What Advice Would you give your Self as Nurse when you Were a Student?

Nurses General Nursing

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what advice would you give your self as nurse now, when you were a student?

that would have helped you do better in nursing school?

also for lpns and rns (preferably lpns in canada), what were the most difficult courses you took in nursing school? what is the most difficult task to do now as a nurse?

do you use everything you learned? did you forget most of it by grad? i hear for most careers, most of the information they learned in school is not used later. but i'm sure this is different for nursing.

i was also wondering if anyone could tell me what are good text books to read prior to getting into nursing school. i wont start till next year and i would like to take this time to take physio, med term, and anatomy. i would also like to get a basic understanding of the more difficult courses so i don't go in completely clueless and overwhelmed.

sorry for all the questions, you don't have to answer them all lol.

thanks in advance :)

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Good questions.

I would love to hear some advice on prepping for LPN school.

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I'm still quite a new nurse, but if I could go back and give my former nursing student self any advice, it would be to take it easy and enjoy the experience that clinicals offer, but not to get stressed out by them. I've learned now as a nurse that it takes time and experience, lots and lots of it, to get anywhere near competency in your skills and critical thinking as a nurse. Clinicals only offer a basic overview, a chance to hopefully practice some skills after you've learned them in school and to expose you to various patient care environments and practices.

No nursing student is really expected to know very much in clinical, and I kind of failed to realize that at the time when I felt like I was drowning in new information on my clinical sites but it seemed some of my peers had it so together. So in short, enjoy school and expose yourself to as much as you can.

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

S&!t happens especially on a colorectal ward!

Enjoy your placements and don't forget to talk to the patients as they are a mine of information about their diseases and how they manage them. Leave the politics to the staff on the wards you are only there for a short time don't get involved in messy situations that as a student you may not have the knowledge base or skills to handle.

What happens in the lab is not always what happens on the wards. learn the difference between tricks of the trade and sloppy shortcuts. Remember the tricks and forget the short cuts.

You will get covered in something at some point...........I once had a TPN shower when we used to mix it ourselves on the ward . Have a spare set of undies, socks and deodorant in a bag so that if you do need to take off a wet uniform and shower yoou can take off your wet undies as well.

Realise that people go into nursing for different reasons and respect that. not everyone has a "calling" (hate that expression re nursing) and that our differences make nursing the diverse profession it is.

Enjoy being a student cause once you are registered it is a different ball game!

Have fun and remember to drink water and go to the toliet!

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Everything comes with time and patience.

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One advice I would give myself is to BUY the Marlene Hurst review NCLEX DVD's because MY EXPERIENCE in nursing, was I never had professor who explained why things were happening, example, weak,thready pulse, yes its a S/S but what exactly was going on, with this weak thready pulse? Its the why's, that help you to understand nursing and some professors don't know how to explain that.

Marlene Hurst although it's a review for NCLEX, she just put the pieces of nursing together, she is EXCELLENT, two thumbs up!!!! I'm not an online type of student, but if I had her review before I started nursing school, I would have taken nursing online!!! I only had two professor who actually explained the why's, and they were Excellent and was not in the business if wanting an individual to fail!

As far as books are concern, I personally like Mary Ann Hogan for every speciality/ class you are in she explains the info in a nut shell, my final advice is always make sure you do NCLEX type Questions after each section you read, because nursing is not memorizing and its not black or white, when in Nursing Process I& II buy a NCLEX PN, I say PN because in MY OPINION those first two classes are like Medical Assist., CNA, LPN type class so you need a PN book, but when you get to GI/GU and so forth than you can get an NCLEX RN book, I personally liked Saunders NCLEX BOOKS, and make sure to always read the rationales whether you got the answer right or wrong. THIS IS WHAT HELPED ME, NOW IT MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU!!!!!

FINALLY, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY and when ypu feel discouraged PRAY some more, read, do questions and you should be ok!!! Remember, the reality of NURSING as I see it not everyone wants you to make it, and not everyone is willing to help you succeed, especially your classmates!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!! I wish you much success!!!:nurse::up:

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To jump in and experience everything I could.

I am trying so hard to do this now going through RN school, but in LPN, I was so worried about hurting someone or not doing something right, I never volunteered to try a procedure first, but always watched. We're nurses! Get in there! In lab, in clinicals, whenever.

Try out everything, go to open lab times, breathe it all in, because you never know when a nurse at your clinical site will grab you and go "Let's go change this dressing/clean this trach/cath this patient." And you don't want to stumble or doubt yourself.

If you have a HESI or are taking your NCLEX for LPN before moving on to RN, don't leave it till your last term. Cover it, buy books, flashcards, and do the questions like your teachers tell you to from the first day. I did a little bit each term, and thought I'd be ahead of the curve, but it didn't stop the fear from setting in during my final term and realizing just how little I was prepared for the testing. Do it before the panic sets in and you'll be golden! :up:

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Specializes in Critical Care.
To jump in and experience everything I could.

I am trying so hard to do this now going through RN school, but in LPN, I was so worried about hurting someone or not doing something right, I never volunteered to try a procedure first, but always watched. We're nurses! Get in there! In lab, in clinicals, whenever.

Try out everything, go to open lab times, breathe it all in, because you never know when a nurse at your clinical site will grab you and go "Let's go change this dressing/clean this trach/cath this patient." And you don't want to stumble or doubt yourself.

If you have a HESI or are taking your NCLEX for LPN before moving on to RN, don't leave it till your last term. Cover it, buy books, flashcards, and do the questions like your teachers tell you to from the first day. I did a little bit each term, and thought I'd be ahead of the curve, but it didn't stop the fear from setting in during my final term and realizing just how little I was prepared for the testing. Do it before the panic sets in and you'll be golden! :up:

Thank you so much for this wonderful advice! :D

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Specializes in COS-C, Risk Management.

My first, best, and only advice to myself of long ago would be, "Keep your mouth shut."

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