Listener Annette left me this email recently:
Hi Jamie, I love your podcasts and the wealth of knowledge you have. Please give me some tips on how to prepare for Nursing school; I start in August and I do not know any nurses in my personal life. I would like to get some tips and need to know what to expect, study tips, etc… Thanks. Annette.
I emailed her back, I always return emails to listeners (hint, hint). I thought that it would be important to share my thoughts with the rest of you and invite others to comment and share their Nursing School Survival Tips! Don’t be like the student in the picture here, follow some of these tips.
Here is a bit more advice for new Nursing Students:
Get yourself a good calendar (paper, electronic, or software). One of the biggest challenges for many nursing students is managing the various tasks, assignments, clinical dates, due dates, and exam schedules. I remember more than one person failing out of the first semester because they couldn’t stay organized.
I think that nursing schools do this on purpose because planning and prioritizing are such important nursing skills. By requiring the students to “sink or swim” in a difficult planning environment, they are better able to make decisions and schedule the various patient care duties during their shifts later on.
Get to know your classmates. Create a phone chain, get an email list together and try to meet others in the class so that you can help each other along the way. I can’t tell you how many times I was saved by a classmate who noticed a last minute assignment update that I failed to see and because I was in touch with the group, I was able to complete an assignment I might have missed otherwise.
The other side of this is that you need to understand that nursing school is a very demanding program. If you are in a traditional 4 year college setting, you might become discouraged because some of your friends with other majors seem to be able to party more frequently than you. I assure you that this is not because you are doing anything wrong.
Schedule yourself some downtime. Just as it is important to schedule your work and study time, I urge you to set aside some time in your week, every week for some down time. I gave myself two hours of TV a week and while I lost touch with some of my favorite shows, I was able to really enjoy two of them because I made time for myself.
Which brings me back to my starting point. Get a good calendar. You will have some time to have fun, but you will need to make sure you schedule it so that you don’t find yourself behind when you have a major assignment due. One glance at your calendar with scheduled study times, class and clinical dates, and exams will allow you to find those precious blocks of “me time” and allow you to find some time to blow off steam.
I hope that helps. Share your own thoughts on surviving nursing school by leaving a comment below.
Jamie Davis, the Podmedic
