Tips to survive nursing school... I need your help!

mauxtav8r · Jul 11, 2008

About the study group/study buddies line of thinking here, I couldn't agree more with the posters above.

We were told THE FIRST DAY of nursing school that we could expect to fail out if we did not have a study group or study buddy.

Price 2002 · Jul 11, 2008

it was said before and i want to repeat it because it was something that my clincial instructors really instilled in me and it has helped me so much...know your lab values! so important. i made flash cards to help me learn them and then carried them around with me forever and every time i had a spare second was looking at them until i remembered them.

RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2008

If you have to give one piece of advice on how to survive nursing school what would it be?
Thanks and I really appreciate your help!

DEDICATION! can't survive without it! :up:

rnsrgr8t · Jul 11, 2008

This is great! I graduated 10 years ago but all of the advice here is SO right on! I have a few to add!

1) Nursing school is a marathon, not a race. Keep your eye on the ultimate goal (graduating and passing NCLEX) at all times. As it has been already said, there WILL be bumps in the road, don't waste all your energy on them.

2) If you have a competitive class, don't let them engage you on comparing grades. It will never end up good. If you do really well, you are going to hear about it... if you do bad, you are going to hear about it. It is NOONE's business what you got on a test, project, clinical grade etc.

3) Echoing above, if you have an issue with grading with your instructors, don't compare yourself to your classmates and what they got. They don't care. Worry about yourself, and if you truly feel there is an error, based on YOUR performance (and yours only) present that to them. This is preparing you for the real world and your performance reviews. No nurse manager wants to hear your argument for a poor eval being that you feel you are better/as good as one of your coworkers and they did better on an evaluation then you did. Need evidence to back it up.

4) Start to learn how to deal with difficult personalities now. There is a lot of drama in school. No doubt abbout it. There are instructors out there who are nuts and you cannot reason with them. If you think they are bad, wait until you get into the real world and start dealing with crazy patients, families, coworkers, doctors etc. It is the nature of our job that we see/deal with people during their worst moments and worst behavior. Use nursing school to start learning the art of being calm and assertive while being respectful, caring and keeping boundries. You will set yourself up well for the future if you can rise above the drama and start to try to see difficult situations from both sides of the issue. It is something you are going to do daily once you are working. Nurses are the "go-between" in the healthcare world and we mediate everyday.

5)Do you know what they call the nursing student who finished last in her class but still passed NCLEX? NURSE! (I know it is an old med school joke but it still works). Don't stress SO much about grades. Do your best, study, study, study. Don't have to get an A on everything.

6)Nursing school is TOUGH. Bootcamp is the right word. From day one, they are going to try to break you. Get used to it. Period. Why? B/C you are trying to learn a job where lives are at stake. You can KILL people. Start developing a thick skin. I had a preceptor who almost made me quit school b/c she made my life miserable (and she did it on purpose). However, she was a stickler for details, and 10 years later, I still find myself doing things the way she taught me... and she was right. She really was over the top and liked being mean b/c she could...but I still learned from her.

7) As a general rule, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. :) I don't mean that in a bad way but you are going to learn the right way and wrong way many times. There is more than one way to do just about everything. The WORST thing you can do is "we learned it THIS way, I read it THAT way". You can learn just as much about what NOT to do as you can about WHAT to do.

8) ENJOY!!! You are learning an awesome job and you should be proud of yourself. This is NOT easy! Relish in what you are accomplishing every day!

bulldoggurlie · Jul 11, 2008

have fun!!!!! Its so easy to get stressed out and feel a lot of pressure with everything, but nursing school is an experience that will never come again and in reality there is so much opprotunity to learn and grow. Have fun with the learning and studying don't be afraid to be goofy and light hearted.

hnt1987 · Nov 20, 2008

learned to accept that you basically don't have a life when u are in nursing school!

bamagt · Nov 21, 2008

Don't party but if you don't have a test on Monday take a day off on the weekend and just relax.

NursingAgainstdaOdds · Nov 21, 2008

Study what you are taught, and know it inside out. (Especially true if you are working as an aide and spend time on the floor seeing how "things are done in real life".)

When taking multiple choice tests, read the question while covering the choices. Think in your own mind what the answer to this question is, then look at the choices. This is highly effective if you know your stuff.

jeanise · Nov 21, 2008

Know the material before your teacher goes over it in class...in other words...read the chapters ahead of time!!!

UnicornRN · May 13, 2010

This has been so helpful. Does anyone have more to add?

sandanrnstudent · Jul 24, 2011

Is there any other advice that people want to share? I know it's been a while since this post was frequently added to so I thought it would be okay to bring it back and dust it off.

Thanks

donsterRN, ASN, BSN · Jul 24, 2011

Read, study, pay attention and, in clinicals, do everything you can.