What You Need To Survive Nursing School

Nursing school. Average college students can’t begin to understand it, unless they live with a nursing student. Then again, they probably never see their roommate and must assume that he or she lives in the library or at the clinic. A student’s time in nursing school can seem daunting to outsiders, but it is a doable process that is both challenging and rewarding.

We can’t tell you exactly what to expect. Every program has its own quirks and expectations. But we can give you some advice to help you survive the next year or two, and help you get on the path towards becoming a registered nurse!

• Go into situations with confidence. Don’t be cocky, but don’t be scared of teachers and tests and clinicals. When you begin to work with patients, your attitude will affect their experience, and if you let off that you are nervous it will only increase their anxiety.
• Know your own studying and learning style. This will help you as you prepare for tests. If you learn best by writing, don’t spend all your time trying to just read through the text book - get a pen and some paper out!
• Invest in a good highlighter for studying purposes.
• Find other classmates whom you get along with well and exchange phone numbers. Make a habit of studying with other people: there is so much information that it will help to hear others’ opinions and takeaways from your classes. You can also use each other as a support group when you first start changing bedpans and putting in catheters, since non-nursing students probably won’t understand why you are pursuing this career.
• Buy coffee. The night before a test, you’re going to need it.
• Make sure you have a comfortable pillow. Clinical days will feel long and most start early; you don’t want to be groggy in the morning because you couldn’t sleep the night before.
• Formulate a plan for how you can relax! After you take a test, take a break to read for fun, or work on craft projects, or have a bunch of non-nursing friends over for dinner. Do whatever you can to give your mind and body a break from the routine, and don’t let every weekend be filled with books and notes.
• Persevere! You might have to sacrifice the stereotypical “college life” for a couple of years, but in the end you will leave school with a degree that is always going to be needed in our world.

photo courtesy of Business Law Alert