with tips for success in and after nursing school
(thanks to Angela Pearch)
GET THE MOST OUT OF CLASSES
GET THE MOST OUT OF CLASSES
During even the most boring lecture, look interested. The secret of a good image is striving to be that which you wish to appear.
Remember, some teachers are just jerks. Deal with it. Learning how to deal with jerks is a good skill to cultivate in any discipline.
Introduce yourself to your instructors. You don’t want to just be a "face in the crowd.
Take your materials out of your house to study. Get away from distractions, undone dishes, radio and TV. The doughnut shop or all night cafe will offer quiet and ample amounts of coffee.
Read nursing journals and magazines. Often current articles will compliment your text and make the information more easily understood.
use individual sheets of paper or large index cards to make a file of disease/conditions and their treatments. List etiology, signs and symptoms, diagnostic tests,interventions, etc. and keep them in a binder for future reference as well as present study.
Take notes from your notes!
After taking notes in class or from the book, put away the book and tape player and outline the notes.
Use NCLEX review materials as your study guide. Sort questions by topic as you go through school and study those questions pertaining to your current lesson. It will help you learn and give you a head start when it’s time to schedule your NCLEX .
Turn course objectives (as found in the beginning of each chapter or from the course syllabus) into questions.
Instant study guide!
Whether you don’t know how to make a bed or have been an EMT for years, remember everyone begins clinicals as different levels of experience. Focus on where you are going, what you will learn. not on how much (or little) you know now.
If you have trouble remembering protocols, lab values or even your patient’s name :) write them down on index cards and keep them in your pocket. The more you use them the more you study them.
In Psych rotation, take a moment to center yourself before working with patients. Most respond best to a calm focused approach.
Study your instructors. The more you know them the more likely you are to understand them and what they are expecting from you.
If you don’t know how to do a procedure, look it up, check the protocols, ask for help. Instructors would rather be "bothered" walking you through the procedure than fixing the mess or hearing the complaints if you do something wrong.
Be helpful to the nurse you are assigned to for clinical. Take all the vitals, never contradict publicly, don’t ask constant questions (that’s what you have instructors for) In general Kiss-up The nurse will be glad of the help and be more likely to help you.
Don’t make your supervising nurse hold your hand. Even if your scared and have never done something before, jump in and do anything suggested.
Volunteer information! Instructors like to be informed about your patients.
If they can trust you to keep them informed you are likely to be trusted to work independently
Explore volunteer opportunities in your area. It ain't just for candy stripers any more.
Many clinics and outreach organizations are completely run by volunteers. The experience can help you shine on the floor.
Take your tests in comfort and
style Wear comfortable loose fitting clothing on test day. Loose
fitting does not mean sloppy. Do your confidence level a favor
and dress for success. Cardigan sweaters, full skirts and stretch
pants are comfortable without compromising your professional
style and attitude.
If you need to take issue with the
instructor over a point on a test, do it privately. To dispute a
mark in public will embarrass them and make them want to be
proved right. And bring it up in the context that you need the
correct information, not that you’re going for that one
little point.
When the instructor and the text
conflict. offer both answers on the test when possible. If not
(as in multiple choice) most instructors will allow you to
approach them quietly during the test. You can display your
knowledge and ask which answer is being requested.
Ask former students about an instructor’s testing style before taking that first exam.
Buy a good personal planner and note all projects, deadlines and tests in it. Plan a realistic schedule and follow it. Just take one day at a time.
Then just take one day at a time confident that every day’s tasks bring you closer to your goal
Being a nursing student is harder than being a nurse in many ways. just relax, don’t sweat the small stuff, and be receptive to patient and staff needs.
Replace your fear, anxiety, and worry with joy. have fun with what you know. have fun learning neat new stuff. You can’t stop bad things from happening but you can learn from it. You can enjoy your new role.
Don’t give up. Failure is not an option!
Graduation is not a goal. It is simply the natural consequence of your actions!
set the tone of the clinical day right. press uniform, lay out clothes and shoes. get essential items together (always in the same place) and pack your bag the night before. You’l feel "with it" and together the next day. It’s a great confidence builder.
FORM A STUDY GROUP!
Especially one you can stick with through graduation. develop an
invested interest in each other.
and divide and conquer the huge amount of info. nursing students
are expected to learn.
Go through your notes together.
Sometimes someone else puts information down in an especially
memorable way. Sometimes someone else catches something you
missed.
Sit in the front row! Most study groups form from those you associate
with during classes. So select your lab partner with care and sit in the
front row with the students who are (or want to be) brilliant.
