How to learn Nursing School FUNDAMENTALS

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We need a sign on. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Nursing School Show. Thank you for joining. I am Matthew.

I'm Christina.

Welcome, welcome. We are here to answer nursing school questions.

And look at us being on top of the game and actually interact, introducing ourselves.

Yes. We don't usually do this, so welcome.

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If you have nursing school questions, you.

Know what's happening here. Yes.

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But let's get to it. We're answering nursing school questions today. How to learn about nursing school fundamentals.

Yes, we're talking about fundamentals. I. I'm sorry, I did not post that on Instagram, but on YouTube. You know what the topic's about?

YouTube. You guys know what's all about? So nursing school fundamentals. What do you guys want to know?

What questions do you have? Fundamentals.

Who is in fundamentals? And lastly, where are you guys joining from?

Yes. Where are you in the world? Yeah. How fun.

Yeah.

Maria. Yeah. I'm glad you're excited about this.

It's fun. Did you see the thumbnail on YouTube?

Fun. I did not see. But did you do a little quick. Nice. Yes. Illinois.

Texas.

Houston.

New York.

Santa Cruz. Ohio.

Ruslyn, Robert. Kimberly. Welcome.

Kentucky, Ohio. Hello. Oh, I already said it. Hold on.

Oh, Brittany, you're in fundamentals in Alabama.

New Jersey. Uk.

Awesome. New York. Med. Surge one.

Right on.

We're doing a review of fundamentals and it's for me to remember all the tubes.

That is. Yeah. That is really. When you are. I think just the longer you're in nursing school, the easier it is to forget about fundamentals because it seems like so long ago.

Nancy, fundamentals. New Jersey.

Pennsylvania.

Awesome.

India. India. Hello.

Russell. And starting. Start. January 17th. Nursing. 120 fundamentals. I'm glad I got all my prereqs done. Congratulations.

Philippines.

Of course, there's always someone from the Philippines. Hello. Yes, I am of that descent. Yes.

Good morning. People are saying good morning. Lots of people are saying good morning.

Good morning. It is not morning here, but hello and good day to you. Good day to you.

I'm at the end of fundamentals. Hello. Hello. Take my last test in two weeks. When prepping for the final, tell me, what was your secret to passing? Okay. Yeah. So here's what I want to know, you guys. Who's in fundamentals right now? If you have passed fundamentals, what was your secret?

Oh, yes.

Let's talk about that.

That's great. If you are already past fundamentals, what was your secret to success?

Yes.

And also pop in any questions that you guys have about fundamentals and we will go through them.

You might need to check on that.

I'll be right back.

