I start this fall in my nursing program and Im extremely anxious!!! Im looking for any advice that will help me in school. Whats the thing you can NOT live w/o during nursing school? What was the best study method for you? Index cards, recorders, palm pilots? What should I take to clinicals? I know you all were anxious when u started!!!
thanks guys
p.s. ....im hoping this will end up being a HUGE thread that other anxious students can read
This thread ha some great info! Some things I've found that work well are:
Use the tutor center... even if you don't need it. You can often compress a few hours worth of reading into a half-hour conversation.
See if your school offers a free subscription to a drug-database (we were offered Lexi-Drugs for our PDA's and Blackberrys)
Go in and see the instructors during their office hours... and don't be afraid to ask about the material you should focus on for the exam.
Don't be cheap with your shoes--you'll end your career before it begins.
Buy a fanny-pack or a set of scrubs with lots of pockets and fill it with supplies.
Stethoscopes are overrated... you'll find that 5% of nurses have top-end Littmans, 70% have the entry level model, 20% use the generic supply-cart stethoscope and the rest fall somwhere inbetween.
For the love of everything holy... take your shoes off before walking inside your house...
For the love of everything holy... take your shoes off before walking inside your house...
This is funny...but true! I knew nurses that kept lysol in their cars and took off their shoes sprayed them and put them in the trunk to dry after work each day. I kept slippers in my car to put on to drive home...they felt so great after 12 hours ( or more) on my feet!:heartbeat
Congrats on getting in. I remember that feeling. You should be proud of yourself. That being said, you asked what you can do to prepare?
First, a lot of nursing students in your class are going to be trying to do route memorization on everything. Trust me, this does not work. You have to UNDERSTAND concepts, not memorize. Sure there are lab values that you should know and other simple things, but when it comes to pharmacology, I want a nurse that is going to understand what cardiac meds are doing so they can look out for the sides instead of thinking, "What was a beta blocker for?"
Take each day at a time. I can't tell you how much work it's going to be. You will see when you get there.
The only thing that I really use everyday is my ipod touch. I keep drug guides in there and it does save me some time, as well as allow me to schedule things with the planner. It's really important to stay organized.
Last thing, when you get into study groups, if you find yourself supporting somebody too much, drop the weight. This is about your career and yourself. You need to find people that you can study with that all contribute to your learning, not take away from it.
Specializes in Pediatric Intensive Care, Long Term care.
hmmm...i see the trend of everybody warning against trying to cram or memorize. im a auditory and visual learner so the more I write something out and the more I hear it the more i understand and retain that information. I dont usually like study groups because I get too distracted and I never end up covering the sections that i am actually having trouble in. I intend to find a loyal friend that will be there to help me along the way...thanks again guys for ur input
OH...and i totally agree about taking your shoes off after work/clinicals. Right now im a nurse aide in a childrens hospital and I have walked in blood, mucous, bm, etc, etc...pretty much any and everything that u dont want tracked trough your house. There have even been times where I have taken off ALL of my clothes on my doorstep because we had a few of those pesky bedbugs riding in on residents from the nursing home i used to work at...ewww...
I also cannot study in groups. I do much better on my own. I use flash cards a lot. I also walk around my house reciting them out loud. Everybody learns differently. We just have to use what works best for us.
MAKE FRIENDS!!!! I cannot fully express the importance of this! I cannot tell you the amount of times I have relied upon other people to help me out, to keep me informed about deadlines or information that I missed when we were sitting in a four hour lecture, notes that I copied when I missed lecture, and all sorts of stuff you may not think of. It will be hard. You will make it through. I am going to be a senior this coming fall but I'd have to say that sophmore year was definitely the hardest. You'll learn a lot, good luck.
The great thing is that you'll enter school with a whole class of people who are in the same position! It's the school's job to teach you what you not only the information you need to know but also the tools and tricks for studying and learning!
Personally, I'm very low-tech. I don't use a recorder since I feel it was more helpful and far more efficient for me to go back through my notes than to listen to the lectures again. I have a PDA, but don't use it for school. I use my laptop for making study guides and review sheets, but I like taking hand-written notes on the powerpoints provided by the school. I have a backpack I use only for school -- I like to keep a stash of pens, mechanical pencils and highlighters in it as well as a bottle of water, a $5 bill and some chapstick. For my notes, I use a THICK 3-ring binder (there are LOTS of notes!), subject dividers and removable sticky tabs (to label sections in my notes -- also very helpful for flagging drugs in my drug book). I get my patients' meds the day before clinical and I like to flag them with a tab and highlight the key facts about the drug so the info is accessible if my instructor asks questions about any of the drugs (tip -- each week I unflag the drugs from the week before, but stick the flags to the page so you can reuse it rather than writing a new flag every time you have a patient on lisinopril or another common drug).
I have a separate binder for clinicals, in which I always carry several copies of all the clinical forms provided by the school (care maps, chart research forms, etc.). I print out 10 or 15 at the beginning of the semester, this way I always have extras if I need blanks. Also, you can make friends in clinicals by being the one with the paperwork because other students ALWAYS need blanks! Stick a $5 or $10 bill behind your ID badge -- very useful for those days you forget your wallet.
Which NCLEX review books do you suggest for studying the summer before starting NS; I saw Kaplan's Strategies for RN and Kaplan's Medications you Need to Know, but I know some review in different ways . . .
Great idea about keep extra copies of care pages! People really do forget these all the time. I've been both the giver and receiver of extras. As Martha Stewart would say.."It's a good thing." :)
The $ in your backpack/name badge are also a great idea. Would be a huge help if you forgot your lunchbox or your wallet.
And it really is true about making friends. Everyone's in the same boat that you are. Enjoy getting to know other people. A fun icebreaker question is to ask what type of nursing people are interested. People are usually very excited to have the chance to talk about themselves, and you just might find you have something in common. A lot of people are figuring out what specialty they want the whole time and that is fine too. I went in thinking Peds, tried lots of things with an open mind and ended up still loving peds .My two best friends are both all about labor and delivery...I think that's interesting too...but they both hate peds! That's ok, they understand that I love it and totally support me, it's just not for them. Don't let differences in opinion separate you from potential friends
KellRrn2b
178 Posts
CONGRATS live zen!!!!!!!