Constantly Surprised

Endocrine, cardiac, respiratory, renal and neuro are huge. Did I say huge? I meant HUGE!!! One of the best things you can do to prepare for enterance nursing classes is fully and completly understand those subjects. It isn't likely that your instructors will ask A&P style questions, that isn't what I am saying. What I am saying is, understanding the basic principals of those topics will greatly help you in nursing school. For example, you can't just take calculus without understanding addition and subtraction first. A good grasp of the basics makes building on them easier. That goes for understanding the patho of diseases, and the drugs that go with them. A few other basics to get through tests I've picked up along the way are to always assess first, never answer a question with "why," never impose your opinion on a patient, and never ever use real life experience to answer a test question. Your teachers, and NCLEX questions, are generally based in a 'perfect' 'book' world - Not reality. Don't second guess yourself. If your eyes automatically drift to a certain answer than it's probably the right one - If you stare to long at another answer, you will convince yourself it is right, even if it isn't. Don't cram. There is no cramming nursing school. This information needs to be in your long term memory. Go over the information in bits and pieces daily until it is a part of you. Lastly, relax before every test. Don't study that morning. Relax!!! Get into a positive frame of mind and stay as far away as possible from negative people. You have no worries, and do you know why? -Because you've got this- Good luck and congrats on getting into nursing school!

Maybe Deficient knowledge r/t cognitive limitation (secondary to autism) aeb patients noncompliance with drug therapy?

I forget who posted this, or when, but I did get it from this site. Always helps me to refer back to this one. The rules for constructing a 3-part nursing diagnostic statement are as follows. . . P. Stands for the problem. The problem is written as the nursing diagnosis. The words you use in writing the nursing diagnosis have already been determined for you by NANDA-I, the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association, International. You merely need to look them up in the most recent copy of one of their publications such as NANDA-I Nursing Diagnoses: Definitions & Classification 2007-2008 or in any of the many currently printed nursing care plan or nursing diagnose reference books that are in publication containing this information. A nursing diagnosis is only a shortened label of the nursing problem which is more broadly defined and expressed in the definition contained in these references. E. Stands for the etiology. An etiology is the origin of cause of this identified nursing problem (P). It cannot be stated as a medical diagnosis. In the NANDA taxonomy you will find etiologies listed for many of the nursing diagnoses under the headings of "related factors". For physiological nursing problems (nursing diagnoses) you will need to know the pathophysiology of the disease process in order to determine the correct etiology, or related factor. S. Stands for the symptoms. Symptoms are the manifestations of the identified nursing problem (P). In the NANDA taxonomy you will find symptoms listed for many of the nursing diagnoses under the headings of "defining characteristics". Symptoms are proof that the problem exists. You will not have symptoms for "Risk for" diagnoses because these are not actual problems, but anticipated problems. Symptoms are determined by performing a thorough assessment of the patient and finding what is abnormal. Symptoms are abnormal findings. In constructing the nursing diagnostic statement, these three elements are linked together in this way: P related to E as evidenced by S or (P) R/T (E) AEB (S)

The primary goal of any nurse regarding any patient is safety. Always safety first. Your primary goal is the safety of your patient. Secondary to me would be a support role. An ear, a shoulder. While you wouldn't instruct your patient on what they should do (in your opinion) regarding their abuse, what you would do is provide alternatives (teach them options available to them i.e. shelters or help groups) if their choice is to leave the abuse.

I can't add anything else to that comment. Sums it up perfectly for me.

This is going to sound just beyond silly, but this video helped me in A&P ?

The real question revolves around priorities. Which is more important to you at this point in your life; career or starting a family? Everyone is different, so I can't offer up an advice in so far as "what I would do" because I'm not you. What really matters is what is most important to fulfilling you and your life.

It reflects poorly on your school if they graduate you and then you fail the NCLEX. If a certain number of people don't pass (I believe 80% is the cut off point in my state) then that school's accreditation goes into question. So, while it may seem shady, it's actually just them covering themselves from passing someone who isn't ready. I know this because my school is on that list.

