Studying for nursing classes

kathryndanielle · Jan 3, 2015

I recently got accepted to nursing school and I'm going to go for Lpn first and then rn like you did, is that a good path to choose ?

brown eyed girl · Jan 3, 2015

In my opinion, any more, no. The way the tide is turning, everything is RN....mostly BSN. It seems as if the associate degree RN is being held to nursing homes and home health, but not all ADN'S. But, if you feel more comfortable in getting your LPN to get acquainted with nursing, I say go for it!

FollowingMydreams · Jan 3, 2015

I just started an LPN program and although I was discouraged by many I still went through with it. I went this route first so I can make more money as I climb the nursing ladder. I am a single mom working as a PCT in a hospital. I figured I could pay a cheaper tuition, advance in a shorter time frame and although I maybe confined to work in LTC (nothing is beneath me) I can work there and my employer can pay for me to go back to school.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jan 3, 2015

Moved to General Nursing Student forum for member advice.

Malorymug · Jan 3, 2015

Hi! You are right, studying for nursing classes is different than other classes. It isn't enough to learn the information, it must be applied once it is learned. Here are a few things that help me:

1. Learn the information early and learn it for your future knowledge not for the test

2. With this knowledge, ask yourself:

"What will this patient look like?"

"What will the patient need from me right now?"

"What can I teach the patient?" (about this bit of knowledge).

3. Work with a partner or 2 and quiz each other, have discussions, ask each other why

4. If you are putting in a lot of work to learn the information and apply it and the tests still aren't giving you good results, talk with the instructor. They want to help.

Hope this helps.

brown eyed girl · Jan 3, 2015

How does the Nursing Foundations class help you answer the questions correctly?

Malorymug · Jan 3, 2015

Which questions? Class exam questions, HESI, or NCLEX? My foundations questions focused a lot on ADPIE so when there was a priority question, it was important to know whether the question was asking about assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementing, or evaluating before answering. Usually there is more than one right answer but looking at what the question is asking helps know which answer was more right.

Foundations seemed to me to be mostly about learning to think like a nurse and learning to take nursing school exams. Not so much about content.

brown eyed girl · Jan 3, 2015

Exactly. That's what I wanted to know. When I was in LPN school years ago, I did fabulous. This past quarter, I did horrible. I had never until this past quarter, failed a nursing test. It was unbelievable. My m.s. instructor told me that I needed to ask questions if I didn't understand; which clearly (for me) wasn't the case. It just wasnt. What baffled me was, others in the class who were not nurses (or fresh, post-graduate LPN'S) were passing the tests. And I began to question "why?" I wondered if we as experienced LPN'S were struggling because we were exempt from taking the nursing foundations class versus, the others, who just finished taking it the immediate previous quarter with the same instructor; yet, we experienced LPN'S, could explain to them what you will/should see and do and why.

I know I'm a visual/tactile learner. So an instructor talking endlessly does nothing for me except frustrate me. It didn't/doesn't help because they couldn't and didn't make it "real" for me so, it affected my studying and note taking. I was frustrated and became tired and mentally burnt. I spent unreal amount of hours doing nclex questions and writing massive amounts of notes which really was me re-writing the chapter! LOL! I'm laughing now but it wasn't funny when I was going through it! But, just wanted to know was it the foundations class that I needed as a refresher to understand what the question was/is asking so I could apply what I know about the disease/disorder, thus answer the question correctly.

Malorymug · Jan 3, 2015

I can see why foundations isn't required for LPNs because you certainly don't need to learn the skills they teach but I can also see how it would be a huge disadvantage because of the whole "think like a nurse" thing.

Med Surge puts what is learned in patho and what is learned in foundations to use. When you are writing those notes out, ask yourself "If I could only do one thing for this patient with this disorder, what would it be and why?"

brown eyed girl · Jan 3, 2015

I can too but, I wonder if not revisiting it is causing a problem for me with regard to "knowing" what the question is asking to be able to pick the best answer. There has to be a strategy in answering the questions to pass the tests. I imagine they teach that in the foundations class.

guest4/14 · Jan 4, 2015

I'm not sure how it is in your situation, but I've noticed with my friends in the program who have had past experience in the medical field have difficulty sometimes with overthinking questions. My close friend who is a medical assistant will relate her real world experience to answering questions and that can be detrimental at times. We all know what is taught in the textbooks is sometimes different from what is really done in the clinical setting, so this hinders her. Have you ever noticed yourself thinking about what you do at work in order to answer a question?

If that doesn't seem to be your issue, here are some tips that have helped me so far in the program:

1) Read as much as you can. Read whenever you have a free moment. Even if you have to split up the chapter into 5 page increments throughout the day, this has helped me so much. I'm a visual learner so having read it helps me a lot.

2) Start a study group. I study with my classmates almost everyday. I do so much better when I study with other people. Being able to bounce ideas off each other and review different aspects that you may not have thought of is extremely beneficial.

3) Buy an NCLEX practice book. Do as many questions as you can. If you can't afford one, they have them at the school library usually. I do literally hundreds of questions before every test. I know this may sound weird, but doing the NCLEX questions first before beginning to study will actually help. This way you can get an understanding of what you need to focus on. When you begin to read the chapter, you can highlight these key words and phrases and study them more closely. Then when you go back to re-do the questions you can see how far you've come!

4) Get the workbook that comes with your textbook and fill it out. I have found that engaging your mind with the same information in as many ways as possible helps it stick. Even if you don't know the answer and you have to look it up, it will help store the info in your long term memory.

5) Stay organized, and stay consistent. Consistency is key in the nursing program. I am guilty of procrastination and waiting until the last minute to study for tests (particularly during my pre-reqs), but this cannot be done in nursing. I 100% know I would fail if I did do that still. Study a little bit everyday!