greentealover

I graduated in nursing school over the summer and now I am working as a nurse in a large hospital, I totally wish I did more skills back then because it definitely is hard being a new nurse doing a skill for the first time or not having done the skill many times. I'm less than graceful, especially when you're working on your own as a nurse. When you start working as a nurse in a hospital, you become more grateful for all the experiences. In the profession of nursing you're constantly learning... as a student or a nurse. Try and approach each experience as a learning experience that will make you a million times better the next time you need to do it =)

Hi Goodie, that is the forum I looked at for the .pdf! Thank you for kindly posting it on here. Dametriss, I recommend that you focus on the classes you are taking. If they are pre-nursing (chem, micro, anatomy, physio) focus on those subjects, as those are very different and hardly overlap too much in nursing classes. Plus, nursing will teach you a different way to test and think and that may become frustrating. Take it as it goes. I know a lot of my classmates during 1st semester were frustrated because nursing is a lot different in that you can't just memorize, you need to be able to critically think and apply, choosing the best answer. I had maybe 5-6 pharm questions, 2-3 on very common medications SE/patient teaching. One pharm question was SATA where they gave you the medication and disease/condition. That question was a bit more difficult than the others. For pharm, I suggest you know common medications' SEs and patient education. I had 1-2 OB and peds. NO med calculations. TONS and TONS of SATA. Like 1/3rd - 1/4th of my test and I must admit that SATA are NOT my favorite. I also had many priority questions. My best advice for that is ABCs and know your expected findings and complications! Anyways, to everyone going to take it, study hard and efficiently. While taking the test, don't stress yourself out. Give yourself a break if you start getting anxious or you keep dwelling on some question you could not find the answer to. I passed with 75 ?'s on the first try, and I admit I had some questions that were so basic that I was sure I was barely threading along the pass/fail line. Stay positive everyone :).

Hi, I listened to the Saunders CD that came with the book! Good luck

Basic info: Angiotensin converting enzmes (ACE) – treat HTN and HF - End w/ PRIL ex. Enalapril (Vasotec) Antilipidemic – treat cholesterol - End w/ statin ex. Atorvastatin (Lipitor) Antivirals – treat viral infection HIV/AIDS - Contain VIR ex. Ritanovir Benzodiazpines – anxiety-reducing, sedative hypnotic, anticonvulsant - End w/ PAM Betablockers – HTN, angina, dysrhythmias - End w/ LOL ex. Atenolol CCB – treat HTN, angina, dysrhythmias - End w/ PINE ex. Amlodipine (Norvasc), cartizem, verapamil Glucocorticoid, steroids – suppress inflammation, adrenal insufficiency - End w/ SONE ex. Prednisone H2 inhibitor – suppress gastric acid, prevent ulcers, treat GERD - End w/ DINE ex. Cimetidine (Tagamet) - Biggest s/e: confusion - Less common s/e: HA, drowsiness, dizziness, hallucination NITR – nitroglycerin, nitrostat - Have nitro PPI – suppress gastric acid secretion, prevent ulcers - End w/ zole Sulfanomides – treat infection - Have sulfa ex. Sulfasalazine - Ok to take w/ food Thiazide diuretics – treat HTN and peripheral edema - End w/ zide ex. Hydrochlorithiazide Thrombolytics – Dissolve clots - End w/ ASE ex. Altaplase, actiplase Thyroid hormones – treat hypothyroidism - Have thy in name ex. Levothyroxine Bronchodilators – treat resp disorders (asthma, bronchoconstriction/spasm, COPD, emphysema) - End w/ line ex. Theophylline - SE - tachycardia Theophylline 10-20 Restlessness, increased HR Digoxin .5-2 GI and ocular disturbance Lithium 0.5-1.5 Lethargy, hand tremors, muscle weakness GI disturbance Phenytoin 10-20 Muscular incoordination, nystagmus, diplopia With this basic knowledge, along with the meds you come across while doing ?'s, I think it is sufficient. I bought the Kaplan NCLEX-RN Medications You Need to Know for the Exam (4th edition) but I didn't even read through it. For me, I accepted the fact that I probably would never, ever be able to know all these drugs so I think as long as you know what drugs can be used to treat certain diseases, you study that super helpful PDF on the forums, or you study drugs you tend to see a lot during practice questions, then you at least have some pharm knowledge to hopefully get you through the exam. Sorry that I can't be more helpful, I really didn't focus on pharm like I should have.

Yes it was my first time taking it. I actually took it in October, but I forgot of the promise I made to write back on the forum. I found a job a month after passing my boards. I didn't get a chance to finish the Saunders book with all my commitments so congrats if you are able to get through the whole thing! The paranoid, studious side of me would have loved to read that book cover to cover but it wasn't very feasible for me. I do recommend that you drive yourself (if able to) because it gives you time to clear your head and only focus on the NCLEX. No added pressure. I must admit that when I was waiting for him to pick me up, I drove myself CRAZY thinking "oh man, I didn't pass, how am I going to tell everyone?" I was waiting and walking around for a good 30 mins. Right before he got there, I did the PVT (so I could just get it over with and tell him I didn't pass) and got the good popup!

