What do you wish you were told on the first day?

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What do you wish you were told on the first day? My students have already been through orientation, but I would love to find some great ways to break the ice and to encourage them. I want them to know that if they work hard, they can succeed. What have you been told that was helpful/encouraging? What do you wish you had been told?

i definitely understand! you must be a good instructor, your students are lucky to have you!

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

I wish my instructors would have told us they have academic freedom. That is the freedom to not grade any of the work we hand in until the end of the semester so you dont effectively know where you are at any point. It would have saved the countless unanswered emails and voicemails about my progress.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

That Guy, I actually have a little area of the syllabus that tells students what I expect of them and what they can expect of me. For example, I respond to all e-mails within 48 hrs, with the exception of school holidays. I return exams within 24 hours and written work within 7 business days. This way the students see that just as I expect them to meet deadlines, I also set deadlines for myself. I used to hate that feeling...."When will my paper be graded??"

Hopefully this will help them out so they aren't overly anxious.

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That Guy, I actually have a little area of the syllabus that tells students what I expect of them and what they can expect of me. For example, I respond to all e-mails within 48 hrs, with the exception of school holidays. I return exams within 24 hours and written work within 7 business days. This way the students see that just as I expect them to meet deadlines, I also set deadlines for myself. I used to hate that feeling...."When will my paper be graded??"

Hopefully this will help them out so they aren't overly anxious.

This is the best! As an undergrad, I always appreciated my professors who did this; it laid the foundation for a good working relationship between teacher and student. For me, it also served as extra motivation to do my very best, because I never wanted to disappoint the profs that served me so well. I hope my nursing instructors will do this as well. :yeah:

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
That Guy, I actually have a little area of the syllabus that tells students what I expect of them and what they can expect of me. For example, I respond to all e-mails within 48 hrs, with the exception of school holidays. I return exams within 24 hours and written work within 7 business days. This way the students see that just as I expect them to meet deadlines, I also set deadlines for myself. I used to hate that feeling...."When will my paper be graded??"

Hopefully this will help them out so they aren't overly anxious.

Can you PLEASE come teach at my school. They even have an opening :D I really do admire that you set expectations like this for yourself and hold yourself to be available and grade papers in a timely matter. I am STILL waiting for a paper to be graded I turned in over 8 months ago.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

1) Dont bring your personnal problems or issues into the workplace. Pt's need you to be supportive they dont need to support you!

2) Nursing is a hard job very rewarding but it is hard!

3) You will work unsociable hours, You will work weekends sometimes 3 in a row

You will work public holidays, you will work Christmas, New year etc.

4) Sort out your childcare in advance and make sure you have a back up plan!

5) Don't stand around looking pretty or chit chatting with your fellow student-go and find something to do or ask for something to do! Or what can you learn today-talk to patients if you have the time to stand around they are experts half the time in their illness

6) Please dont give the RN's back massages not only is it unprofessional but you are invading their personnal space! It happened all the time where I used to work!

7) PCT's can be your best friends do not think you are superior to them

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1. Buy the Saunders book. Study it off it. It's much more practical if you're in a crunch.

2. Eat breakfast so you don't pass out in OR because your teacher said so. There's nothing like the smell of burnt flesh in the morning.

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i start ns in may2011...i was scared..now im just terrified . . ahh the high school drama..man i was a grade A b!tch in high school...but im sure this time around i wont be stealing boyfriends or alienating anyone to quit cheer ....id like to think iv matured :]

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Specializes in ICU.

If you are presented an opportunity to do a skill on a real person in clinical, be the first to volunteer! Doing things in clinical as much as possible gives you confidence. I was always the first to volunteer for procedures. Most of the rest of the group would practically hide when the instructor would say, "The ER called and they have xxxxxxx. Who wants to do it?"

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

That Guy....8 months!!!! That is an insane amount of time to wait for a paper. I begin to get anxious when I have taken over a few days to grade them. I guess that's probably why my work week is often 60-70 hours, lol.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
That Guy....8 months!!!! That is an insane amount of time to wait for a paper. I begin to get anxious when I have taken over a few days to grade them. I guess that's probably why my work week is often 60-70 hours, lol.

I just took Med/Surg 1 this past semester, and didn't know what the clinical portion of my grade (25% of overall grade) was until the last day of classes. My CI never returned any papers, clinical preps....nothing. Thankfully I ended up with an A- in the class overall, but it was terrifying to not know what 1/4 of my grade was. More teachers should be like you! :nurse:

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OOOOOOH I just wrote a really long response and I'm not going to write it again. the basics:

1. Don't dwell on bad grades just take them and move on.... like nike in nursing school JUST DO IT! This is a hard concept for many exemplary students in nursing schools to grasp: C's get degrees! So do B's!!!! A's are nice, but they aren't everything. I'm still learning to cope with this one, I think I got it down now especially after last semester lol.

2. It gets much better after school AKA this is temporary!!

3. ORGANIZATION SKILLS!!! this should actually be #1 in my book. SOO many things to do and staying ahead of the assignments/tests/careplans is KEY I used to sit down on saturdays and sundays and just do a million assignments in advance just so that when I knew I would be stressing out in the next week or two, I wouldn't have a million other things to think about.

4. The cliques will fade after a semester or two, you're too busy to keep up with it. Or if you're in one, you'll realize that you're missing the importance of the experience and education by putting social life before all. Or having one at all :) lol oh brings me to my next one:

5. Force yourself to go out and have a BEER!!! Sure, you could use that 4-5 hours to cram the stuff in your head a week in advance, but you could also relax and let the rest settle in your brain to make room for more!! or you could do like I always do....find a nice patio with a good friend in the program and bring your books and grab a beer :)

Nursing school will knock you down sometimes and make you feel unworthy and extreeeemly frustrated (yes, the tests are very different every answer is correct and you can study for months and still do horrible...it's frustrating to say the least.) But think of it this way: nothing in life comes easy and at least you will have the ability to say that you survived nursing school!!

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