You are easily one of my favorite posters here and have managed, yet again, to sum up my feelings on a topic quite well.

Now that you mention it, I don't often reply to those posts because I'm a student myself and not used to care plans 100% yet. The best I can do is offer my for what they're worth, which is more like one and a half cents lol... I consult my books and clinical instructor for help with my own. It's hard to imagine whats *best* for each patient someone posts about without having seen them honestly. Think I'll pocket my change on the subject from now on.

One of the nursing DX listed from NANDA is Impaired Verbal Communication with an objective defining characteristic as 'Inability to speak dominant language' I'd say that's a fit here. Discusses an intervention as 'determine primary language and cultural factors.' As well as 'Obtain translator or provide written translation or picture chart' as another intervention. So, Impaired verbal communication related to language/cultural barriers as evidenced by lack of understanding English medical interventions? I'm just a student myself, but that one sort of stands out for me as the best one (Only because you can't really proceed with anything else until you have a way to communicate)

:anpom: First and foremost, Yay!!! Always keep the acceptance letter handy, perhaps on your refrigerator, so that you can see it often. At the bottom of that letter, write your name and then add RN behind it. Remember always, especially after a hard test or a really long and difficult study session, to look at that letter and remind yourself how good it felt to get it, and why you wanted to do this in the first place. :ancong!:

Someone had posted the following site on another thread, and I have used it ever since. https://evolve.elsevier.com/cs/Satellite/StudentMyHome?Audience=Student It's free to use, and relatively easy to navigate. What you will want to do is use the search bar at the top and enter in the type of class you're currently taking (i.e. Med Surg, Fundamentals, so on so forth) and it will give you many different options of books to access. You sign up for that resource and create an account (again, free) and then you can access the books you signed up for from the home page under "Resources." For each book you use, there are about 20 additional questions per chapter you're studying. All NCLEX style and most books I've used so far correlate well with what we're doing in class. It's not a lot of extra questions, but extra questions none the less. http://www.campuscollusion.com/PublicSets.aspx?SysHeadID=1 This one I came across on a google search for questions. There are 13 pages worth of different topics and related nursing school course work. Best of luck to you!

Assess for negative homan's sign every shift?

Everything this person said! Take some time to get your life in order. Clean out some closets and the like... Really. No one expects you to know all of this off the bat, and a firm grasp of A&P will speed you along.

Acute metabolic encephalopathy combined with anemia scream out for some nutritional balance Dxs... And with impaired mental state, impaired nutrition, impaired mobility, incontinence, and impaired tissue perfusion r/t anemia, skin breakdown is huge. Just my 2 cents...

I'd start with anxiety related to rh- dx due to fear of losing child? I'm RH- myself and have gone through the loss, it's very difficult to deal with.

You must be in my class! Might I also add the 2 girls in class who think what they have to whisper very audibly to each other is more important than what the instructor is teaching even though I paid to hear her speak, not them. And the other girl who has a long winded question about everything; and I do mean EVERYTHING!

