Best Ways to Study for Nursing Courses

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Great advantage dominates when the nursing student comes right out of high school, fresh and agile in academics. Study techniques are usually well established and time has been allotted in order to keep the student’s schedule doable. However, there are multitudes of people pursuing second careers, or finding out in their thirties that they partied too much to think about college. And now, the gig is up. No matter what age a person decides to go to nursing school, a huge reality will set in, usually the first day of class. Just seeing the stack of books alone is enough to cause severe anxiety. Pharmacology and Statistics are the two most daunting classes, and demand much time and attention. Regardless of age, academic achievement, employed or unemployed, these study techniques can help make a nursing student successful in personal endeavors of achieving high marks in the nursing profession.

Self-Care

The first thing a nursing student should remember is that in this profession, one may find it easier to care for others, rather than self. Our bodies need nourishment, rest, spiritual attention, and alone time. Studying is not included in this self-care category. If one can begin the first semester with a commitment to time for self-care, no matter how difficult things get, the benefit can be amazing.

A morning walk, time at the gym, a yoga class, time alone with God, and any other ways to relax and get outside the worry of exams and time sensitive issues will increase the success rate exponentially.

Time Management

For the serious nursing student, good study techniques are invaluable. For the entire pathway of training, time will be more important than money. Even after becoming a nurse, excellent time management is essential. For example, if the day before clinical, a nurse is assigned patients, there may be a way to check the chart before arriving at the hospital. This would be somewhat like making “rounds” for a physician. Then, there is ample time to look up medications and side effects and to be aware of risks the patients may have.

Travel times must also be addressed. No one wants to be on the freeway trying to fight insane traffic trying to get to a hospital to take care of patients. Patients can feel your angst. It is not a good idea to come into a clinical setting with hair on fire. In the student role, trust will be an even bigger issue than with the nurse. Appearing to be calm and orderly will calm the patient and give them peace about being in that student’s care.

Good boundaries are crucial when managing study time. This is where the maturity of a nursing student comes in. There is too much at stake to give up valuable study time to go and hang out all night with friends, missing the time slot that was set aside for study. Failing to plan means planning to fail. Discipline in these guidelines will help forge good lifelong habits further down the road.

Habits

Being informed about class requirements and schedule changes would keep you in the loop of what is going on.

Communicate well with your instructor. Staying in touch may give him or her the idea that you are serious and willing to do what needs to be done.

Use visual tools like flashcards, diagrams, anatomical models, and microscope slides.

You should record excellent notes. Highlight chapters in the textbook and make study outlines, chapter by chapter.

Some instructors will allow tape recordings. Exam review days are the best time to do this.

Listen to the lecture while you are cleaning the house, walking, or just hanging out.

Ear osmosis is a great way to pick up details and can be brought forth when something triggers the concept.

Don’t forget, two heads are better than one. If you are not feeling confident about a class or find it easier to learn by discussing study material, you may want to join a study group. It’s a great way to share ideas and teach each other, but it can also be unproductive if discussion departs from organic chemistry to who’s dating whom.