When did things start to click~?

Nursing Students General Students

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So as I'm sat here studying for my patho final and feeling like a total fish out of water, I've got to ask: When did everything start clicking for you?

Currently I've got an A in the class but it's taken hours upon hours of study - when I look at lists of symptoms I get nervous because I feel like I should know the "why" a bit more. I have to keep training my brain to think about the why instead of thinking x=y if that makes sense?

Patho has so many moving parts, which is one of the reasons I've enjoyed the class so much and scored as high as I have on exams... But I'm anxious at the same time and wondering if I'm reaaaally getting it, or just been insanely lucky.

I get a few of those lightbulb moments during lecture (the ones in the latter half of the semester, especially), but I feel like I should be having more of them. I'm hoping that when I start clinicals things will start to click, but I feel like they should be coming together a bit sooner. Maybe I'm just being anxious for no reason, who knows!

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Don't worry too much about the little stuff in your patho class. Honestly you will probably not remember at lot of the minute details a month or two from now. What matters is that you are able to grasp the concepts and have a general understanding of how bodily processes are affected by diseases and different alterations. You will forget much of this information, and it will either be reinforced or further forgotten through the schooling process.

You will probably not have a super strong understanding of the patho affecting your patients until you are employeed as a nurse and encounter patients with the same ailments multiple times.

Don't worry not too much about understanding every little detail, focus on the big picture of how certain ailments affect a certain system broadly. It will come together in time.

Good luck!

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Thank you, that really makes me feel better! I have a bad habit of getting bogged down with the minutiae - I am ok with the big picture, but I always have this nagging feeling like I'm missing something or neglecting something.

I'll take what you said to heart! Thank you again :)

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It all started clicking for me when I started my med-surg class because the patho is important.

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It all started clicking for me when I started my med-surg class because the patho is important.

This is great to hear! Right now I've got a strong grasp on it, but nothing to apply it to - it's a very awkward place to be in haha. Now I can't wait til med-surg!

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Even in med-surg, I hear things about ailments and treatments but clinical is where it's like OH! got it. For example, we just went over tube feedings and the teacher said listen with the stethoscope to hear the whoosh of air. Didn't get it. Then we had a patient on tube feedings and we listened to the woosh and understood why. Your grade is excellent and since nursing school IS typically difficult, it seems like you know more than the typical student and what you are expected to know for the class. You're doing fine, no worries! Good luck!

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Thank you! Your reply is comforting! It's making me look forward to clinicals even more now (scheduled to start those in January!)

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I've also heard it starts to come together during Adult I/II, but doesn't really solidify until we're working :)

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Specializes in Critical Care.

So I was great at spitting stuff back out on a test during school, but these things did not really start to gel in my brain until I started my job. Now, I literally get to watch how formerly abstract concepts like compensatory mechanisms for metabolic or respiratory pH imbalances play out in my patients and it all makes a LOT more sense. Nursing school is a nice foundation for the job, but the job is where you'll really start to apply what you know and build off of it!

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Thank you!! This is really comforting to read! Now I just have to make it through nursing school ;) haha

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