Reading Help!

Natingale, EdD, RN · May 30, 2008

Wow no takers? I think theres a sticky on this. Take notes as you read, when youre finished with on paragraph summarize it in a few sentences. When youre done with the Chapter, read the notes YOU wrote and if something doesnt make sense go back and reread it. I dont have it down to a science, but it has helped in the past. Good luck.

RN2010LW · May 30, 2008

Wow no takers? I think theres a sticky on this. Take notes as you read, when youre finished with on paragraph summarize it in a few sentences. When youre done with the Chapter, read the notes YOU wrote and if something doesnt make sense go back and reread it. I dont have it down to a science, but it has helped in the past. Good luck.

Thanks, I had a meeting with some nurseing students that started last year and they told me that if I don't retain what I read easily that it is going to be alot harder and more time consuming for me.(I'm thinking Great!, This should be fun then!) I will def. try that! Thanks!

scarah · May 31, 2008

Hey there,

I find facts hard to retain but if I'm working towards and overall understanding then things seem to work out fine. I depends on what you need to learn and how you personally learn.

For Anatomy/Physiology and Patho I find I learn well visually - there are colouring books for anatomy which are great but also I often draw my own diagrams (even if they copy a text book one) and colour them in all neatly and label all the part. Then when I get to the exam I can see the diagram and how it all works.

Don't just copy the text book out - read a page then jot down the key points or write out a flow chart.

Creating flash cards for yourself can help, think up quiz questions from your readings and write them on one side then the answers on the the other. Test yourself a day or two after the readings. I find this helps in subjects where you are tested by exam because you often end up getting good practice for exam questions.

Get together in a study group and break up the readings then teach each other your part - if you can explain it to other people then your understanding should be good.

Good luck

TangoLima · May 31, 2008

I'm usually OK with reading and retaining general information. It's harder for me to listen to lectures and retain.

I started my program reading EVERYTHING I could, and I do recommend trying to keep up with the reading. But, you may find that you can pay attention during class and go primarily with information provided by your instructors in their powerpoints or notes. Then, if you don't understand something, then go back to your book and read more.

In reality, there is so much to read/know in NS that it really is impossible to read EVERYTHING. So, you will need to identify those areas that your instructor emphasizes, and concentrate on reading those areas.

I'm a visual learner, so I like summarizing information in charts/tables. This helps you to read information and organize it in a way that makes sense to you. For example, I would compare/contrast various disorders such as Type I and Type II diabetes. I would compare patho, signs/symptoms, pharm/non-pharm/surgical treatments, tests, nursing interventions, etc. for each disorder. Helped me.

Hope that helps.

RN2010LW · May 31, 2008

Thanks, these are some good ideas.

NaomieRN · Jun 1, 2008

You can use to book along with the powerpoints and add your own notes. Use a seperate notebook to add things that are important and are not covered in the powerpoints. I usually rewrite all my notes the very next day after lecture.

RN2010LW · Jun 3, 2008

You can use to book along with the powerpoints and add your own notes. Use a seperate notebook to add things that are important and are not covered in the powerpoints. I usually rewrite all my notes the very next day after lecture.

Thanks!!! I hadn't thought about a seperate notebook......

frznmommy · Jun 3, 2008

i wrote this for someone else as well and thought you might bennefit:typing

study cards!!! plain old index cards that you transfer info onto for each topic/disease/illness, etc...etcfrom your text. bring them w/ you wherever you go and glance at them here and there. i even drew pics on the backs of them to help w/ the visual learning piece. this helped to both reiterate the context into my own words to get a deeper understanding, plus it helped me to correlate the problem to it's symptomolgy, or its' presentation. a great example for instance would be:

cushing's disease

i would write that on the top of the index as the title and then explain in subtitles using my own words,

physiology of the disease:

symptoms:

nursing concerns:

then draw a man/woman on the back of the card w/ puffy cheeks, edematous legs, draw a heart w/ an arrow in it to represent tachycardia, etc. etc. etc. i learn best by both visual and rewriting the info. the balance of the two made things stick...obviously, because i completely remeber this pic that i drew right off the top of my head! i think the key for learning anything is to understand how you learn best first and then going from there to strategize your studying habits. good luck! :up:

RN2010LW · Jun 4, 2008

Study cards are a great idea. I used them in Micro but I really hadn't thought to much about them for nursing. How do you keep them organized. I think that I would have so many.....It might be hard to stay organized with them all.

frznmommy · Jun 4, 2008

Once the exam is over, I throw them into my woodstove ! (LOL)! We have an exam every week for the material learned the week before so I don't have to hang onto them long at all. Depending on the material, I might have between 50-100 cards and I wrap an elastic band around them and throw them in my bag. Do you have individual exams each week or do you have an accumaltive style exam?

RN2010LW · Jun 4, 2008

Accumaltive....we will have 4 exams through out the semester I believe, and then a final over it all.