What can I do to prepare NOW (Jan 2015 nursing school start date)

Published

I would appreciate any information on what I can do to prepare myself NOW for my start date in 23 days?????????????

Thank you!!

Specializes in ICU.

I would say get a good calendar. I used my phone calendar. Because you will need to be extremely organized when school starts. Not sure if you are doing online or traditional, but if you already know your classes and have access to your syllabus, start organizing your study days for each of the subjects and due dates from the syllabus. Believe me, when school starts you will not have time to organize a lot. You will be feeling like you are in a rat race to get everything organized and done the first few weeks. So it helps to get yourself organized as early as possible, if you can. Nursing school is nothing like you have ever had before. Believe me. You will be in for the ride of your life. So try early in getting super organized. Time management is a killer for a lot of people the first semester. So much to learn and not enough time. But keeping organized at least gives you something to work with and structure, than having nothing at all. That is all I would do right now. But, it doesn't hurt to start reading. My first exam was the second week of school, and I had 12 chapters to read, including assignments that were due that same week of the exam. It was brutal. But I began reading 1 week before class started. Throughout the whole program, I always stayed 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule, so if something came up, I would have a week to buffer me. Sorry for the long drawn out post. But my method to my madness allowed me to attain high honors when I graduated. GOOD LUCK!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/ER, Maternal, Psych.
I am also starting next month. I am prepping by deep cleaning my house, putting together freezer meals and a list of easy crockpot meals, and getting a study area set up in my bedroom so I have a place to go and close the door to keep the kids out. I'm printing and framing some inspirational quotes about nursing to hang around the desk, to keep me going if/when I am struggling. Other than that... I'm spending as much time with my kids as I can, as I've explained to them that life is probably going to change drastically come next month!

Can you please tell me what meal preps your doing???

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I start on the 12th and as much as I am trying to just relax...that's hard for me.....so I have been working on getting organized....bought a new planner...downloading all my e text books to my tablet so that I won't have to haul all my books...picking up supplies and skimming the information they instructors mentioned we would be starting with come the beginning of school (which is easier said than done because our reading spans several text books and that info was just briefly touched in orientation) so I am just reading what I can find. I hope that our syllabus will be posted on Monday and I will have a week to at least just skim over what will be covered.

I am not one who can just sit and relax lol I like to feel prepared going into things.

I plan to hit up Barnes and Noble and see if they have the saunders nclex review.....If not I'll order it off amazon....If also need to order my scrubs and find some shoes....but our clinical won't start until early Feb so I have some time to get that done

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I agree with everyone else! Just relax and spend time with family while you have a chance! Nursing school can be overwhelming at times, so I wouldn't recommend starting the torture early! (:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Can you please tell me what meal preps your doing???

I went on Pinterest and looked up "freezer meals." I've been making 1-2 per week and putting them in a section of my freezer. I don't have a ton of freezer space, so we're just about full. I'll do more on breaks from school, and I'm on the lookout for a good deal on a standalone freezer. I also used Pinterest to pull up a bunch of crockpot meals, and we've been trying the recipes out 1-2x a week for the past month or so to make sure we like them. I'll have a pretty good variety in rotation by the time classes start on the 20th.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If you must do something review a&p. The purple Saunders nclex book is good.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PCCU, tele, Med/Surg, ED, Psych.

I agree, relax and enjoy. I suggest you make sure you have a place available where you can study comfortably and, hopefully, without interruptions.

Beck

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical care.

I disagree a little bit on the relaxing. By all means do relax, but while you are doing so:

-make sure you are organized. Have a system for filing papers, have your supplies ready, have a study area set up.

-make sure you know your anatomy/physiology. You MUST know this for nursing school.

-spend time with your kids and loved ones. Your time is about to be severely limited!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

All of these are great suggestions. I agree to relax , but by all means, GET COMPLETELY ORGANIZED. Clean your house, do all laundry, get any regular doctor appts taken care of, buy a crockpot. I'd you have kids, meet & greet some backup/ sick/ off-hours sitters for when they can't go to school/daycare. If you have a spouse, have a conversation about time management and household duties. You will be shocked how much time NS takes; imagine how shocked your other half is going to be. Figured out how you manage stress. I use meditation, yoga and exercise. I downloaded some more music and yoga videos. I wouldn't worry about actual NS reading right now. Not all professors use their books or want you to read everything. Good luck! NS is completely doable!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I was in your shoes a year ago. Some on this board suggested to get organized like many other posts, but also to get a haircut, dental cleaning, and any other of these types of chores out of the way prior to school started. I also picked up a few novels about nurses and watched medical type tv shows to add to my enthusiasm before school starts.

If you want to do school stuff. Make sure you know your a&p and patho (if you have taken it). I had a nursing instructor that was soooo upset that the nursing student didn't know where the mitral valve was in the heart.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PCCU, tele, Med/Surg, ED, Psych.

Someone else mentioned practicing NCLEX questions. Good advice, but don't start too early. I am an nursing instructor and I have seen students get very discouraged because they can't answer these questions correctly right away. You need to master nursing content before you can effectively apply your new knowledge to questions in NCLEX that require critical thinking. Many students have difficulty with the pharmacology questions in NCLEX. You can start learning medications now. You can't memorize every drug, but you can learn classes of drugs and their side effects etc. When I was in nursing school I kept a drug book in the bathroom, lol. I never wasted a minute. Now you have apps you can put on your phone so you always have an opportunity to learn. Look on the Google play store or iphone app store. There are many apps with NCLEX study questions and a few with good advice on how to prepare.

Beck

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical Oncology, ER.

are you starting clinical rotations or starting the entire curriculum like A&P and micro?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion