WANTED: New Student Advice

Paola2319 · Jan 2, 2017

Need something advice as well! Starting January 17 and have a 9 month old baby too í ½í¸©

guest908299 · Jan 2, 2017

First off - nursing school is challenging but ENTIRELY doable. Literally millions of nurses have made it through school, some smarter than you and some not as smart.

I just graduated from an accelerated BSN program and the most challenging part for me was the amount of material combined with long clinical hours (we did 12hr shifts, which was great experience, just tough when you had an exam to study for the next day).

A few snippets of advice off the top of my head:

- Find students you connect with and can rely on. Form study groups and share resources and notes. Forget being competitive, you're all going to be in the same boat and need to focus on succeeding together.

- Be active and participate in lectures. Answer and ask questions in class, your professors will get to know your name and they can be such a great resource.

- You can't memorize or learn everything. Don't even try to. There is SO much information out there. Focus on 1) passing each class, 2) providing safe care in clinicals. Pick up on what each professor emphasizes and how they want you to think, this will help on exams. Don't be afraid to ask for help in clinicals. If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe doing anything, ask your clinical faculty or assigned RN. You are there to learn and are not expected to know everything (or anything in the beginning).

- Utilize all your resources - tutoring, other students, office hours, reliable internet resources (Quizlet can be very handy), textbooks, etc.

- Schedule in some time to relax - watch an episode or two of TV, go for a run, cook a nice meal, have some wine, play with your pet or kid. Yes you will be overwhelmed, but you still need to take care of yourself. Spending an hour on yourself will not make you flunk nursing school.

- Relax and spend some time with your patients during clinicals. You will probably have more time than the floor nurses (especially during your first clinical rotations when you're limited to what you can do), some of my best early clinical moments were spent helping bed-bound patients wash and comb their hair, educating them about their condition/disease, and chatting with them about their children/previous careers/cats/what have you.

And try to enjoy the crazy ride :)

Paola2319 · Jan 2, 2017

Thank you oh so much!!!:)

Allison007 · Jan 2, 2017

Thank you so much for the advice and reassurance! :up:

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 2, 2017

Thank you so much for the advice and reassurance!

((HUGS)) It is okay to be apprehensive but remember all nurses have experienced it and passed.

I think the biggest problem is that people underestimate the amount of time you are going to have to spend studying and doing care plans, studying drugs....it is an over whelming amount of information. Some people compare their college work to their friends who do have less work. Nursing program are not tolerant of being late or skipping classes. Many boyfriends and friends do not understand that you have to do homework and yes....it is a lot. I saw this even with my daughter who is in her Junior year of a BSN program.

Asystole4 has given excellent advice but you can also come here for help. I love helping students. Show us your work first and you will have several of the senior members to help you. We have a specific forum for help...we have student tips forum.

Don't get behind....schedule relaxing time...BREATHE! We have all been there!

Nursing Student Assistance

Study Tips for Students

Allison007 · Jan 3, 2017

Thank you so much, Esme12!

I am rather worried about the amount of material I will be responsible for knowing. How should I prioritize?

Also, you mentioned that you have forums and people who can help. That sounds awesome! What kind of help do you provide?

eplunk2 · Jan 5, 2017

Welcome to the world of Nursing! I just graduated from an accelerated program this past December, and am studying for the NCLEX. Happy to help give some advice! The amount of information is definitely overwhelming, but totally doable. Since you have some time before the program starts, I'd recommend looking over some concepts now. My school started us on Fluid & Electrolytes, which I found to be a hard concept to grasp considering my first degree was in Psychology. Maybe start reviewing normal values for Sodium, Potassium, etc and get to know the effects of these labs on the body.

As far as prioritizing time during school, as soon as I went to class I'd come home and being typing up study guides and review the topics a little each day before the exam. It's important not to fall behind or wait until the last minute to study for these tests, because ours always fell on the same week and studying all at once for 3-5 tests was just impossible. So start ASAP! If you have your books, start reading. Once you go to class, start taking notes and reviewing.

Lastly, find a group of friends to study with, this saved me during school. I found 2-3 other girls that I studied with and we all helped eachother and traded study notes and tips. It won't be hard to meet life long friends in your program, but make sure you all study well together.

Good luck to you! It is hard, but mostly it is really fun!! I look back on my experience as a really rewarding time and I've made friends that I consider family. Despite all of the hard times and tears, we really laughed more often than not!