Your Advice to a Pre-Nursing Student

MrsMommaRN · Jul 9, 2007

know how the normal sytem functions before you learn the disease process. once you have the normal functions down the disease process will make so much more sense.

stay organized with your reading, assignments, and time. if you have the luxury read ahead. take notes on what you have read.

get a good rolling backpack those books weigh a ton.

best of luck;)

Haunted · Jul 10, 2007

Get your rest, connect with supportive friends and family, get to know your Instructors. Visit your skills lab often. Your a team player. Be helpful to your fellow students, bring homemade muffins or brownies to class. Ask for an orientation to your clinical facilities.

Never perform outside of the scope of your studies while in a clinical rotation. For example, if you have not passed the medication exam, you cannot give meds. You will be written up ( 3 strikes and your OUT!!!) so be careful. I had a staff nurse hand me a cup of pudding to feed a patient, she didn't tell me she had crushed the patients meds and mixed them in, she notified my Instructor who came up and witnessed me "medicating" a patient and BOOM I got written up.

Then I asked to look at the patients chart. There were no orders to crush the meds so I notified my Instructor and together we spoke with the charge nurse. The evil staffer got her wrist slapped and waddled on down the highway ( she HATED students ) but be very objective, if you are shadowing a staff nurse let her know the limits to what you are able to do.

If you are just not connecting with your staff nurse, ask to be reassigned. When you finally find that kind and compassionate mentor, ask questions when you are alone. It is boot camp and the fitest do indeed survive. Good luck. This site is an incredible resource. Treasure that. They got me thru so much and I cannot thank all these anonymous kind hearted and knowledgable people here.

al7139, ASN, RN · Jul 10, 2007

I agree with all that has been said here. Having just graduated from a 2 year ADN program, my best advice is to make school a priority, but ALWAYS find some time for you. I organized my time so that I could study, but I picked one day each weekend where I did not even look at a textbook. I remember at orientation for school being told to clean my house really well and kiss my family goodbye, because I wouldn't see them for two years. Well, I made time for myself and my family in spite of what we were told. In my second year we were told to devote 98% of our time to school. Again, I refused to sacrifice my friends and family and my life to school. If you are organized, and schedule your studying, you can have a life while in school as long as you stick to your schedule. Otherwise, go to class, don't miss any lectures except for a life or death emergency, and find at least one close friend in your class you can vent to when things get tough. It is sacrifice, but it doesn't have to be torture.

Amy

celtictides · Jul 10, 2007

Study on a regular scheduled timeframe and stick with it. Don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't understand.

Be as organized as much as possible, i.e. regular study time, reglar sleeping schedule, don't skip meals take care of yourself. You are required a specified number of classroom hours and should you get sick for any length of time, it can be problematic, most schools will not allow you to make up any missed hours. I was hospitalized during my schooling, and I was extremely fortunate, I was carrying an "A" in all my subjects, due to this and the written requests my two doctors that an exception should be made in my case I was allowed to. But this is very very rare, and I was so stressed out because I thought I was going to have to repeat my schooling which equated to additional funds. SO remember to take care of yourself as well!