What is the biggest piece of advice you have for nursing students?

ABerryGirl, CNA · Sep 4, 2008

I'm in my last semester of nursing school. Yippie!! I too suggest that you don't fall behind, especially with your reading assignments. If you get summer breaks, make sure you relax & recover from the past semester. Also remember to keep studying and review what you have learned during these breaks. It's always good to have a friend or to who you can study with. Over the summer a friend & I took an NCLEX review book and broke it down into sections we would read and then meet one day a week and do the questions together. Also, don't just read the bare minimum to pass the tests. When you're a nurse out on your own, you can't turn down a patient who has something you didn't find time to learn about. Knowledge is power. While you're in clinicals be proactive and hunt out skills you need to learn. With only one clinical instructor and 12 students (as my class is), you sometimes have to be aggressive and ask your nurse if you can place a iv or urinary catheter, do a dressing change or do whatever you haven't gotten the chance to do yet. If you don't ask to do it, someone else will get the chance. You don't want to be graduating and not have had opportunities to learn as much as you could have. Last but certainly not least, take time for yourself each week and keep your sense of humor. I promise you in the end you will look back at all those things that terrified you and laugh. Good luck!

bassandtea · Sep 5, 2008

I've recently finished my first semester and my advice would be:

1) Work smart - know what you need to focus on and focus on that

2) Look after yourself. Nursing school can be hard and overwhelming at times and getting rundown won't help.

3) Laugh! If I didn't laugh I think I'd be in a padded room right now... savor the fun moments, because there will be some and they will get you through on days that you think nothing else will.

4) Seek help. Speak to other students, instructors, nurses... Take advantage of any services your school offers to help you.

5) Support each other and debrief with other students - one day a week about 10 of us have an hour break between classes, we use that time to have lunch and to vent, complain, laugh, cry and realise that there are others that understand exactly what it is like.

EarthChild1130 · Sep 5, 2008

Take the time to take care of yourself, and enjoy the learning process! Also, learn how to not only talk to your patients...learn how to listen to them too...there is a difference! Best of luck to you!!

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2008

be open-minded when it comes to the specialty you wish you pursue. don't assume that because you love babies that nicu is your speed, or because the thought of seven patients freaks you out that you could never do medsurg. take every available opportunity to shadow nurses in any field. even if you've had a day in an icu, don't pass up a day in a different hospital's icu. it's better to learn in school that you do enjoy the er after all, so you can pursue a job there and that you actually don't care for hospice, rather than after you've started working there.

also, get to know your professors. don't kiss up, but if they know who you are, they'll be more helpful to you.

finally, if you're a prayin' woman (or man!) remember what those knees are for!

-jess

Grace Oz · Sep 5, 2008

I second what the others have posted here; and would like to also encourage you to ALWAYS remember to make time for YOU. And also your loved ones, they'll be a wonderful source of support and encouragement.

Time to go for a walk or other favourite form of exercise, watch a movie, read a FUN book, if affordable; go out for a meal now and then.

It's important to not lose sight of the goal and end result. Becoming a nurse. It's equally important to ensure you continue to LIVE and LAUGH. Try, wherever and whenever possible, to obtain a balance.

Wishing you EVERY success!

OC_An Khe · Sep 5, 2008

In addition to all the above. If you make a mistake ( we all will or have) be forth right in admitting it and report it to the appropriate person.

CorgiMom · Sep 5, 2008

There is no one scarier than someone who doesn't know what they don't know. Pretending to know something is dangerous. None of us knows everything. The ability to humble yourself and ask questions is a sign of a good critical thinker.

Reddy,RN · Sep 5, 2008

Great advice here. I would also suggest, for school and work:

- Develop skills required for team work. Google if you have to but learn how to be a great team member and at least a competent team leader. Learn enough about yourself to know what sort of team contributions come easily to you. Branch out later with confidence.

- Keep a "broadcast delay" between your brain and your tongue. You are in school to get the chance at those letters after your name. It's a lot harder after you get noticed for an offhand remark that bothers someone else. Especially an instructor.

