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Congrats!!! I'm very excited for you! I'm starting my second and final year of nursing school and was going through what you are last year. Enjoy your free time while you can, you'll be spending most of your time indoors and in the company of books when school starts. As for anatomy, I really liked getbodysmart.com for a great way to quiz myself on the location of muscles, bones, etc. Anatomy and Micro are all memorization. Making flashcards and teaching the information to someone who doesn't know anything about it is a great way to really learn the material. Be organized, planning ahead and organizing your time is your best friend! Good luck!

Our class started in clinical in October, 6 weeks of labs first. Don't worry. You will spend those 6 or 7 weeks learning and practicing everything you need to know for clinical. Once you get to clinical, you will be doing the basics; ADLs, assessments, po meds, injections, etc. You'll do it all with your instructor by your side :)

First off... what have you come up with? It sounds like nothing and you're just asking for help, but I think it's important to tell us what you think. I think if you're stumped you should make a list of each system. Take the data you have: past medical hx, abnormal labs, abnormal vital signs, on O2 or not, meds needed, etc. Whichever system has the most data (i.e. cardio, respiratory, neuro, etc.) is the system you should start with. As far as the med compliance, why is he non-compliant? If he doesn't take his meds, what else is he at risk for (based on what meds they are)? Good luck!

Everyone is different. I worked 3 jobs during my fundamentals semester, made time to do all the readings before class, studied, did all the clinical work and hours. I got an A- for the semester. If you are organized and know what you can handle, you will be fine. Brush up on your planning skills and own it! Good luck!

our school charged for the syllabus for our first semester. it included everything for the first semester and reference material for other aspects of the program. not as large as yours and it only cost $20 or something

Read the assigned chapters before class. I like to outline the chapters as I go if I can. Review the material weekly, as the other person said, it helps you learn as you go. Doing NCLEX questions to study, definitely helps and I find that to be most valuable to me after I've learned the basics of the material. The key to getting the most out of studying is planning and organization. Good luck!

You are lucky! I had 13 Chapters plus half of our dosage calc book to read for the first day. Break down the readings. Spread them out across the days you have left until school starts. Don't forget to make sure you enjoy the free time you have left!!

I just did my OB rotation this spring. I did get to see a circumcision. As a student nurse, your interaction is limited to soothing the baby with sucrose and getting him changed back into a diaper and clothes after the procedure is done. You're with the primary nurse the whole time. I must say, the procedure is much more invasive than I thought it would be and it was a good experience so that I can gain knowledge about the procedure. When we become nurses, our job is to support our patients. If you have a patient who wants their newborn to have a circumcision, you have to be able to give them the information they request and support their decision. You will experience a lot of things you may personally disagree with as you work with patients. But it is not our job to have an opinion. It is our job to care for our patient, advocate for them, and to put the health of the whole person above all else. Good luck!

Congrats to everybody!!! I am entering my last two semesters in a month! I am hoping that once the semester starts, it will go by as fast as last year and I'll be done before I know it. So exciting!!! And like someone said above, it is so fun to read posts about new nursing students ready to start because we've gone from there to here! Good luck to everybody on their final semesters/years and their NCLEX as well as job hunting!!!

Not wearing them anywhere other than the hospital keeps them looking good. Our school requires all leather white shoes. Magic eraser does wonders on white leather shoes :)

I have my second and final year of nursing school left (also an ADN program) and found that the Saunder's questions were not similar to those used on exams for my program. They were too easy and simple to help me prepare for exams or study. I've since bought one of the "Made Incredibly Easy" NCLEX Review books (there were 3 at Barnes and Noble when I looked at them) and found it to be much more helpful and the review chapter explain information so clearly! Good luck!

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss Ignore what people say, be your own person and do what you have to so that you​ are happy.

I like to use the socratic method to know about disease processes and basic information. I take a topic, hyponatremia for example and think of everything I can about that; normal lab value (approx), signs and symptoms, physiological process, how sodium relates to potassium and water, priorities for treatment, etc. After I think of everything I can, I look at my notes to see what I've forgotten. I try to make time every week to study that weeks material which helps learn things as I go. Also, I really like the Lippincott "made incredibly easy" series. It explains everything really well, using pictures and mnemonics Highly recommended. Good luck!

My advice for anyone starting nursing school this fall: - Enjoy your summer and free time. It's hard not to want to dive right in but trust me, it will consume you're life and you won't have much time for anything else. Your nursing student friends become your only friends during the semester, for the most part. - Find out how you can best organize yourself and make sure you're good at planning ahead. Every program is different with regards to the schedule for tests and assignments. Our program has exams every three weeks, so it's really important to plan out your reading and studying time. I use a planner to write down my work/school schedules and put my assignments/reading schedule in there. I also make calendars to put my school schedule on; 1 month per page, and put it on my door so I can see the semester as a whole and watch it pass as I "X" off each day. I also make a list of readings for the weeks so I can cross them off as I go. - Take time each week to study. This is not the type of material that you can cram for right before the test. It takes time to absorb the information and apply it to a patient scenario. Doing the readings before class helps so that when you go to class, lecture is more of a review of the material. Also, use online resources, cds from textbooks, youtube videos, school online sources, etc. Anything that helps you learn and remember the material is worth doing. - Don't let yourself get overwhelmed, take each day one at a time. My mantra has been "Fear is an emotion, it is not a barrier to successful behavior. You can be completely scared out of your wits and function totally competently." Repeating that and reminding myself of what I can do that day, help me through the semester. - Use your advisor, professors, and other students as a support group and a community of people who know what you're going through. It's easier to climb this mountain as a group, cheering each other on. Study with other students, share jokes and funny pictures to laugh before tests. Help one another to survive. Good luck! You can do it!!!

Congrats to everyone starting your first year in nursing school. On the 28th, I will be starting my second and final year for nursing school. This post made me think about my first day and the prep for it. Our orientation was in June, and I tried to enjoy as much as I could of the free time I had during summer. I also started learning dosage calc because our program has us study between semesters and we start each semester with an exam that we need 90% to pass and stay in the program. About 3 weeks before the beginning of school, I started doing readings for the first week, which was about 13 chapters. Our first day was really no big deal, the instructors reviewed how the semester will run, answered questions, and dove into the first lecture. Good luck everyone!