us cancel the cable. And that's no small thing, since it's $130 a month. WHAT?? I don't even know how we agreed to that. One more pile to chunk into the debt snowball, whee!