ShelbyDee

Okay, so I'm in my second semester of nursing school. And I just started my 8 week med-surg 1 class. And I am completely lost when it comes to fluids and electrolytes. We had ONE lecture on it, and she gave us a power point. That's it. We were told to memorize all the lab values, to know all the manifestations of highs and lows when it comes to hypokalemia/hyper, hypocalcemia/hypo, etc etc. On top of EVERYTHING else in this chapter. I am completely and utterly overwhelmed. I don't feel like I can know all of this for one test, especially when there is 4 other chapters needing to be studied for exam 1. ANY advice for this? Anything would be helpful I'm almost in tears because of the stress. But it wouldn't be the first time in nursing lol.

Thanks for all the post guys!! I appreciate the advice very much. I'll look into the attachments and just practice like you all said :) Thanks again!

So I'm brand new in nursing school, just 4 weeks in. For our Health Assessment class, our final grade to pass is to do a thorough head-to-toe assessment in front of our instructor. It seems simple, but there is SO MUCH they are expecting from us. We have to test all 12 cranial nerves along with all of the physical parts of the assessment. We have to test the motor and sensory sides of every nerve. Also certain tests to instruct our patients to perform in order to assess things like gait, balance, meningeal irritation, coordination, etc etc. I'm sure this is no news to you nurses, or older nursing students. However, I'm slightly overwhelmed! Everything seems simple to perform, but to go off of pure memory when it comes to exam time is scary. There's two pages worth of information we have to know in order to pass our assessment. Is there any kind of book, or study guide to help put all of these things together? Or better yet, what method did you use in order to pass your full health assessment? Any tips or strategies? Thanks guys :)

Thank you peacelover! My first week is over, and let me tell you...it's already overwhelming. I have two classes, Health Assessment and Foundations. It doesn't seem like much, but they are definitely giving us some work! For our first exam in Foundations, we have 15 chapters of material to cover! In just two weeks! That's craziness. Not to mention outside homework, assignments, and on top of all the other chapters and assignments due in Health Assessment. We were all experiencing that "deer in the headlights" look the first day lol. I'm trying to manage my time well so far and study as much as possible. But also planning down time so I don't over-due it and not absorb any material. Skills start next week, so that's another thing to tack on to the list! lol I'm looking forward to skills though. Thanks for the response though! Wish me luck!

Thank you so much for this post. Honestly made me feel a lot better! I appreciate it :)

I just got accepted into a nursing program that starts Monday! I'm very excited, but I'm more so terrified. I've heard so many countless horror stories about how hard this program is, and about how I'm going to have no life outside of school for the next two years. I've always wanted to do something in the medical field, and eventually decided to dedicate my life to nursing. But I can't help but doubt myself when I hear how much people struggle and fail out of this program. I've witnessed students crying in the hallways. I'm just so scared honestly! I want to do this. I'm focused and ready, but I think I'm starting to psych myself out for all of this. I would just like to have some honest answers on just how hard this next two years will be. Is it more difficult than the pre-reqs? Like A&P or Micro Biology? Any advice will do!