what do you wish you knew back then??

Natingale, EdD, RN · Mar 8, 2009

I think in first semester, because your anxiety level is so high, everything seems 10000x's more difficult than it really is. It gets easier, take it easy and read read read before the topic comes up. In 101 they cover so much in a short period that if you dont get something its going to set you back.

Neoma · Mar 8, 2009

I'm almost at the end of first year. It's flown by!

Don't get behind in reading. Read the material before lecture. I make notes to myself if there's something that I just don't grasp when reading. 99.9% of the time, it's covered during lecture and I don't have to ask.

Use some type of calendar to keep track of dates things are due, skills check-off dates, exams, assignments due, etc.

Two books that are helpful: Ackley and Ladwig's Nursing Diagnosis Handbook; And Evidence-Based Guide to Planning Care - 8th edition and

Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination.

The first really helped with care plans, and the second allows me to test myself on material covered to help prepare for an exam.

Take time for yourself. It's easy to overwhelm yourself if you don't. One of the things that I've really appreciated it at our school is the first year faculty. They are supportive and approachable. I'll really miss them when I move to second year.

HTH

JanineD23 · Mar 9, 2009

I found that Carpenito's nursing diagnosis book was really helpful for my care plans. I also feel like they need to know they ARE capable. I didn't realize it until recently that I wasn't just going through motions, I really was doing patient care on my own and I KNEW what to do. They need to take a deep breath and know that mistakes will be made but that they are capable individuals.

jpeters84 · Mar 9, 2009

I wish I knew how to answer NCLEX style nursing questions BEFORE I started nursing school. You can studied till your blue in the face and know the material inside and out and still get a question wrong in nursing school because you don't understand the method behind NCLEX style questions. I'm still working hard at understanding how to work the NCLEX questions. I wonder how much higher all of my test scores would have been if I mastered this concept before starting nursing school. I would recommend to your students to get a NCLEX book right away and make them do 5 questions a day. Even if they don't know the material, just getting use to the method behind the madness, would have been a huge help for me!

missjennmb · Mar 9, 2009

Dont get behind in your reading...dont get behind in your reading...dont get....

Yeah that. :)

The only thing i really wish that I had done differently, is that I did not take Pharmacology seriously enough, and now I'm struggling with it. If I could go back to the end of first semester, I would take my small Christmas break, not go out visiting family, and instead get a couple of "Pharmacology for Dummies" kinds of books and get a head start on that.

I do have an NCLEX book that I really love, but what i love is the computerized practice CD that came with it, not the actual book. Its a nice break from "normal" studying to go do the questions and I have also found suprisingly that I know more than I expected to know which makes me feel better after wandering around lost in my Pharmacology book. :)

notthereyet0 · Mar 9, 2009

This is somewhat off topic to your question, but I wish there was a math class for doing drug dose math for a math class credit. Our school throws it in with all our other classes and seems hit or miss. Since I have to take algebra as a prereq (BSN), then I wish the class could be specific to what I will need for my profession. I wish we had practiced more on the math in our first semester classes... :rolleyes:

northern_RN · Mar 11, 2009

That your fellow students can be great lifelong friends and others will be complete annoyances. Be very careful what you share of your personal life with fellow students, if they think it will earn them points with instructors they will stab you in the back, accuse you of cheating because you get better grades than them, don't think you deserve better grades than them because you don't do study groups with them, and all other mayheim.

Some fellow students will be your only sanity as you share midnight chats, help eachother through assignments, and vent with them.

The knowledge is knowing which are which and holding your tongue until you are sure. I actually had a fellow nursing student be a reason I went to anther school. She befriended the new program director and during PN program said all kinds of nasty things about me and even though I had all A's and B's and over 3.5 GPA I was denied admittance into RN program. It was cut throat and only a certain number of us would be able to go on for RN. By getting me denied she and her friends with barely passing grades got in. OF course I got the better of it because they couldn't cut it and dropped or failed out. I went on to a better school, got a better education and clinical experiences in a bigger hospital and got my RN anyway. I should really send her a thank you note and sign it RN. Even though it hurt like hell at the time and I thought my nursing career was over, I am better and wiser for it.

Another person said Ackley and Ladwig's nursing diagnosis book. Strong recomendation there. Saved me hours when writing careplans.

Know your medications for your patient before the instuctor asks what it is for and if you don't know something for sure admit it and say I would look that up in the drug handbook, policies and procedures, etc.

Don't be the class brainiac, people are annoyed and you paint a target on your back. Keep your scores to yourself.

Don't be overly confident in your knowlegde or abilities or what you want to do with your nursing career. Normally confidence is a good thing but your instructor my look to kick you off your game and mess your life up.

This happened to me when finishing PN program and I told the director I fully intended to go on for RN. She didn't like me from the first time she met me for some reason. I think she was jealous of a young confident nursing student since she was a misirable seasoned nurse and I was so niave and enthusiastic about being a nurse. Instead of teaching us she loved to tear us down and point out anything we didn't know that she did.

She, the new director, and the clinical instructor (her friend she hired) got together and had to justify not letting me go on with numerous stupid write up that were untrue and I was not allowed into RN program. Funny all these write ups happened in the last month of program when the "hateful" director took over and pulled in her long time friend as a clinical instructor. This also had to do with her "friendship" with the back stabber. Once the old director of the program was gone and they could do whatever they wanted they set me up with the intention of not even letting me graduate with PN. Lucky for me there was only a month of the program left and with my good grades they just couldn't fail me. Without the stupid write ups based on my grade they couldn't justify not letting me go on well allowing students with lower grades into the program. At the end of the program the "board" needed to meet to decided who was getting into RN program. A friend of mine overheard the new clinical instructor say to the back stabbing friend that I would not be getting into the program. Funny that she said that before the "board" meet the next week. The write ups were just a way to justify to the board not letting me continue my education. Anyway this is about advice, I just wanted to vent about that and I hope no other nursing student has to ever go through that kind of experience.

So moral of the story, on clinical know your patient(s) focus on them and don't draw extra attention to yourself at all. I pray you have good clinical instructors like I did for my RN, my PN exprience was awful. There are both good and bad clinical instructors, teachers, and program directors out there. If you get a bad one just try to stay off her radar.

Carrie_MTC · Mar 11, 2009

I wish I would have worked a lot more and saved up money before starting nursing school. Your life pretty much will revolve around school and trying to work on top of it sucks.

Also what the last person said about watching what you say and do around certain people. I've had someone that I thought was a friend of mine, go behind my back and tell the clinical instructor personal things I have said. Lesson learned, if it's something you don't want your clinical instructor to hear, your best off keeping it to yourself. People will use anything they can to try and put themselves ahead and impress themselves in front of instructors.

5macinte · Mar 11, 2009

In clinicals, get as much experience as you possibly can. Be available to put in that IV, or drop an NG tube. Do as much as you possibly can. Because once you are out of school, you don't have an instructor to ask every little question about. Take advantage of them. That's why they are there!

My advice is to go on ratemyprofessor.com and judge how good a teacher is before you take their class. Your nursing school experience will be directly related to how eager your profs are to teach you. The better they are, the better you will be!!

Also know EVERYTHING about your drug groups!