please help first semester nursing student

Mijourney · Jan 13, 2001

Hi peaceful2100. Congratulations on your success in school so far. It seems you have alot on your plate for this semester. I believe that being a parent is a job. One that is not taken lightly by most.

I'm glad that you think enough of nursing to want to do well in it. Nursing is at a crossroad, and posters have been alluding to the fact that the provision of it has become more intense as the population ages. I feel that one thing that you may want to consider if you haven't already is having a planning tool like a planner. You need some type of tool to assist you in managing your time in both an outlined and detailed fashion. If I'm not mistaken, for class study, you need to assign 2 hours for every semester hour. That means if you have a 3 semester hour class, you assign 6 hours per week for study. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. You'll also need to schedule for laboratory time (patient care). You need to strategize your schedule so that you can maintain some spontaneity with your family. Hopefully, you have family and friends who are willing to go all the way with you in supporting your goals of becoming a nurse. Best wishes.

sa48sh · Jan 14, 2001

Originally posted by Mijourney:
Hi peaceful2100. Congratulations on your success in school so far. It seems you have alot on your plate for this semester. I believe that being a parent is a job. One that is not taken lightly by most.

I'm glad that you think enough of nursing to want to do well in it. Nursing is at a crossroad, and posters have been alluding to the fact that the provision of it has become more intense as the population ages. I feel that one thing that you may want to consider if you haven't already is having a planning tool like a planner. You need some type of tool to assist you in managing your time in both an outlined and detailed fashion. If I'm not mistaken, for class study, you need to assign 2 hours for every semester hour. That means if you have a 3 semester hour class, you assign 6 hours per week for study. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. You'll also need to schedule for laboratory time (patient care). You need to strategize your schedule so that you can maintain some spontaneity with your family. Hopefully, you have family and friends who are willing to go all the way with you in supporting your goals of becoming a nurse. Best wishes.

The fact that you have undertaken such an enormous task,speaks for your bravery,and commitment. You will need to draw on those in the comming years.Fear,caused me more problems than not finding the time to study. I used to ask myself"Am I crazy? what ever made me think I could do this?"Dicipline was another skill I had to develop. It was amazing that no matter how I had planned to eek out 2 hours of study, I always found myself sidetracked for 1 hour of it. But have no fear.It sure must seem overwhelming when you look at the sheer magnitude of what you have to comprehend and the short amount of time you have to do it in. I too was a single parent with 3 children when I undertook nursing school,and somehow I found the time,and crammed in all the stuff,and even Graduated!!! I've been nursing for 23 years and I realize I never really learned much about nursing in school.It all happened in the last 23 years.Hang in there and take it one day at a time,after all, that's all we got!! Best of luck, we need lots more nurses like you

eventsnyc · Jan 20, 2001

I am reading this thread because next weekend I will start my pre clinicals (first semester). It's been exactly 10 years since I was last in college. I am taking 10 credits this year, while keeping my full time job. It's scary: ...how am I going to manage this? How can I do well in my pre reqs & other classes so I can pass the tests to qualify me for the clinical components? What are the tests about? ... So many questions in my head.

PopTart · Jan 21, 2001

Hi and congrats. The previous posts sound like good advice. I only have one thing to add--snack on fat-free or lowfat snacks. I'd say that 80% of our nursing class gained a significant amount of weight with the stress of school. It has a way of sneaking up on you and it's a different kind of stress when you graduate and start working so it's hard to get the weight off. This might not apply to you but a lot of us wish we would have been a bit more prudent in our eating. Good luck.