Can anybody hear the crying in the background or is it just us? Oh boy. We'll see what that's all about. My secret was recording those lectures and listening to them at home. Sorry, the tripod's in the way. So I can't really read YouTube comments as well as Matthew Cam. Hi Sarah. So glad to see you. I got an A. Time management and daily reviewing. So Sarah, Absolutely. Okay. You guys like daily reviewing. We talked about this in our membership community, I think a couple weeks ago on just the impact of reviewing something consistently. There is a big, big difference between learning something all at once and then having a test on it and then never hearing about it again or trying to study something and then again never hearing about it again. And like doing just a little bit every single day and your knowledge will just build on itself over and over and over again. So we really, really, really, really. That is super key. You want to make sure that you are consistently studying even just a little bit every day. Which could even mean like I've got some lecture notes here as an example. Like that could literally mean that you bust out your PowerPoints and you just, you read through it once a day. So when you know, after you've done your big study session on your lecture notes, then a little bit like just once a day just go and read through them because that's going to be so, so key. So thank you Sarah. Amazing tip. Let's see what do we got on Instagram? Where are you? We are in the U.S. where are you? Where is everyone in the world? We've gotten a couple requests, requests for nclex tips. We, Matthew and I did a live video on it's up on YouTube all about the NGN and the new NCLEX, the next gen NCLEX. You guys, this is a cannot miss video. So make sure you go to YouTube. Go to our YouTube channel. We're at Nursing SOS on YouTube and search for that. It's a live video. It is awesome. I am so glad you have an A in fundamentals. I work hard and motivated but I think I am good at critical thinking. Critical thinking is a big deal. I think when we get to nursing school in fundamentals we feel like we are supposed to be critical thinking rock stars and that is just simply not true right off the bat. It does take practice. It does take, you know, going to clinical and learning a whole bunch of things so that you can finally start putting things together. Right? In order to critically think, you have to really start connecting the dots between concepts. And so that takes time, right? That really takes time to know how things connect. So we do have some really fantastic critical thinking videos up on YouTube. And you guys, actually, I want to send you. I want to send you our critical thinking cheat sheet. So if you're on Instagram, can you please DM me? The link is also in our bio. In my bio on Instagram, I have a cheat sheet for you that walks you through how to critically think in nursing school. And it will help you make that leap in fundamentals from just learning the content to just what Ruslan just said, critical thinking in fundamentals, which makes all of the difference, especially when you get into med surg. Like, you cannot go to med surge and not critically, critically think. Right? So go to my Instagram, either DM me or click the link in my bio. That critical thinking cheat sheet is there, so be sure to download it. Okay? Yeah, I just get it. Memorizing. Okay, I gotcha now. So that cheat sheet is really, really going to help. It's going to help you make that leap between memorizing to critical thinking. Old school. Waver, Waverder. I don't know if I'm saying that right. Sorry. Using as many different types of learning, speaking, listening, reading and writing. Yes. Taking screenshots on an iPad, annotating them from memory. That is huge. Especially for anything that just is. Like memorization requires memorization. And not necessarily critical thinking, just that rote repetition of writing things out again and again and again. That's why flashcards are so helpful, you guys. Like, just the act of writing out flashcards can be so, so helpful. When you are in fundamentals, you will notice that there is that kind of two dichotomy, right? There's things that you have to critically think about, but then there's also things that you just have to memorize. And the things that you have to memorize. Flashcards and whiteboards. Those are my top two tips. Flashcards and whiteboards. Just the act of writing things out will help you to memorize them. Flashcards, I would, Matthew always would make fun of me for this, but I would always just, like write out flashcards and never really look at them again because I didn't have to. Just the act of, like, physically writing them out would be enough for Me to remember it. It's kind of a weird thing, right? Do you guys do this too? Where you just like writing it out really helps. Using mnemonics and linking information together. Sorry, Instagram, I've got to move the camera so I can see the YouTube comments. Using mnemonics and linking information together. I to the fundamentals. Focus on specific areas and zoom out for overviews. Nice. Yes, 100%. Oh, I did want to say something about your comment before was like different modes of learning. So what type of learner are you guys? Do you guys, do you know? If you're like more auditory, are you more visual kinesthetic? I think most of us do best with a blend of different learning modalities. Like, we do best when we're seeing something and also hearing the same thing and doing it. But what's your dominant one? Would you say? Are you more of an auditory learner? Are you more of a visual learner? Like, what would you say? Where are you at with your, you know, how you learn? For me personally, I really, really do well with auditory. I really learn well when I can hear it. Robert, you say visual. Mz, Libra library. Visual modress. Hello. A blend of everything. I do write flashcards and not look at them. Yes, me too. I really do well with auditory and with auditory. Recording lectures, as someone on YouTube mentioned earlier. Robert, you mentioned it as well. Well, was recording lectures, which is a huge deal. If you are allowed to record lecture, my friend, you should be recording lecture because it's. You want to make sure that you're not missing anything that your instructor says. And this is going to lead to. Oh, someone else commented auditory. Okay, this leads to another huge point that I have for fundamentals, you guys. You need to make sure that you are studying the things that your instructors talk about in class and not just reading everything in the book just because your instructors told you to. I know it's controversial. I know it's not what you're going to hear at all in the world, but I am