This would be where I would begin looking for information about how to address those questions : http://nationalnurse.org/faq.pdf and their main site http://nationalnurse.org/ and http://nationalnurse.blogspot.com/ (Scroll down to last entry article on national debt) Of course as you know this will be one sided information. Sometimes in politics it's difficult to find unbiased information, or truly honest juxtaposed pluses and minuses to any side of a debate lol. I haven't found a credible site that speaks negatively about this bill that doesn't speak uniformly negatively about every bill in congress. For me, when considering anything dealing with funding from a government entity, it's best to research thoroughly all angles of the subject and argue for and against the negative and positive aspects until you have convinced even yourself of which is best. That is the best way to make an effective argument for or against spending. If Benefit > or = to cost, than it's an excellent idea. If cost is > or = Benefit, the government will hesitate to move forward with it lol. Resource allocation. Now that is fancy terms in congress now a days for "What do you plan to cut to pay for this?" and or "Exactly which tax do you plan on raising to get the funding for this" and or "Just who do you think is going to pay for this bright idea, Lady?" lol ... Thats the true heart of the argument right there to me. Especially in todays political climate. A person in the medical profession might sit back and think "What could POSSIBLY be the drawbacks to prevention and promoting healthy lifestyles?" A lawyer (which most politicians are) can point out 50 off the top of their head, thats what they do. Argue both sides. If it helps, for the purpose of your paper, imagine yourself in a committee hearing testifying as an expert as to your views about this particular piece of legislation. What would you say? How would you answer those questions you've been asked to write about if you were speaking into the microphone to the committee? Are you answers justified with facts and figures or are you just speaking passionately? Now I'm rambling. This is why I need more sleep on the weekend. Best of luck to you on your paper! I'd be curious to see your argument once you've finished :) *Edit* I would seriously consider taking the approach of paying for prevention being cheaper than paying for treatment. That would tug on the heartstrings of ANY congress person when you tell them they'll be saving money on the back end with regard to treatment. Also, with regard to what dudette10 points out, is more bureaucracy and paperwork (costs more $) going to fix anything or will it complicate matters worse? Thats a terrific viewpoint. *

Couldn't agree more! :lol2:When it's on paper, it loses some meaning for me. Where as in application (doing the job) I am capable of great things! I've been a solid B nursing student so far. I realize it could be worse, but there is that part of me that isn't satisfied with less than 100, you know? OP: Don't get discouraged, and don't feel alone in the battle against tests in nursing school. Get yourself a good study ritual and stick with it. Don't give up without a fight!

Of course lateral violence is bad. Treating people like crap doesn't require a professional title though. I'm sure there are instances of students doing / saying things to nurses they are working under while in clinicals that are atrocious. I'd wager there are more frequent incidents of nurses mistreating the student, but no matter which side it's coming from that doesn't make it right. High stress job. Just wish we could all give each other the benefit of the doubt that it's a bad day or there is something else going on aside from the student. I used to work with a woman who was pretty rude to people sometimes and she didn't even realize the cut her tongue had. One day a newer person at work said something to her about it and it actually made the rude lady cry. She really just wasn't aware that the newer girl looked up to her so much, and that she had really hurt her in the way she did. The rude lady was more or less preening her feathers for all to see, and not giving any foresight to the consequence of who she hurt in the process. It changed a bit after that, but she had her moments; no one is perfect all the time.

No, I totally agree. Idealism is a great thing. It gives everyone something to strive to be. Just don't hold other people that you don't know, or know what they're going through, to your own personal standards is all I was really getting at. I want everyone to be the best they can be. Changing other peoples attitude is a battle most people will lose at though. It has to come from within. FWIW: I'm almost always full of rainbows and kittens :) Though some days it gets rainy around me. Take it in stride.

Ahh yes! The grim truth! Students are people experiencing stress, and so are nurses! So let's stop fighting it out on here and having this battle and try to seriously work together to accept that. Some people won't ever change. Rude people are just rude, sometimes they don't even do it on purpose lol... I have a terrific sense of humor, but it may come off to others as though I don't care, which couldn't be further from the truth. I'm not suggesting we have a group hug or anything , just try to accept each other for who we all are. Just people trying to make it in this world. It isn't easy as it is, so lets not make it any harder on each other than we have to by placing unreasonable "Nurses should be kind and loving and perfect people pleasers every second of everyday," nonsense. That just isn't going to happen.

Maybe take a moment to enjoy this slower period and smell the roses I'm sure that in a while, you will long for the days of slower paced Nightingale sleepy time lol

Thank you both :) I could just be lucky. Honestly I haven't had any problems with school instructors or nurses at my clinical site. Though, I have heard from other students at other places that the nurses they were asked to work with were less than pleasant. Guess for me I just see it differently than some people do. I mean yes, most people go into this profession because on some level they care about people. But to elevate yourself to the level of "I would never be this way to a student!" is a little unreasonable. Perhaps after graduation and some real life experience it'll hit home that what you wanted to be roses and daisies can be that way, but it also comes with a whole bunch of manure