Assign a portion of each chapter
or assignment to each member of your group. Each person is to
make up study questions for their portion and distribute copies to the others.
Presto! your own practice exam!
Network with students ahead of you for information on courses and
instructors. A little fore-knowledge can go a long way.
Select a net-friend from the snurse-l and exchange topical questions
over e-mail
Keep your resume to one page!
Edit,edit,edit, then, if all else fails, shrink the point size.
Just keep in mind reading ease.
Don’t list each clinical in
your resume. Do list any unusual clinical experience or clinical
experience gained outside of school. (Red Cross volunteering,
paid positions within hospitals, etc.)
List any unusual or unique experience in your resume. Anything that
will make you memorable and make you stand out.
List professional memberships (ANA,NSNA etc.) in your resume
Don’t overlook the obvious sources of employment information. The
Phone Book. Many hospitals list special numbers for recruitment. Also
look at employment agencies, and temporary help agencies (like the Kelly
girls) but remember no one can get a job for you. your job is YOUR
responsibility.
at your interview, ask for a copy of the nursing department mission statement and goals. Better yet, procure them before hand from the hospital’s public
relations dept. and mention them in your interview. Let the
interviewer know you care about the direction they’re trying
to bring nursing.
Most companies, hospitals
included, hire from within first, so getting a non professional
job within a hospital can give you a edge after licensure.
Take continuing education classes.
Collecting CEUs can give your resume a short line that will speak
volumes about your proactive attitude and self motivation.
"I have (x#) CEUs"
Tape the lectures on
audiocassette. Then listen to the lecture again while you
re-write your notes. you’d be surpassed what you missed the
first time.
read you clinical notes into a
tape recorder by topic in a concise repeatable form. then ASK
QUESTIONS on tape that you can answer when you listen to it.
Listen to tapes on your way to clinicals in your car or on a
headset walking to class. You can even save them to be used for
NCLEX review.
Search out and use web resources
in your research papers. Also get the free learning software
available from FTP sites on the net.
Use your email account to
communicate with instructors. You are likely to get a well
crafted, concise answer to your concerns if they must be put in
writing. It also eliminates phone tag and restrictions to office
hours.
Some software and database
programs allow you to create a template to your specifications.
You can make forms for careplans, assessments, process
recordings, any standard paperwork. Then all you need to do is
fill in the blanks and print it up.
Lower your standard of
housekeeping. You don’t need to make the beds every day as
long as your sheets are clean. You want the place clean enough to
stay healthy and organized enough to find your shoes in the
morning. Every thing else is just petty pride.
Care and up-keep of a significant
other is important. Tell your SO how much you appreciate them and
count on them. When they do something you find helpful - THANK
THEM. Remember, you’re in this together.
If you have all day day care (not
hourly) use it! drop the kids off when the doors open and STUDY.
It helps the kids and you if you have a regular time you reliably
pick them up though.
Shop around for reliable daycare.
Most facilities will send a child home "sick" with a
touch of diarrhea or have an arbitrary degree temp as the
"sick" point. Have a back up plan if your child is
"under the weather"
Look around your community for
activities you kids can enjoy while you are in class or studying.
Little league, after school programs and community events are all
good possibilities.
Set aside family time and protect
it - even when you have a paper due the next day.
Set aside study time and protect
it - even if it means hiring a babysitter or trading babysitting
duty with a friend.
Enforce a "family homework
time" let everyone study together at the table. You will set
a good example of study habits and have some extra family time
together.
Thank you to these contributors!
Michelle Scott, Phil Stalling, Tracey L. Skinner, Mary Carroll, Glen Jett, Alice Rose, Ray Jones, Randy Church, Sheila Stump, Craig Overpeck, Mary E. Winters, Ray Constantine, Michael Smart, Nellie (?), Gary Michalosky, Vince Reynolds, Ryan White, Michael Truitt, Dave Selin, Jenny Jacobson, Mary Parker Debra L. Topham, Mary Carrol Christina M. Hoffman, Natasha Hauptman, Judy Blessing, Joycelyn Coats, Brenda Francis, Paul W. DeMarco Leon Guidry, Mickey Pullen, Anne McMillan, Heather Orpana
(disclaimer time)
Not all advice is suited to everyone’s situation. These tips have
been taken from The
PUBLIC POSTS of SNURSE-L. A lot of good advice gets aired there
and I have just saved the letters and put them all together in a
loosely organized format. I maintain "STUDY HELPS" for
my own benefit and will post future revisions as time and energy
permits. As always, STUDY HELPS is free domain. copy it, share
it, use it with my blessing and best wishes.