telling you right now that is the way that you are going to pass your exams. You have to get over the barrier of wanting to read every single thing in the textbook, because that is not going to going to help you pass nursing school. You cannot read just for the sake of reading, because you have to make that leap between memorizing stuff and critically thinking. You have to make sure that you are giving yourself space, that you are giving yourself time to critically think about what you are learning and that you're not just wasting Your time memorizing a bunch of stuff, you know, just for the sake of memorizing. Because, okay, when was the last time your nursing school exam tested you on how well you memorize stuff? Never. Right? Like, ever. They are going to test you on how well you critically think, right? That's the whole point. Think like a nurse, right? We want to make sure that we can critically think. They're going to give you a case study, scenario, question, a patient situation, and then you are going to have to apply what you know to that situation and critically think about it. That's what they're going to test you on, right? They're not going to say, hey, what are the, you know, signs and symptoms of this disorder? They're not going to do that. They're going to ask you to apply the signs and symptoms that you know in your brain to a patient situation. That is critical thinking. So when you are just reading the textbook just for the sake of reading the textbook, that is a waste of time because you're not giving yourself the space or the time to critically think and actually understand what you are learning. You have to apply it. You have to critically think about it. So that's what goes back to that critical thinking cheat sheet. So make sure that you download it. You can DM me on Instagram Nursing SOS or click on the link on my bio on nursing SOS and I will send it to you. It's there, it's in my bio. It's just. It's huge. You guys. Critical thinking is everything in nursing school. There are no two ways around it. You have to do it. You have to make that leap if you want to pass. That's just how it is. Old school. Waiver, waiver. Am I saying that right? I'm sorry, I apparently cannot read. Explain what you've Learned to a 5 year old. They use all types of learning at once so that the information will stick. Perfect. If listening and writing the information out, speaking it out. Writing is kinetic. Yes, yes, absolutely. Reading is a visual and learning is audible. I'm a slow learner. Need all the chance I can get. Yeah, 100%. Seriously, I really, really think it's important to use all of the modes that are available to us. Right? So if your instructor allows you to record, lecture, do it. If they allow you to go to skills lab after class, do it. You know, if, if drawing pictures helps, do it. You know, make sure that you are just doing all the different things so that you can really remember the information and really make it stick. That is very, very helpful, Louise. More visual? Yes, There's a lot. Like, visual is a big thing. I just tend to be more auditory. That's really my thing. Okay, next thing for fundamentals, when you are studying the disorders, like, some disorders that you will likely learn about in fundamentals are heart failure, stroke, diabetes. Those are really the big ones because they're so common. Like, if you don't learn about them in class, you will most likely see them at clinical in your fundamentals, clinical rotation. So anytime you are learning a disorder, you want to make sure that you are focusing on four things. Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. So patho, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. But it all starts with the patho. Okay, so the pathophysiology is the foundation for everything that you have to know about a disorder. So someone earlier. I'm sorry, I missed. Who? I missed your handle on Instagram, but you were asking about fluids and electrolytes for fundamentals. So this is exactly what I'm talking about. Let's say you're studying fluid and electrolytes and. Yeah, fluids and electrolytes. You have to understand the pathophysiology with what is happening. What is the pathophysiology in the body of what's happening with hyperkalemia or hypokalemia, for example. And then you have to know the signs and symptoms. What happens? Then you have to know the nursing assessment. What are you going to assess for? Then you have to know the nursing interventions. What are you going to do about it? But it all ties back those three things. The signs and symptoms, the nursing assessment, and the nursing interventions all tie back to the path of what is going on in the body. You guys. So four key things that you have to know. I know your instructors are going to tell you that you have to know, like, all these things. You have to know everything about everything and read the whole textbook, and it's just. It's not true. Okay, four main things. Patho, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. That is what you are going to be tested on, right? That is what you are going to want to focus on, because that's what's going to show up on your exams. I like. I like to study alone. So. Robert. Hello. I've done study groups, but I'm always trying to play catch up, which is bad for me. In the end, 100% agree. Ruslan. Office hours are available. It's a teacher's job to teach a student. I know. It's it's tough because, you know, teachers have a ton of students in their class, right? So it's, you know, it's pretty easy to see, like, you can't give individual attention to the students. Like, I'm sure that they want to. It is difficult in this environment. Like, how do you, you know, I kind of get it. How do you teach nursing in a classroom and still, you know, be able to do it on a clinical floor, right? And then all. All of this stuff, you know, with the, you know, how. How do we help students critically think and all that? So that is exactly why we created that critical thinking cheat sheet. This is exactly why we created our nursing SOS membership community so you don't have to figure out. Figure it out alone, okay? That is not what we do here. So you do not need to sit in class and be confused the entire time. You do not need to leave your lecture class or your clinical and be so stressed and overwhelmed that you can't figure anything out yourself. That is not what we do here. So inside our nursing SOS Membership community, we teach you step by step what you need to know to pass your exams. That's exactly what we do. So you do not have to figure it out yourself. You do not have to read an entire textbook and be left to your own devices. And good luck to you. That is absolutely not how we do it here. Like, we