- The indexes and tables of contents in your textbooks can help you learn. So can google and wiki. Look into the Health sections of major newspapers online too. That way you'll have things to suggest when topics for projects or papers are needed.

Kevin RN08 · Sep 5, 2008

be open-minded when it comes to the specialty you wish you pursue. don't assume that because you love babies that nicu is your speed, or because the thought of seven patients freaks you out that you could never do medsurg. take every available opportunity to shadow nurses in any field. even if you've had a day in an icu, don't pass up a day in a different hospital's icu. it's better to learn in school that you do enjoy the er after all, so you can pursue a job there and that you actually don't care for hospice, rather than after you've started working there.
also, get to know your professors. don't kiss up, but if they know who you are, they'll be more helpful to you.
finally, if you're a prayin' woman (or man!) remember what those knees are for!
-jess

amen!

the differences between hospitals is something that amazes me. not just the changes in employee culture and arrangement but the subtle differences in treatments and policy. i always thought it the differences were mainly based on the management of carbon copy policies, but there are some suprisingly different "standard policies".

bossynurse101 · Sep 5, 2008

This is what helped me:

1. Find a study partner(s)

2. Dont memorize - try to get to the bottom of the principle instead. I made the mistake of "faking" it through A&P I and by the time I got to A&PII it was torture. I thought maybe there wd be just a little more to go but the layers just kept getting deeper and deeper. (Wait til you start in on the muscular system - jeeeez)Trust me, this is knowlege that WILL come in handy later when you need to understand how different meds work, labs, etc.

3. The computer programs and or books with questions, answers and rationales were gold to me. Every spare moment I had, I went through just a couple of questions. More than one person honked a horn at me while sitting at a redlight, but I believe they were just one of the biggest reason I did so well on tests.

4. Never act like you know something when you dont. The smartest and most gifted nurses I know are the ones who are not afraid to say "I dont know". Oh, and any question with the words "always" or "never" is usually false.

5. When in doubt choose 'C'.

TessaMae · Oct 4, 2008

hello everyone!

[color=#a0522d]i do not have any words of wisdom but i had to comment. i like to read all the different posts on this site. this post for example is so wonderful, encouraging, and offers some great advice. one thing i keep seeing over and over is how important it is to ask questions and that no question is a dumb question. i agree but if you go to a "ranting " post all you here are complaints about how fellow students ask too many questions, dumb questions, etc. i wish we could post a link to this wonderful thread on one of those threads to put things into perspective for those students who are bothered by the questions. good luck everyone and thanks for the helpful tips!:wink2:

cherrybreeze, ADN, RN · Oct 4, 2008

hello everyone!
[color=#a0522d]i do not have any words of wisdom but i had to comment. i like to read all the different posts on this site. this post for example is so wonderful, encouraging, and offers some great advice. one thing i keep seeing over and over is how important it is to ask questions and that no question is a dumb question. i agree but if you go to a "ranting " post all you here are complaints about how fellow students ask too many questions, dumb questions, etc. i wish we could post a link to this wonderful thread on one of those threads to put things into perspective for those students who are bothered by the questions. good luck everyone and thanks for the helpful tips!:wink2:

i'll comment on this...yes, it is important to ask questions, but it's also important to have faith in yourself. sounds contradictory, but there is a distinction, and they do relate. questions about a patient's situation and how to handle it is different than a question about if you can give them ice chips, or whatever. i get a lot of questions which are things that don't need to be asked (i wish i could think of a better example right now, but i'm drawing a blank).

i had a situation the other day, two students were working with a newer quad. i took over for another rn when i came in at 11am. that rn had told them to change her back incision dressing (it was not an open wound or anything, did not have to be routinely changed...i don't even know why she told them to change it to begin with). the patient told them it had been changed at midnight, and at this time, less than 12 hours later, it was clean, dry, intact. i got two questions from the student: "should we still change it?" ok question, and my answer was no, it was ok to leave for now. "should i tell xxx we're not changing it?" (xxx being the nurse that was on before me). no, you don't have to tell her. i am the patient's nurse now. if i'm telling you it's all right how it is, then it's all right how it is. that to me was not a necessary question.