Things you wish you would have known!

i will be starting school next spring and i can't wait! i would love to know, what are some things from nursing school that you wish you knew about or were warned about before you started? do you have any study hints, great web sites or witty come backs for butt**** instructors? lol any feedback would be great!

i'm sure you are kidding for the most part, but he way to deal with butt**** instructors is to kiss their butts. don't go in there with a proud attitude, you greatly increase the odds they will find a reason to get rid of you. never back talk or challenge a teacher, even if in a rare circumstance you are right. if it is something you can't let go, hold your tongue and meet with the instructor after class to discuss the matter with her or him.

i'm serious about this, don't be thinking about any "comebacks" for your teachers, that would be a fatal mistake on your part, they won't put up with it. nursing school isn't like college, it is much more formal and rigid. not that the teachers don't have a sense of humor, but i saw many girls let go because of a bad or sassy attitude.

good luck with school.:)

I'm sure you are kidding for the most part, but he way to deal with butt**** instructors is to kiss their butts. Don't go in there with a proud attitude, you greatly increase the odds they will find a reason to get rid of you. Never back talk or challenge a teacher, even if in a rare circumstance you are right. If it is something you can't let go, hold your tongue and meet with the instructor after class to discuss the matter with her or him.

I'm serious about this, don't be thinking about any "comebacks" for your teachers, that would be a fatal mistake on your part, they won't put up with it. Nursing school isn't like college, it is much more formal and rigid. Not that the teachers don't have a sense of humor, but I saw many girls let go because of a bad or sassy attitude.

Good luck with school.:)

use a flashlight when doing a female cath and you'll get it everytime.

if your patient shows a change in mental status, do a fingerstick.

you can put electrodes on someone's back (confused and pulling at things, chest trauma, etc) and still get a perfectly good rhythm strip.

spend a few minutes with the patient's family. they will think much more highly of you if you give them 5 minutes of your time.

prioritize...prioritize...prioritize!!

Learn how you learn, and learn how you yourself (not anyone else) deals with stress...and work on both always!

Get an appreciation for your limits, you can always work on them. Knowing what they are is vital, and admitting them is even more so! May it be in medical ethics (like abortion, death with dignity, working with patients with AIDS...), or simply something anatomy wise (like some folks just get so ill working with respiratory secretions that they almost pass out or vomit...me, it is silly but eyes..I can't touch eyes or deal with them without getting sick to my stomach..I have overcome it for the most part, but it still is there to a point!). If you can accept your limitations, you can make them strengths!

Get a really good book on fluid and electrolytes (I find the "Nursing Made Simple" group of books is wonderful in breaking it down for the first time learner!!! Those books saved my hide!). I find a good base in f/e is a very valuable tool in finding the underlying probelms in many medical cases...and that is the trick for going from good nurse, to great nurse!

Take time for yourself, you are going through a very stressful time, and you must reward yourself for your efforts! I took bubble baths undisturbed (thanks to my hubby) after each clinical and I soon looked so forward to my 'treat' that it made the day seem like just something I needed to do in order to get to that bath! LOL! And each month my hubby and I went out for a dinner just to celebrate both of our efforts (because family support isn't easy when you have a stressed out nursing student freaking out all the time..LOL, they deserve a reward too!).

And most of all..always find a way to make mundane or unpleasant experiences enjoyable! This is a challenge, but so worth it! And this practice of making things enjoyable goes beyond school and into other items in your life as well :) !

AND a very good large travel cup for coffee!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!

The very best piece of advice that I got for clinicals came from a woman who had been a waitress before enrolling in nursing school...

"Full hands in; full hands out."

In other words, if you are going to go in a patient's room, take something that needs to go in there and leave with something that needs to come out (helps you make fewer trips). Yeah, I know, it's simple. But it really helped me get organized better than anything and it has the beauty of being easy to remember.

I wish I'd known they only teach you how to take care of one pt instead of ten! I wouldn't have been in such culture shock!!!:chuckle

i will be starting school next spring and i can't wait! i would love to know, what are some things from nursing school that you wish you knew about or were warned about before you started? do you have any study hints, great web sites or witty come backs for butt**** instructors? lol any feedback would be great!

first, learn that test questions aren't "tricky"; the questions are designed that way to get you to think critically. do pay attention, takes notes and study. work hard during and be pleasant during clinical. a lazy or grumpy student will not go far. and instructors are not butt****, although i sure thought so at the time. they are tough to make you learn. this job is not to be taken lightly, you will have lives in your hands, and mistakes could kill.

Just keep on keepin' on.

For some of the test preparation get a NCLEX Boards review book and it will help put you into what they are looking for. they don't teach situational but test that way. Good luck!!

thanks, everyone for ya'lls feedback!

Break it down! What do you really want from this field..or any other! What is it you will expect??? If you want the client to look at you with loving eyes saying "thank you!"...ummmmmmmmm please don't expect this! Don't base it on that! If you plan on dealing with live and death and knowing..there is only so much you can do about it..but you can improve to make it better for you and everyone else...hey..you may have an in!

Nursing...okay I will be honest from my perspecive...it's everything..as long as you give more from yourself that you never knew you had...and you get to fill in the difference! This isn't bad...just something to consider! and when things come back in your face less than favorable..you have one person to quell your heart break, sadness..and sometimes even pure joy! YOURSELF! Be good at knowing yourself! If you can be very self critical, yet objective..oh the possiblities are endless!!!!!!!!! AND VERY REWARDING! It is odd..really it is...you go into the field to give..and winds up being the best journey in self learning! A good thing really....although we would never think about it!

Go for it...just be real! It isn't the title, it isn't the money..it is what YOU give! And that can be a harder realization than most expect :). I learned so much about myself in 6 months of nursing school than I ever knew exisited! I learned how I learned, found out what I do and don't like, and found how I can best work in anything that was thrown at me...in essence...me and all me! They say you work with patients...but first..you work on you!!!!! Thus the reasons nursing has so many codes of conduct..and so many people to support you!!!!!!!!!

Go for it if you want a insight into yourself, because if you don't have that...you are a tech...a nurse is so much more!!!!!!

Hugssssssss...good luck!!!!!!

The one thing that I found to be most important while in nursing school is time alone. Time alone to study, time alone for homework, time alone to not be a mom, wife or student. Your "down" time is VERY important. Make sure to get a lot of rest...and don't stress over the things you don't know. Everything will come to you in time...but the best gift you can give yourself is taking care of you. Nursing school is VERY trying...and sometimes, you may feel yourself wanting to give up and walk away. When that happens, put down the books...go out for a run, a shop at the mall, a bubblebath, a cup of quality coffee at a cafe. Call an old friend or see a movie.

Then, when you are feeling better...back to the books.

Looking back on it, there are two things I wish I would have known or at least better realized. One is, don't get all bent out of shape about x, y, or z you don't like about your nursing program. It's just 2 years. It'll be done in a jiffy.

Secondly, I wish I would have actually listened and learned the material in MED-SURG. I managed to fly by with a B but I didn't really learn any of it. I had to play major catchup ball when studying for the NCLEX which was stressful.

That's it, really.