What is the best way to prepare for Nursing School?

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Hello,

I am starting the Nursing program at my local community college in the spring of 2012. I am going to take two semesters of basic courses this year to get ready. I am 28 years old and I have never been to college. I joined the Marine Corps right after high school and after I got out I started working for a government contract company. I decided last year to use my GI Bill and get my degree in nursing. I took the PAX-RN and scored in the 82nd percentile, which I was quite pleased with considering I have had no school for the past 10 years. :yeah:

So my question is, what should I study for ahead of time to make the program go as smooth as possible? I bought a pharmacology book this weekend and a health calculations book as well. My goal is to self teach these things over the next year, so when I go to school it will be a little easier on me. I am also a single mother so I need to make this go well. Once I quit my job that's it. I don't have the option of failing.

Which nursing classes are proving difficult for you? Please give me suggestions for how to prepare myself. I am aware this is going to be challenging.

Thanks!

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

The material itself is not hard. It is the time demands. I don't know that I recommend any reading ahead - it probably can't hurt, but it probably also won't help, as there are lots of different topics, drugs, etc. Med Math is pretty basic and most don't struggle with it too much once they get the hang of it.

What I would advise you, as a single mom, would be to start preparing your children and extended family and/or friends about the time commitment you are about to undertake. Get Plan A, B and C in place for if one of your kids gets sick while you are in school. Many to most nursing programs do not allow time off for sick children. Depending on your kids' ages, doing your homework may be something you have to tackle after they are in bed. Use this year to establish a very good schedule with reasonable bedtimes and the practice of setting up "mommy time" in which they learn to leave you alone for a period of time while they occupy themselves doing something quiet and nondestructive so that you have established a study time for yourself.

Best of luck to you. It is quite the boot camp experience, but many people can and do negotiate doing it even as a single parent.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Have you had Anatomy and Physiology? Are you comfortable with that? It's the backbone of all of nursing.

I've always heard the best prep for school is to read, read, read. Doesn't really matter what. Just read every day, and for long periods. Get used to sitting in front of a book reading, if you're not already a bookworm.

Otherwise, seriously just take it easy. Nursing school will teach you all you need to know. You're going to have precious little free time without the monkey of nursing school on your back and you'd best enjoy this time now.

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Reading ahead of time is always a good idea and should be recommended to any student, or future student. Fortunately I have both sets of grandparents in the area and a very supportive fiance. I think any issues with my son that may come up, like possible sickness will be taken care of.

I don't have anatomy or physiology. Like I said I have never been to college. I am planning on taking those course before I begin nursing school though. I will start this May. Thank you for the advice so far.

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Develop good study habits in school, now.

I think that's the most time-efficient thing you can do before you get into school.

As in, try to always do your readings ahead of time and figure out the best way to study for each class. The nursing classes will be different from your prereqs and you'll need to readjust your priorities ( "critical thinking" is a phrase that we nursing students have heard so many times it makes them nauseated...but it really is something different that your prereqs will have you doing!!). However, just spending time figuring out the priorities in each syllabus will be good practice. I don't know of any way to really get used to the nursing-type-questions aside from doing them, and I don't think there's any point in that until you've learned some of the materials. Once you do start school, get as many of those practice books for each subject, as you can ("fundamentals success," the Prentice Hall line, a good NCLEX prep book) and they will help you with exams tons!! Believe me, they are the difference of a 70 and a 90, for me!!

Clinical might be one of the most stressful parts of nursing school. In my program, they literally threw us on a post-op floor on our first week and it was terrifying. If you have time, take a CNA course so you'll know how to talk to sick people, as a care provider. If you don't have time, don't worry about it. Some people say it's sooooo helpful, but it's absolutely not worth it if it interferes with your studying.

I know some people who chose to study subjects prior to the start of the program that were not pre-reqs because the "felt they needed to know it" and it was a complete waste of time, which could have been better spent developing study habits. If you need to study pharmacology ahead of time, your program will tell you, "you need to study pharmacology ahead of time." I can see why it's tempting to want to delve right it, but I'm just going to suggest: study habits for the courses you are enrolled in, first!!!

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Also be aware that tests in nursing school will NOT be like tests in your other courses. Neither will be your grading scale. In my program, for example, a 93 is an A, anything below an 80 is a fail and you get kicked out of the program. Maybe as you near the date for you to begin nursing classes, you can purchase the most current NCLEX-RN book, so you can begin familiarizing yourself with this style of tests, since that's how they will be once you begin actual nursing classes. Good luck to you.

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What school did you go to? I am in brookdale right now, just got into the nursing program. I am going to my first class tonight. I have been reading, yet I know I haven't memorized everything. My teacher isn't the best rated professor, but I am trying my best just trying to figure out what it is she wants me to memorize. Any study suggestions for the readings, and the power point she gives doesn't cover much of anything from the readings we have to do.

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I'm a single mom too and as somebody mentioned previously, make sure you have a plan B,C and D in case of your child getting sick. I was not prepared for that and they are very strict as far as attendance. It is also very hard (impossible really) to study when my daughter is awake (she's 3). My classes were 2x a week so i had arrangements for those days only. Little did I know the exams were given in a different day and I had lots of other projects to do that were not during regular class hours. So #1 thing I would do is get very reliable child care.

Go to the dept and ask them if it's possible to get the reading assignments for 1st semester and start reading ahead of time. Make sure you know your A&P because that's the foundation for all the diseases and interventions you will learn in nursing school.

Also, you can watch videos on youtube to have a general idea of how to perform certain skills.

Congrats & Good luck!!

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I vote to stick with the Corps for another ten years. Why give up that retirement?

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I agree with the posters who say learn how to utilize time management. As a Mom in nursing school, you won't have the luxury of studying whenever you feel like it and for hours at a time. Try to figure out what your learning style is (auditory, visual, etc.). If you are an auditory learner, maybe invest in a voice recorder to record your notes; visual learners like pictures and highlighting in different colors.

I saw you are going to be taking A&P before nursing school... that is very smart! The basics of anatomy and physiology are the backbone of all nursing classes. Maybe get a medical terminology book so you are somewhat familiar with the "lingo".

Good luck, and thank you for serving our country as a United States Marine!!

Amanda

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I'd do as much shadowing of hospital nurses as you can - the more exposure you have to a hospital environment, the different disciplines and how they interact, the equipment, the procedures - the better.

Or if you don't have time for that, like everyone else has been saying, read read read! Find out what Med-Surg book your school uses, get a copy, and read it cover to cover over this next year (after you take A&P, otherwise it wont' make sense). If that's all you do, you'll have a huge leg up!

Another thing I would sometimes do over break would be to watch random medical documentaries (not dramas). I was always surprised how much stuff I learned actually applied in some way to my clinicals the next semester.

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Specializes in Urgent Care NP, Emergency Nursing, Camp Nursing.

I've never read ahead for any coursework - mostly 'cos textbooks are meant to be used, not read, and make for really dry reading any other time. I'd work on making sure you know your A&P inside and out, and don't neglect the dimensional analysis skills they'll teach you in Chemistry - it'll come back as "med math" once you hit nursing school and all your classmates will be mystified simply because medications are involved.

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