sproeber89

Our instructor for a class forced us to make a study plan, twice. I graduate later this week and now I have a definite idea of how to study made into a calendar so i can check things off. I am going through all of LaCharity even if I've gone through a lot of it with this class. I am also aiming at 150 questions a day, it is what Kaplan has suggested as the "you don't really want to do more than that" number. I will be taking Kaplan in January so that will also be in my study plan. After Kaplan is done I will continue doing 150 questions as a mix from Kaplan QBank, QTrainers, and other resources I have on my computer from the disks. I will also be reviewing 3-4 chapters in Saunders, and by review I mean go through all the questions behind the chapter and if I get less than an 89% I read the entire chapter. Hope this helps! Good luck!

If I were you I would also look pretty in depth into a review book, mostly since it's been 2 years since you have been in nursing school. I am just graduating this week and I know how much I have forgotten since first semester....I can't imagine how much information I'd forget 2 years later. Good luck!

I used to work at a subacute PM shift where we had 18 patients and I was the only CNA on PM's. The nurses were supposed to help but that was usually a joke! I usually put every single one of them to bed by myself. We had a lot of patients there who were semi-independent and we had chairs in the bathroom so many of them I set them up with all of their materials and let them go at it. This made it a little easier. My other piece of advice is just remember you are only ONE person. You can't be everywhere at once. At times I had 6 call lights on and I know I could only do one at a time. We are all human and sometimes you have to explain to patients that you are human. I would kindly say "I'm really sorry it took so long to answer your light, it's been a crazy night what can I do for you." Many of my patients were there for a long time so they understood how it works. Just do one thing at a time and remember to breath. If it gets really bad ask the nurses for help, it's their patients too.

I hated, loathed clinicals for a while. I kept second guessing if it was what I was meant to do, should I go back to school. However, Once I entered third semester where we were given all the skills to be a nurse I finally figured out it was what I'm supposed to do. I say wait it out, it took me two full semesters before I felt fully comfortable and loved what I was doing.

I have a very solid study group, we get together the day of tests to go over what we will be tested on and just review. We make up lots of silly things that help us remember what we need to know. We also help each other with large projects, we pretty much camp out in the library and help each other. The best thing we do is make each other laugh. We are infamous for going on YouTube and finding funny videos. It might not be helpful for studying but it keeps us all a little more relaxed.

This summer I'm spending it reading two of the "Made Incredibly Easy" books, our teacher recommended them for fall. I graduate in December so I also went through an NCLEX strategies book and typed up some notes on it, so that way when I graduate I can get straight to studying the information. Hopefully it helps out a bit! I would suggest maybe reading over an NCLEX review book and just kind of keep up to date on things. Our college has three campuses and one of them has a nursing lap open during summer so a couple of us are going to head to that one to do a little skills practice. Maybe also keep up with math and review that a bit.

I never gave up my sleep, I sleep an average of 7-8 hours every night. now it depends more on when I have early morning clinicals. I just made my 5 minute commute to clinicals to a 40 minute one! Those nights I'll be skimping on sleep or staying at my parents house. But it'll be manageable.

Are you guys counting percentages by finishing each chapter and then calculating it.

It's a combo between good nursing friends to make you laugh till you cry after you failed a test, my amazing supportive boyfriend who takes care of me financially so I can pursue my dreams and a dog who will always cuddle up with me when I need some time on my own. Also, having my own separate study room has proved very helpful, hopefully it'll stay as my room even when the bf starts school in fall. And an overly organized personality never hurts either

I have the Saunder's Flashcards. I have a feeling that it will be a bit of repeating from the books but it's something that I can use when on break at work, waiting for things, etc. It came with a protective plastic sleeve type thing that makes it easier to carry around.

My plan is to go over information in Saunders by taking the end of chapter quizzes rather than reading all the information. If I get a 75% or better then I can continue to the next chapter, if not then I'll review the chapter. Once I finish that I'm going to just keep doing question after question after question until my brain can't handle it!

My latest clinical was an evening one and it was by far my favorite one. You aren't fighting for time with your patient between MD/therapies/appointments and you aren't thrown into the day right away. We usually got there around 2 pm and had until 3 pm to get our patient information and then start everything. It was very relaxed (although we were lucky enough to have two computers per patient so we always had the computer chart handy). I was also lucky enough to get fresh post-op patients, because most come back to their rooms around 2/3pm. Such a great learning experience. Plus, most of the students prefer the AM clinical and therefore there is usually less students. We split into groups and at one point it was two students to one teacher. AWESOME learning ratio.

This summer I'll be: -Sleeping...LOTS! -Spending lots of time with all of my nieces and nephew. -Losing the last 20 lbs. to meet my goal -Reviewing topics for NCLEX as I'll be entering my last semester -Spending time with my boyfriend -Working enough to pay for school next semester -Just spending time loving life and being thankful because after next semester my life is gonna be getting REALLY crazy! and not just because of NCLEX!

I'm not into nursing with either the Army or Navy. However, as the gf of a U.S. Soldier I can let you know that as a woman you won't be in the front lines, most women in the Army that I know of (this is just me personally) have jobs in offices etc. Also, if you want to be a nurse in the Army I would look into training in the Army b/c they would pay for all of your training. And you'd be getting your seniority in.

That's a really good idea! I know my boyfriend has been there for me through it all...we were just friends my first semester and he was in Iraq...then we started dating and he was in Germany stationed. So if we can get through that, nursing school, and life...anyone can do it! What about for your mom a spa day? And your dad idk if he likes cars..but I know my dad would love a day at a race track to drive race cars. Fiancee...maybe take him for a weekend away?