AlmostNurseJ

Well you're assessing their skin. Is it dry or moist? Are there any incisions, wounds, pressure areas, bruises, skin tears, fragile turgor, rashes, excoriation? What's the color? Is it pink and well perfused, cyanotic, or erythema? What's the temperature? Is it cool or really warm? Do they have any dressings? Are they clean dry and intact? What are the measurements of the wound? Is the hair dry and brittle? Do they have patches of hair missing on their scalp? Are the nails brittle? Are they clubbing? Are the eyes symmetrical? Is the conjunctiva pink and moist? Is the sclera white? Any abnormal lesions or markings? Like someone above said, it's about assessing the condition of health of the skin and hair, not so much the color One way to assess circulation is by cap refill. Movement of what? You can assess movement by their ability to move. Do they have full range of motion in all extremities? Respirations are assessed based on their lung sounds and their breathing efforts. Is their breathing labored? Are they using accessory muscles to breathe? Is their chest moving symmetrical with each breathe? Are they breathing fast or slow? Is it regular? I hope this answers your questions

I agree with the above. I am a nursing student as well coming up on my last 3 months of the program. We all understand what it's like to make a mistake like that in clinical and let it upset us, and I am sure all the nurse's that oversee us when we make that mistake understand as well. If you're great with your patients and you get your stuff done and have time to kill then that's something you should be proud of, but once we become employed RN's, we won't have that down time anymore. But it's important that you acknowledge and befriend all the nurse's on the unit and show a spirit of inquiry so that when there is a great learning opportunity, the nurse's will find you so that you can experience it. Don't sweat the IV thing. With practice, you'll be a pro at it. And plus, the hospitals are now coming out with a universal adhesive for all peripheral IVs because it has an antimicrobial around the edges of it or something like that to reduce the infection risk so you won't have to deal with that messy tape scene anymore except when taping the connector tubing to the arm. Less likely to not remove all the tape. Try alcohol swabs ON TOP of the adhesive when removing it to make it come off easier. I always see people peeling up the tape and wiping the alcohol on the skin as they peel up, but I found it to be more effective when using it on top before I pull the adhesive off and on the skin when peeling up.

I know the feeling. My first quarter in nursing (I go to a quarterly program rather than semesters) I was barely passing the class all the way up until I took the final, which was when I finally received a grade that reflected how hard I studied. Nursing tests are so much more different than tests taken in the prerequisite classes. Practice is what worked for me. I got the Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN, 6th ed. and it has practice questions after each section. Additionally, it comes with online practice questions, HUNDREDS of them. I do the study questions before every single exam. Also, at the beginning of the book it has a chapter about test-taking strategies, which I am sure that one of the nursing books you have has a chapter covering this same thing, but I found that to be helpful too. When I was reading it at first I was thinking to myself "This is dumb, I already know what the stem of the question is" and all that stuff, but I continued to read it anyways because that's what my professor suggested I do. I took my test the next day and got a 94%. I'm not sure if it's because I knew the material really well or if it's because of reading the test-taking strategy section of the book, but now I do it the night before every test and I have been very satisfied with my grades. I disagree with the statement that you can't be taught to think critically. I was horrible at critical thinking before I entered the nursing program, but I must have learned throughout the program because I graduate soon. You can't let yourself get discourage by one test because you will get a grade lower than you expected again at some point throughout the program. You just need to get back up and keep trying until you figure out what works for you. I hope this is of some help! Just remember don't give up!

I have a teaching project for clinical and I need to have a teaching aid. Everyone does a pamphlet type thing as their teaching aid, but I want to do something different so that the information stands out. The topic that I am presenting is a big part of our next test, so I really want my classmates to remember the information I present to make it easier for them when they get to studying. Also, I present during post conference when everyone is exhausted and just wants to get home, so once it's my turn to present, something other than a pamphlet might help them remember better. Any ideas would be much appreciated! Thanks :)

I would need more information on what the question was asking. Maybe the reason it said activity intolerance has a higher priority because that one nursing diagnosis usually relates to the other two. For example, a person that has activity intolerance probably has risk for imbalanced nutrition:more than body requirements because they are not burning off all the calories they are eating. Additionally, a person with an ineffective breathing pattern usually goes along with activity intolerance.

I think it varies depending on people and also the class. Like yaneau said, the professor's teaching style and your learning style also make a difference. My hardest class so far has been the first nursing class I took when admitted to the program: Fundamentals of Nursing. Looking back on it, all the material I learned was so easy and I am sure I would get an A if I were to take it again now, but it was the fact that nursing was so incredibly different than all the prerequisite classes for it. There is so much critical thinking involved and taking Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology had me prepared to study for tests where you just had to memorize everything.

I have had multiple patients that have low Hg, Hct, and RBC counts after surgery, but when putting my reason for the patient's abnormal finding, I can't seem to think of anything except for the fact that they are postop. It makes sense that someone who just had surgery would have a low CBC, but why does it happen exactly? My patient just had a resection of her colon due to diverticulitis. Her values are as follows: First number indicates the day after surgery, second value indicates 7 days later Hg 9.4, 9.3 Hct 28.1, 28.1 RBC 2.93, 2.92