As I am finishing up my years in Auburn’s nursing program, I’ve reflected on my time and what I would tell to those still in school, based on my experience.
While you are in school, here are some tips that I hope to help you through.
- Form a study group & use available resources
Find people to talk through the material with. That is something I wish I did sooner. Write on whiteboards in the library, order some pizza, and teach it to each other. Use your books, use the internet. While you’re doing that, write down, underline everything that you don’t understand, email your professor those muddy topics right then, make an appointment, and go to their office hours. Don’t say you’ll do it later, because if you’re like me, you’ll forget.
Something that helped me was to equate body systems to something you already know and to memorize mnemonics (Registered Nurse on Youtube and khan academy really come through for those mnemonics).
Here’s an example of equating things to what you know. Think of the circulatory system—the heart pumping like a water slide in a water park. The pump (the heart) gets the water moving, the water (blood) travels to the top of the slide (the lungs) where people get on the raft (the oxygen attaching to the cells in the lungs). The water travels to the big bowl (lungs), and you move in a circle around the cylinder until you get to the bottom. Next, you continue down the slide to the pool at the bottom. (equivalent to the act of being pumped out of the heart to the body.) Then when you reach the big pool at the bottom and you put your raft in its place (that’s the oxygen getting to the tissues) and the water without the raft (deoxygenated blood) travels back to the pump to repeat the cycle.
Or if you don’t like water slides, what about Amazon? Any sort of shopping and delivery system for that matter. The heart is the warehouse, and it sends out trucks to deliver (cells delivering oxygen to the cells) then when you and I receive the package (blood brings oxygen to the tissues). The shirt we ordered last week doesn’t fit correctly, so we return that one to the warehouse. (cells carrying CO2, deoxygenated blood back to the heart than the lungs to get expelled out).
This next one is a little embarrassing, but it’s all I could think of at this time, and you’ll get the point. In regards to gout and the beginning song of the movie “Love Actually.”
Take a second and listen to this tune.
My version is, “I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes.
Gout is all around me;
the redness and swelling show,
the uric acid causes a lot of pain.”
That collection of lines reminded me that gout mainly affects the small joints (i.e., the big toe). The pain comes on suddenly and is caused by uric acid depositing into the joints. You get the point. Make it fun.
When discussing information, notice trends, the similarities that you can group in your head. When thinking about pediatric heart defects, there as a trend. All of the defects that start with a “T” are cyanotic, meaning they greatly affected blood flow, and the babies’ extremities would be blue. It’s helpful to find small ways to remember and organize the information in your brain because there will be a lot of it.
- Meet with your teachers
They are ultimately there for you. Use your professors as a resource; they want to see you succeed and thank them for cheering you on! I’ve had professors walk through material with me four different ways before it finally clicked in my brain. Everyone learns differently.
- Ask questions
Ask questions even if you think they’re stupid. Nine times out of ten, someone else in that room is confused too and has the same question. Some tips I’ve learned are that asking questions shows you’re interested in learning, making you more enjoyable to teach, and that trait will only help you. Regarding branching out and trying new things, getting into research, for example- the answer will always be no if you don’t ask.
Make sure you ask why things happen as well. If you know the why and the how about processes, you’ll remember them better. Promise.
4. Practice Questions, Practice Questions and then some more practice questions
A part of nursing school is learning how to answer the questions. It’s tricky because all of the answer choices might be right, and you have to select the MOST CORRECT. Or they stick one word in there that changes the entire question, read the question twice. The select all that apply of question is everyone’s least favorite, and unfortunately, they aren’t going anywhere. Always think safety; the NCLEX is a test about safety. What will keep my patient the safest? Or, what can I do right now to solve the problem quickly? (within your scope of practice!) The Abc’s are vital to remember when prioritizing (airway, breathing, circulation) and remember: actual versus the potential problem. That was told to me in my 4th semester and was extremely helpful; my brain liked to add things that weren’t in the question.
5. Study for your future patients
Yes, study to pass the classes. The tests are essential; if you don’t pass the classes, you can’t become a nurse. I understand the dilemma more than you know.I want to encourage you to take it a step further, though. The questions are situational, and situations can change quickly, and these changes will affect your decision making and next steps. Studying should go beyond the tests and classroom material. If you don’t have a good foundation of disease processes and why things happen, you will not take care of a patient to the best of your ability.
Treasure clinical experience, it’s where you can form the connections from the paper to a real patient. Ask the instructors questions, volunteer to do things, be eager to learn, and make the most of it.
6 The learning doesn’t stop after graduation
Just because the formal school might be over doesn’t mean you are an expert. The NCLEX lets you know you have the minimum knowledge to care for someone and their potential disease processes. Be the most informed for your patients, complete those CEUs, never stop seeking information, asking questions, and learning.
7 Self-care is HUGE
There is a reason the turnover rate is so high; so many nurses leave the profession because they get burnt out. Learn what you need to do to feel rested and re-energized. This job is emotionally and physically taxing. And if you are burnt out, there is no way you can provide the best care for your patients. Think of it as a boat; if your boat has holes in the bottom, you need to patch those holes and get the water out before you help the others; otherwise, you will sink.
My favorite ways: journaling, meditation, going on a walk, running, anything outdoors! Calling an old friend, anything that boosts those endorphins. Some days that looks like a nap.
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