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean but let me try to see if I can address this for you. I had a lot of prioritization questions and honestly, you couldn't really prioritize unless you knew what the diseases were and what was an expected s/sx vs. an emergent unexpected situation. Does that kinda answer your question? :)

Hi GivingLove, you can apply at a university for a Bachelor's program but keep in mind that although they have GPA requirements, they typically admit those with competitive grades. Some also require volunteer work, or extra classes, which is something you can do while waiting. I wish you the best of luck!!! =)

Now, you know what you're capable of far better than any of us here. Since the A&P, micro, AND chem are all important prereqs needed to get into nursing school, you need to make sure your grades are as high as they can possibly be. Some would not advise to stack all these science prereqs together, but it is possible since I have gone against the school advisors advice on this before. Is there a reason you want to pick up the CNA course now (financial reasons, experience, etc.)?

Hi Sandra! I had 75 ?'s and I finished in about 2 hrs? Complete shock and panic when the computer turned off. Half way I started feeling a little discouraged but I kept telling myself "the test wants me to pass... that's why it's giving me more questions!!!" For study habits, I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed with the studying and workload for a class and working part-time while studying for the NCLEX. I typically tried to set aside approx. 4 hours of dedicated time for studying daily (I always aimed for more!) - this didn't always happen with work and school. For Saunders, I tried to do as many questions (per system! this is easier for me to process, rather than questions from random sections) as I could on study mode rather than exam or quiz mode because this allows you to look at the rationale right away, and I knew that there was a good chance I might get lazy after doing questions and not look thru ALL the rationales. I also took notes while studying, so I would not forget. Most people recommended 200 ?'s a day but I honestly wasn't always so lucky. Anyways, I dread dread dreaded pharm. Luckily, by doing questions by system, drugs particular to that section were covered. Besides studying pharm through this way, I also read the PDF from here, which had drugs that seemed to be popular for NCLEX prep, and I listened to that audio lecture the night before. I took down basic notes which included the ending of drug types and what they do. If you listen to the lecture, it's really basic. For me, it was sufficient, but it's hard to say for others since every test is different. Focus on your weaknesses as much as it sucks to study. While I was taking the exam, I realize I didn't study some of the fundamentals, and I wanted to scream when there were things I really should know but didn't.

I'm not sure about NCSBN. Saunders definitely has quite a bit of content. I focused on really reading the areas I was weak in (with the help of lots of caffeine and quiet time and space at the library) and then I would do the questions for that particular system on the CD. I always did it on study mode so I could read the rationale immediately after (rather than doing exam or quiz mode because I know I would most likely not look at ALL the rationales after!) I think what helps is determining what you are weak in. Is it content (no idea what the answer is?) or test taking skills (can't narrow it down?)? I hated going into questions thinking I didn't know anything, but I forced myself to try and see if I could even answer the questions. If I kept getting them questions wrong I would jot down the disease, med, etc. and read more about it later. It was definitely hard for me to study content I knew I was weak in but it is necessary. I hardly got any questions on the areas I was feeling pretty confident in. I also typed up notes after reading the rationale so I could refer back to it later on. This helped me remember things. Towards the last few days before the NCLEX, I read all these notes from questions I did and I found these little tidbits of information as helpful reminders. It can be very time consuming but have you considered doing this?

We used ATI in nursing school and it wasn't really like the NCLEX. I found that ATI tests and the NCLEX were two different beasts. I did look over some of my notes from ATI practice tests that I took in nursing school, but overall, I don't think it would help in preparing for the NCLEX.

Well, from looking at your username "iluvnursing07," I think you should still pursue your RN license if this is something you love. I used mostly Saunders and the PDF that was being passed around the forums here mostly. I would try to do questions from the other books too, but I found that it was confusing me more than it was helping me. Now, are you doing questions daily? Reading up on content? Let's see if we can figure this out before you just let things go:nurse:

I'm so sorry iluvnursing07! I think you should definitely try again and use this experience as a learning experience. Perhaps, focusing on fewer resources might help? How did you study for the NCLEX?

So I promised myself that I would write my success story after passing the NCLEX because this forum truly helped me when preparing for the NCLEX. I want to give back to the allnurses community. List of main resources I used: Kaplan qtrainers (I didn't finish all of them!) Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination 5th Edition (No, I did not read the entire book, and no, I did not do all the ?'s) The RN Course Book That awesome PDF with NCLEX tidbits that has been circulating around the site (I read this several times!) ... and tons of other resources (I think this confused me way more!) My advice for NCLEX takers: Set time for yourself to study with no interruptions, even if is an hour, a few hours, etc. Don't overwhelm yourself with lots of resources, you will start getting confused with the inconsistencies Don't pressure yourself with trying to finish everything, read everything, learn everything... I say this because I was honestly stressing myself out by doing this (on top of taking a class and working part-time at a restaurant) --- I was somewhat against just doing tons of questions because I truly felt like I was lacking on content but doing a bunch of questions really does help, and you start to realize how you should answer certain types of questions Study how you learn best, don't feel pressured to follow others' learning techniques (for ex. I had a friend who would study by doing tons of questions, no note taking. Heck, I had to write everything down!) I sucked at pharm and I even avoided studying for it, until the night before. I had so much anxiety when I realized I did not know any meds but I listened to the audio of the Saunders CD and that surprisingly helped Focus on what you feel you are weak in, even if you don't want to I read forums of others' success and advice/tips from here Day of the test: Don't let anyone drive you to the test center (lol), I did and ended up fighting with the boyfriend Take a deep breath before the test and remind yourself that you've learned multitudes in nursing school and you've most likely done everything you could to prepare yourself at this point I listened to my favorite song right before the test for some good vibes and energy If you start losing confidence or start getting tired, take a break! I ended up having to take a break because I started getting angry and upset over the fight I had earlier Feel free to ask any questions, add comments, etc.