literally walk you step by step through exactly what you have to know to pass your exams. So we walk you through heart failure, we walk you through stroke, we walk you through diabetes and all the things you have to know. Fluid and electrolytes. We have an entire fluid and an electrolyte course, you guys. Inside the nursing essence membership community is literally step by step. This is exactly what you have to know to pass your exams. We give you the key points for it. We give you the critical thinking points for it so you don't have to do it yourself. It's like we do the critical thinking for you. We. Which is very nice for you because we just walk you through it all. It is fantastic. So, Roselyn, I get is tough when you are a student and you want to learn these things, right? But it just seems like you're not being able to understand it, you know, in class like you believe you're supposed to. Which is exactly why we created the nursing SOS Membership community. So don't worry, I jump on in there. We're going to help you out. So fundamentals is once or twice a week for five hours straight with clinical Once a week, the first semester. Different schools will do it different ways. Your fundamentals class might be one day a week for several hours. It might be spread across a couple of different days throughout the week. Typically, you will see one clinical day per week in your fundamentals. Sometimes two, but that's kind of a rarity. I would say mostly one day per week for clinical. When you get into med surg, yeah, you're definitely going to have like two or three days per week in a med surg clinical rotation. That's pretty typical. But for fundamentals, yeah, it's pretty light on the clinical, for sure. Let's see. Casey, I want to watch this so bad, but I need to study. Good for you, my friend. Go study. Absolutely. And come back and watch the replay later, I suppose, when you get a few minutes. Rizalin. I'm trying to. I am trying to stop overthinking every detail. That is so hard. Right. Especially for us nursing students. I feel like just nursing students in general, we are kind of the type A personalities where we want to know everything about everything and all of this stuff. And it just. It gets overwhelming sometimes. Right? Because we want to know everything. And so I totally get it. But. But we do have to rein it in and make sure that we are focusing on the most important things because we don't want to just get caught up with things that don't matter. Right. The things that aren't going to show up on our exams. The things that, you know, just. We're not going to be tested on. Right? Yes. You get thrown so much information and it's like a fire hose. People call it that all the time. Like drinking from a fire hose. Right? So. Oh, man. Yes. That's how it is. So you guys make sure, like I said, make sure that you get the critical thinking cheat sheet. It's totally free. It's in my bio on instagram. Nursing SOS on Instagram. Check it out. It is a critical thinking teaching. I walk you through how to critically think in nursing school. As you study, it's gonna help you so, so much. So just, you know, go download it. It's in my bio. Or you can just DM me. That's fine, too. Let me see if I could put the link actually here in YouTube. I think I can. Matthew is typically here to do this for right now. Critical thinking. He is trying to help some children. Nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward slash, critical thinking. Hopefully I typed that in. Right. Someone can double check for me. It's hard to Tell what is and isn't on the exam. How do we know what isn't important? So I study every detail and memorize it. Okay, go back. Okay, go back and rewatch the part where I said don't study everything in the textbook. Okay? So make sure that you are studying what your instructors talk about in class. That is what they believe are the most important things for you to know. They at least they either know what's on your exam or they wrote your exam. I mean, come on. So they are going to know. They are going to know what is most important for you to know. That's what they're going to test on in class. Most likely. Now, of course. Course you're going to, like, they're going to pull out random Questions from page 1038 of the textbook from the footnote or whatever. Like, there's going to be random questions. Sometimes it's just going to happen. It's going to happen. Whatever. Like, just. It's going to happen. However, by and large, what is on your exam is what they're going what. What they're teaching on in class. So you don't want to waste your time trying to get 100% on your nursing exam and, you know, reading everything in the book. You know, memorizing all the footnotes and all the references and everything. Like, no, that's a waste of time. So focus on the most important things, which is what your instructors talk about in class. Asia, Hello. Just finishing up first term A. You got an A. Hooray. And pass the cardiac assessment today. Last farm exam on Wednesday. Holding a 90 farm going into the exam. You are crushing it, my friend. That is amazing. Fantastic. Yeah, I doing so well in farm and so well with cardiac. Those are very difficult topics. So that is a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic job. Hey, you guys, next week, what do you want to talk about next week? For our live video? I am thinking that we're going to talk about the nclex because several of you have asked about the nclex. Want to talk about the NCLEX next week? That's my question. I got pushed back a whole year after failing two classes. Yes, Vicki. So make sure. Well, okay. Make sure that you are focusing on strategies for how to study. So make sure you get that critical thinking cheat sheet that I've been talking about. Just go into my bio, click the link in my bio, download it. It's awesome. Emotionally, mentally dealing with patients, going through tough times. That's a good one, Asia. I have a good farm teacher. She tells us what she wants us to know for her exams. Yes. Yes. Fantastic. Usually what they teach about in class. Let's do this you guys. I'm getting yeses for the nclex. Yes. Next gen nclex. I think we're going to do that next week you guys. So let's plan on that. So next Monday, same time, same place, Matthew will be back. Well he was here at the beginning but then you know children. So he will be back next week, hopefully for the entire thing. All right friends, we will see you next week, same time, same place. I want to say 6:30 Pacific, 9:30 Eastern. Yes, because I can do time zones. 6:30 Pacific, 9: 30 Eastern and we will talk about the next generation NCLEX. Okay. So let's do it. All right, bye friends. We will see you next week. Take care. Have a great week.