study habits in nursing school

[benBAJ234]

Hello all,

Iam starting nursing school on August 25th. Is nursing school really alot of work? I only ask this because i have a job and a very active lifestyle. I also ask this question because iam really good at catching onto ideas and concepts quickly. I dont tend to memorize, more understand and apply the knowledge to hypothetical situations i make up in my mind. I just wanted to know if nursing school is more memorization or understanding of how things work in the body. Any help would be great. If nursing school requires alot of work, i will adjust and make school an even greater priority. Just want to know what others experienced while studying in nursing school. Thank you.

[FLAlleycat]

Hi, and congratulations!! I hope you will enjoy your future nursing career as much as I have mine!

I was a single parent of 2 (ages 1 and 3) when I went to nursing school. It's great that you grasp concepts rather than memorize. I hate memorizing things and am more like you. I didn't find it hard but it did demand a lot of time. I did go full time, moved into university family housing (cheap), and got all the grants, scholarships, and loans I could. Before clinicals started, I found myself in class almost from 8-4 daily. When clinicals started, I found myself in class every other day and in the hospital for 9-hr shifts the rest of the time, excluding weekends. There were smaller night classes where you had to do presentations on nursing ethics, etc. After classes, if you had clinicals the next day, you had to get our assignment, go to the hospital and review EVERYTHING about the pt, write up med cards, care plans, etc . . . all that is EXTREMELY time consuming.

That said, I still had time to play with the kids and didn't go insane. But I was really, really grateful when it was over! Good luck!

Alley