Tips & Strategies for Year 1

• ORGANIZATION – If you’re organized, you can achieve anything. Get in the habit of using your daily planner. During your first week of school, spend a couple of hours and write down in your planner all of the dates of your midterms, quizzes, exams, and all of the important assignments that are due.

Ø  1-2 weeks before a midterm, write yourself a reminder to start reviewing/studying the necessary materials. Don’t leave your studying till the last minute, start early and save yourself the stress. Review your planner on a daily/weekly basis.

• Remember, if you can stay one chapter and one week ahead of your class and professor, you’re golden!

• Human Anatomy & Physiology class – it is critical that you build a solid foundation & understanding in this subject. For instance, you need to be able to explain to me how the blood flows through the heart and the rest the human body.

Ø  Because when you get to second year, you will start learning health conditions such as pulmonary edema (which is fluid in the lungs)…if you don’t understand the correct order of the flow of blood, you might have a difficult time painting a mental picture in your head of how fluid collects in the lungs.

• In addition, during 2^nd year you will also start learning Pharmacology – how drugs affect the body, and vice versa, how the body affects the drugs. Therefore, if you fail to get a good grasp on the subject of human anatomy & physiology, you might fall behind in your Pathophysiology and Pharmacology class. These subjects are all interconnected. So, PAY ATTENTION IN CLASS!

• TIP – if you don’t understand something in class, don’t wait till a couple days later or the following week to get a thorough understanding of the concept. Take action right away! Find a classmate that understands the concept well and have her explain it to you...or better yet, approach your instructor immediately...during your break or after class.

• Google “Forgetting Curve” – the forgetting curve explains how information is lost over a short period of time when an individual doesn’t make an effort to retain the material…further, the more difficult the material the harder it is to retrieve a piece of information from memory. So, Take Action Right Away!

• Be the first one to hit the floor, and the last one to leave – You need to show up 10-15min early for clinical – as the saying goes, “If you’re early you’re on time, if you’re on time you’re late, and if you’re late that’s unacceptable”.

• As you progress to 2^nd year, you need to show up at least 15-20min early for clinical (if you can show up earlier, that’s excellent). By 3^rd year 20-25min early…and by 4^th year, you will be ready to start showing up 25-30min early for your final practicum.

• The reason I increased it in 5min increments is that, I realize that for many people they can’t just flick on a switch one morning and start showing up 30min early for clinical. Through my observation, I have noticed that there are only a very small percentage of people that show up really early for clinical (or in my case, showing up for work).

Ø  By making small 5min increment adjustments throughout your 4 years of clinical rotations, hopefully this will create an identity shift within you. And if you stick with it over a long period of time, you will start to ingrain or imprint this into your subconscious mind. Showing up 30min early will become normal to you.

• One of the things that I learned as a new grad is that, I needed to show up at least 30min early for my shift...the rationale for this is that - “You come from a state/position of PROACTION vs REACTION” ...you need to show up early and control your day!

Ø  And not the other way around...the hospital is a very busy place (and that is an understatement)...the hospital never sleeps...and it’s open 24hours/day, 365 days/year.

Ø  When you start working as a new grad, you will learn that at any given time during your shift, your time can get hijacked for all sorts of different reasons…so you need to hit the ground running the moment you walk through the front door.

• During your first practicum in winter semester...you need to learn, find out, and start to create a system for yourself on how you will tackle your day…stay consistent with your system so that it will become routine. 

Ø  For example, show up 15min early so that:

1.     You can put your lunch and your bag in the designated student area.

2.     Put your student ID on and grab your clipboard with your client research information and a blank piece of white paper for taking notes during handover report as well as for taking down notes and reminders for you to review later.

3.     Go to the nursing station and have a quick look at your patient’s chart to see if there are any new Dr’s orders or any new changes with their health condition since your research the night before. If there is, make a note of it.

4.     Do one last review of your client research (i.e. medications, health conditions, comorbidities, wound care / dressing changes…etc.).

5.     Now when your clinical instructor quizzes you about your client, you’re well prepared and ready. If you don’t know the answer to a particular question, that is okay. Remember, you are only in your 1^st year of nursing school and you are here to learn.

6.     When the rest of your classmates show up, you’re all set and ready to take report from the night staff.

•  Complete your first non-nursing elective, perhaps during the summer if you can't fit it in during the school year. 

• Buy an NCLEX study guide book…bring it with you to every class, whatever you’re learning that day, go to that section of the book and make notes, answer some questions, skim the information, etc...

Ø  You will continue to bring this study guide book in class throughout the 4 years of your nursing school. Trust me on this, if you apply and practice this strategy, this will set and build the foundation for you when it comes time to start studying for your NCLEX.

Ø  At the end of the year, review the sections that you touched upon during the school year.