1st Sem. Nursing student: Shaking in my scrubs

[Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA]

Hey all,

So, I start nursing school, my first semester, August 29th 2019. My first classes are Pharmacology, Professional Role Development and Communication, and Health assessment. Not sure what to expect, but I am part time....and pharm looks intimidating. Any advice? Thanks.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the General Student discussion forum

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Advice? Sleep well, eat healthy, study hard and learn what will control anxiety for you.

[BagelBomber, ASN, BSN, RN]

1. Your planner is your best friend.

2. You need to sleep, keep hydrated and eat.

3. Know what kind of learner you are and study based on that information.

4. Support is important. I am not a social creature; however, no one understands nursing school like other nursing students. Get the emails and numbers of a solid group of other students.

5. RELAX whenever possible.

[Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Find someone in your class with your same personality to talk to. I found people who all wished bad things on our instructors under our breath. Girl it got me through.

Laugh

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Don't procrastinate ever. Especially with pharm.

Respect how you learn. If you are visual, make note cards for your drugs (you can buy pre-printed note cards, but I always felt writing them myself gave me another layer of reinforcement of the material) or employ other methods of study that have worked well for you in the past.

Go to bed at a reasonable hour every night.

Make time for exercise.

Make time for family or close friends.

DON'T stand around after a test discussing how you answered test questions. There are always people who seem to know it all, saying they answered A, not B, and they are SURE they were correct. Since you answered B, you go home and agonize for two days about all your wrong answers, only to get your test back and find that Ms. Know it All actually doesn't know it all. And you wasted two days of your life thinking you did poorly. Even if Ms. Know it All is correct, agonizing for 2 days is wasted energy that you could be using in a more productive or personally fulfilling manner.

Doing the above got me through nursing school quite successfully.

[Mergirlc, MSN, APRN, NP]

55 minutes ago, Horseshoe said:

DON'T stand around after a test discussing how you answered test questions. There are always people who seem to know it all, saying they answered A, not B, and they are SURE they were correct. Since you answered B, you go home and agonize for two days about all your wrong answers, only to get your test back and find that Ms. Know it All actually doesn't know it all. And you wasted two days of your life thinking you did poorly. Even if Ms. Know it All is correct, agonizing for 2 days is wasted energy that you could be using in a more productive or personally fulfilling manner.

^^^^^

I hate this!!! This and before tests, there's always a group of 2-4 students who are talking at the top of their lungs about facts or answers they know or concentrated on in the hallway. I always had to end up going out the building or to the other end of a hallway for my moment of zen before a test. Ugh.

OP, just breathe and whatever comes your way, comes your way. First semesters are tough regardless if it's your first day at community college, university, nursing school, engineering school, etc... You have to get a week or two of adjustment to get a feel of how different instructors present their material. So just be ready, pay attention, take notes, study hard, and you'll do fine. Good luck to you!

[Nunya, BSN]

All good advice especially about not procrastinating in Pharm. We were all new students once and here we are now...nurses! You can do it! And remember, everyone is starting the same, find some buddies to study with or just to vent with, you'll learn from them.

[Red Shirt 6, CNA]

They say there is some truth in fiction so You can watch a few movies about Nurse or medical school like The White Parade (1934), Four Girls In White (1939), Gross Anatomy (1989), Patch Adams (1998), Bad Medicine (1985).

Then remember that the Professor is going to teach you what you need to know to pass the class; and to follow the good advice the other posters have already stated.

[Tacocat, ASN, RN]

On 8/17/2019 at 1:16 PM, Snatchedwig said:

Find someone in your class with your same personality to talk to. I found people who all wished bad things on our instructors under our breath. Girl it got me through.

Also remember that some people in your class are probably going to suck. The "know-it-alls" and "one-uppers" and general jerks. Find people who are going to help you, not drive you nuts.

[emergenceRN17, ASN, BSN, RN]

On 8/17/2019 at 2:17 PM, Horseshoe said:

Don't procrastinate ever. Especially with pharm.

Respect how you learn. If you are visual, make note cards for your drugs (you can buy pre-printed note cards, but I always felt writing them myself gave me another layer of reinforcement of the material) or employ other methods of study that have worked well for you in the past.

Go to bed at a reasonable hour every night.

Make time for exercise.

Make time for family or close friends.

DON'T stand around after a test discussing how you answered test questions. There are always people who seem to know it all, saying they answered A, not B, and they are SURE they were correct. Since you answered B, you go home and agonize for two days about all your wrong answers, only to get your test back and find that Ms. Know it All actually doesn't know it all. And you wasted two days of your life thinking you did poorly. Even if Ms. Know it All is correct, agonizing for 2 days is wasted energy that you could be using in a more productive or personally fulfilling manner.

Doing the above got me through nursing school quite successfully.

^^^^^^ This got the best of me during school!

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

On 8/16/2019 at 11:57 PM, Beldar_the_Cenobite said:

Any advice? Thanks.

It's only school. Don't stress, just go and do it.