Tips from a student to a student - how to be productive in nursing school

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

To all of the students that are starting now, here are some tips:

1- in class, try to be organized and get your notes on your powerpoints, what i like to do is print my powerpoints on a note format, so it prints the text like if it was a word document, and then I add my notes with a colored pen, to review, I type whatever i wrote in that document, so i have a complete note, with my notes integrated on it.

2- try to be focused, lectures are not boring, they can be less attractive, and dragging, but if you let your "antennas" down for a bit, you might have missed something relevant!

3- the voice recorder works, but honestly, don't go listening to every single lecture, listen to the parts that you did not understand well, or might have missed notes for whatever reason, another great use for the voice recorders are when your instructor plays a video (usually they will put a few questions from the video/audio on your test) so that is when you listen to your voice recorder and compare what you are listening to the notes you have.

4- make sure that you are not wasting time studying things that you do comprehend, go ahead and study the blurry stuff first, spend more time on that, move on for a "complete review" when you have understood the gray areas

5- reading, speed reading the chapter/powerpoints on the night before, or morning of the class will place you in a great advantage, because you will have an idea of what they are talking about, and you will have more chances to critically think, and understand the lecture, than if you were to be seeing the material for the fist time! remember that you don't know what you don't know so, when you have an idea about the material prior to lecture, that is when questions will pop! and you will get them taken care of!

6-make sure that you have a flash drive with you all the time!! what i do is i placed one on my car key chain, so for all my soft copies, care plans, care plan templates, books, lectures, notes, whatever i need is within quick reach!

7- create an e-mail account just for nursing school, where you store all your lectures, and conversations/ emails from instructors and such, this will be great since you will have it all there, with easy reach without having to delete any! i recommend gmail where you can label e-mails and they all will stay on the same folder but with different colors/ related to your labels, plus when you sign up for gmail, you can create your calendar which will be a great help

8- when you are preparing for clinicals, approach it in a nice way! Instead of being mad that you have to get up early, since you have to be there make sure that you take the most advantage from it! Study your patient the night before, the meds procedures.... So you could give a good report in the morning

9-how to handle a clinical instructor: I found that over all, all instructors wants to know that you know what you are doing, that you are looking up things and learning as much as you can, that you are performing your tasks in a professional way, and that you are over all prepared!

If you get stuck with a tough instructor, all you have to do is make sure you are prepared, make sure you have acquired all the pertinent information about your patient, that you understand his clinical situation and the meds/treatments that are being provided.

Look up pertinent medical terms that you do not know regarding your patient, because more than likely your instructor will say "what does that mean?". So be prepared, it does not take much, google it! Also be on top of your meds, onset, action, Signs and Symptoms, what to wach for, reassess... Because you will be asked that.

A Instructor expects you to be professional, so be it! Make sure that you keep them informed of what you are doing, any changes on you patient condition, tests, etc... and make sure that you check that chart hourly, so for you don't miss any orders that were recently placed.

Have fun and enjoy your day, clinicals should be exciting, do your best! (remember that is what you will be doing for a living!)

10- I do recommend you to eat something before going to clinicals, I found that it is easier to handle gross stuff when you have some sort of food on your stomach, make sure that it is something plain, like a biscuit, granola bar, bagel etc...

.... I will be adding more shortly, and am asking that people who are in nursing school already add them also, so for we could help the newcomers!

[AugustRain]

I think my biggest tip is to try to enjoy it. It can be hard and scary and overwhelming, but nothing else will ever be like it. I'm graduating in a couple of weeks and I'm relieved & excited, but I'm also not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself the first morning I can sleep in.

Enjoy the little accomplishments, be excited with your classmates/friends when they succeed, and on the really bad days, remember how it felt to open your acceptance letter (don't think about the part where they asked for a deposit!).

[RNShenanigator]

Ask for help when you need and don't wait until the last minute. I saw way to many classmates do this and it only hurt them in the end.

Practice in the check off lab, alot. They can tell when you haven't been practicing.

Try to have fun.

[littleone07]

wow. this is great! thanks!!

[txmommyof3]

Thanks for the great information. I start nursing school in 4 days and am soaking in all the hints and tips I can get to help make the next 2 years as smooth as they can be.

[jdd112]

My biggest piece of advice is to get a GOOD study group together. There are 5 or 6 of us that go to a coffee shop and study the night before each test.:smilecoffeecup: We all make our own reviews beforehand, then when we get there we go over everything in the unit and discuss things. If you don't understand something the way the instructor taught it, one of your friends probably did, or y'all can at least try to figure it out together. It also helps being held accountable to show up and study. I can't get anything done at home, so if I'm out of the house AND I have people there to keep me on track (and vice versa) I'll get a lot accomplished.

Also- know when to take a break. For example, our classes are Monday through Thursday, so Fridays are my day to relax. I don't do anything school related. I go out with friends, lay around the house, and get errands done.

I only have one semester left, and I've made all A's and two B's (both 89s!!:hdvwl:) so something I'm doing seems to be working!

[jenniedennise]

Thank you so much for the tips!! Awesome post. :) I'm starting school next month and am SO excited!!