6 Helpful Tips for Struggling Student Nurses

Studying to be a nurse beyond a shadow of a doubt is very challenging, and can be very stressful. Trying to manage the trifecta of home, work, and school responsibilities can at times feel like you have bitten off more than you can chew. With everything involved, how do you manage and retain all the vital information that you need?

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The first step is to take a deep breath and continue to do so until you are calm. Nursing school just requires a little planning, some good time management paired with some proper studying habits to differentiate the ‘need to know’ from the ‘very nice to know’, and retaining the information that you do need.

The second step would be to repeat the first step and breathe. Nursing school is not something that can be rushed through. It will take a lot of time, energy, and work to be able to get through this area of study, and it should never be attempted alone.

You can do it. Here’s how we can help.

Follow the Nursing Study Guide

Review the study guide your institution gives you, or the one based around the NCLEX test. Using a study guide not only reveals which subject areas the nursing exam focuses on, but will present some of the exam questions that will be used. It is to be expected that not everything you will need to know as a nurse will be in the licensing exam. However, if you study towards the nursing exam all along, you should feel pretty confident when it gets to testing day.

Even using a practice test can help you to retain the information for the final exam you take. A practice test will help you gage what information you have solidly retained and where you can improve.

Eat Well and Nurture Your Body

Think of nursing schools as a marathon, not a metered dash. You might be able to survive with your health and sanity intact after a short period of exhaustion with caffeine and on the fly meals; but everything will suffer after a few months. The best thing nursing students can do is look after themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Remember that a life of being a nurse will require you to be on your feet at all times. Thus, it’s vital that you wear the appropriate nursing shoes for long workdays.

It should not have to be dictated to an aspiring nurse that they do indeed eat a balanced diet, get plenty of rest, and exercise regularly. The basics of caring for yourself with translate into your ability to care for others.

Think in Terms of Action Over Facts

The bedside manner of a nurse holds more sway with a patient than the cold hard facts. Patients aren’t interested in hearing what may be going on physiologically, they usually only care about wanting to feel better. While studying for the nursing exam, you should be asking yourself how you can help your patients with that information. That will make you a better nurse, as well as a better student.

Many patients will see your efforts as a good bedside manner in the end. However, there will be the odd patient who will want you to give you the cold hard facts, and a lot will depend on your ability to articulate your knowledge to them in a way that they can understand.

Use Downtime as Study Time

Studying to be a nurse does require a good ability to memorize a lot of information. Make use of flashcards and notes you have taken to help you review those facts while you are doing other things. For example, tape a card with listing vital sign ranges to your bathroom mirror, on your fridge, near the door as they can all help reinforce the information each time you look at them while not specifically studying. This makes the information second nature without an excessive amount of memorization.

Do take care not to overdo it either. Overdoing it can lead to a lot more stress, pressure, and anxiety. It is possible to be studying too much. The worst thing that can happen to an aspiring nurse is to have student burn out. Know your limits and work within them.

Get Involved With A Study Group

Study groups for nursing is just like every other study group for any other field. They help students accept and retain all the new information as they get it. It also reduces the risks of misinformation, bias and erroneous assumptions. A study group also challenges each of its members to do better.

Remember that study groups are not generally viewed as a social gathering, but they can be a great way to blow off steam and study at the same time. Consider playing games with your study group, like using flashcards as an impromptu pop quiz or a Jeopardy style game to help you study.

Mix Exercise Into Your Study Sessions

When you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed it’s time to get out and get moving. Exercise has long been proven to help relieve stress and anxiety, it also boosts your ability to retain the information you have been studying. Even the Harvard Medical School states the benefits of including exercise into your studying habits.

Exercise according to the Mayo Clinic helps pump in more endorphins into your body, is considered as meditation in motion, and it will improve your mood. Consider the benefits of a good exercise routine for your stress relief.

Summing Up

Being a nursing student is a large drain on your personal reserves. There is a lot of information that must be retained correctly. The possibility of getting something wrong could end up with a death of a patient, so the stress can be overwhelming. Breathe, you can do this.

While you may need facts for your exams and studying, aspiring nurses could also incorporate thinking of how to apply those facts in action over strictly knowing the information. The knowledge an aspiring nurse gets will be crucial for them to do their job. It will be the way they apply it that will matter to the patients in the end.

Getting involved in a study group and using flashcards taped all over your house will help you to retain the information that you are given. These techniques help to reinforce everything that a student learns, and can make it easier and fun to do. This relieves some of the pressures and stress that student nurses will undergo.

A good and balanced diet and exercise routine has long been stressed to the general public for all benefits they have. This is even more important to a nursing student because it is all too easy to fall into the trap of caffeine and fast food solutions to get through the courses. Remember that nursing school should be approached like a marathon, not a metered dash.