Hey
guys!This week I won’t be doing a product review. I am going to write about my experience with nursing school. I hope that this blog helps anyone who is going, looking, or dreaming about going through nursing school!
My Story
I
started college in August 2013 as a Dietetics’ major. I stayed in that program
for two years. In 2015, I switched my major to Nursing. I will be graduating
with my Bachelors in Nursing and a Minor in Nutrition in August 2017 (fingers-crossed). I am currently
on my second semester of nursing courses. I am taking summer courses this
summer and next summer to make sure I graduate “on time”. I could write about
my decision to change my major, my first two years of college, why I am taking
summer courses, etc. but it would take hours! If you have questions or want
advice about college please leave them in the comments below :)
My plans after graduating are to move from my home town as soon as possible, go south, and become a labor and delivery nurse. I am fascinated by pregnancy, birth, and babies. I think that being a L&D nurse might actually be my calling in life. After working for a few years, I would like to continue on and get my Masters in Nursing in Midwifery. I would like to eventually open my own private practice.
My plans after graduating are to move from my home town as soon as possible, go south, and become a labor and delivery nurse. I am fascinated by pregnancy, birth, and babies. I think that being a L&D nurse might actually be my calling in life. After working for a few years, I would like to continue on and get my Masters in Nursing in Midwifery. I would like to eventually open my own private practice.
Before Classes Begin
Depending
on your program, you will most likely have a thick packet of pre-semester
things to do. We were required to get a physical, titers, TB testing,
immunizations, background clearances, get liability insurance, buy uniforms…
the list goes on. This will be overwhelming, but it isn’t hard. Just make sure
you get your things done before their due dates. Don’t wait until last minute!
My university would kick you out of the program if you didn’t get your
requirements in, so this is crucial! This is also the expensive part. Here is a
list of all my expenses prior to starting the nursing program:
CPR
Class-$55
Department
of Welfare fingerprinting- $27.75
Department
of Education fingerprinting- $27
Child
Abuse Clearance- $10
Background
Check- $10
Uniform-
$139.45
Lab
Kit- $152
ATI
Packet $575
Liability
Insurance- $38
White
Shoes- $50
Stethoscope
(optional)- $75
TOTAL:
$1,149.30
This
does not include: anything medical that wasn’t covered by your insurance,
programs your school may use to complete requirements (ex. Certified Profile),
tuition, apartment rent, books, and school supplies.
I
find that nobody talks about this part of nursing school. I had no idea about
it until I already switched my major. I think that anyone who is looking into a
program like this needs to be aware of this! Contact your university to find
out what they require. Obviously it can be done (financially) or no one would
do it, but I would make a plan of how you’re going to pay for this.
This
is definitely a negative that equals a positive with hard work and dedication.
After all of the expenses you should be able to graduate and get a secure well
paying job!
What Nursing Classes Are Really Like
I
have learned more in the last six months than I have in my entire 2.5 years at
college. It’s been eye opening. I really enjoy everything that I have learned
and I find it fascinating. I think that anyone who is interested in a nursing
program needs to be interested in the subject or you will be miserable. I never
thought I was going to be a nurse one day, but I do have a love for medicine. I
am excited I chose to make that part of the rest of my life.
I
was that kid in high school that never studied much and barely did anything but
passed with flying colors. College isn’t like that, unfortunately. You are definitely
going to have to learn to study. It took me about a year into college to learn
how I studied and what worked best for me.
Tips & Tricks for Studying (for ANY college student):
- Don’t wait until last minute. Most likely you’ll have other exams and assignments due the same week you have a huge nursing exam. If you wait until last minute you will just become very stressed and do worse. Trust me staring at a book for 7 hours straight can make you go crazy!
- Make a study guide or notecards. Typically my professors send us brief topics that’ll be on our exams and the number of questions that come from those topics. I usually fill in everything that I took notes and read in the book into a study guide. From that I make notecards. I use to make paper notecards but I found that to be extremely wasteful, time consuming, and tedious. Now I make quizlet notecards. Quizlet is AMAZING!
- Practice, practice, practice. Take as many practice questions as you can. We have an online text book that comes with a program that has thousands of practice questions. These questions help you on exam and the NCLEX.
- Get enough sleep. If you are exhausted you don’t perform well in class, on exams, or in life. It’s extremely easy to get tired and out of whack when you are in a nursing program because all the classes start at the crack of dawn. For some one like me who is a night person, you will have to train yourself (and use a lot of melatonin) to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. The night before an exam: go to bed early and don’t study until 2 AM. Getting sleep will help you more than cramming everything.
If
you’re curious to what kind of classes you’ll be taking here is a list of the
courses required through my program (excluding electives, liberal studies, and
sciences):
Fundamentals
of Nursing I
Fundamentals
of Nursing Clinical
Fundamentals
of Nursing II
Fundamentals
of Nursing Clinical II
Health
Assessment
Maternal-neonatal
(Labor and Delivery)
Maternal-neonatal
Clinical
Child
and Family Care (Pediatrics)
Child
and Family Care Clinical
Professional
Nursing
Adult
Health
Adult
Health Clinical
Research
Utilization
Professional
Nursing II
Adult
Health II
Adult
Health Clinical II
Management
Clinical
Psychiatric
and Mental Health
Psychiatric
and Mental Health Clinical
Community
Health
Community
Health Clinical
Cognitive
Approach to Nursing
If
you have questions about the individual classes, feel free to ask me in the
comments!
Personally,
I don’t find the class content hard but it is a lot that you need to know.
Everything you learn in nursing school you need to be able to remember. Things
you learn at the beginning of you schooling you can be tested on your very last
day. This causes a lot of extensive studying. I feel like the hardest classes in nursing are the sciences. You will most likely have to take: chemistry, organic chemistry, anatomy, physiology, cellular biology, and microbiology. These classes are hard.
What
are nursing exams like?
Nursing
exams aren’t like any old exam. You could get a question where every answer
would be a good thing to do but you have to pick the best one. It can get
tricky and confusing. I find that reading the textbooks helps with this because
often what you’re tested on that’s specific comes straight out of the book
(word for word). You may struggle a little bit your first semester, but by the
end of the semester you should get a hang of what nursing exams are like.
Practicing online quizzes really helps! If you’ve reviewed and studied your
material, and paid attention in class
you should have nothing to worry about. Go into all of your exams with a
positive mindset and on a good night’s sleep :)
What is clinical like?
What are some reasons why people say that nursing is hard?
- It takes a lot of time to go to class, have clinical, and study. You will have to put more time into this than anything you ever have.
- You need to know everything and remember everything.
- You have to read the textbooks!
- Exam questions are tricky.
- You're working on people so if you were to do something wrong some one could get hurt.
- The science classes are not easy.
- You will probably be up at 5 AM or earlier at least twice a week.
- College in general is not easy.
Breathe! You're going to get through nursing school!
Thanks for reading!
-K