How to Pass Nursing Fundamentals

In this video, I'm going to walk through three of my top tips for passing your fundamentals course. So I'm going to give you the best strategies to help you rock your nursing fundamentals class without spending endless hours figuring out what and how to study. Let's do it. Tip number one, you must be able to start critically thinking Now. I know what you are probably thinking right now. Seriously, Christina, what is critical thinking and how do I actually, actually do it? Well, my friend, pay attention because this critical thinking model that I created is going to change the game for you for how you're going to study in nursing school. It's going to be awesome. The critical thinking model goes like this. Drc now, let's walk through each of these parts. The D stands for definition or description. What is it? What is it that you need to know about? What's the description of it? Now this is going to be very simple, simplified version of what it is. Now don't worry, we're going to get to the main critical thinking part the deep stuff, in a minute. So stick with me. Let's take an example of giving oxygen to a patient. Giving oxygen and oxygen administration is absolutely something that you're going to study in your fundamentals class. You have to know it for nursing school and your clinicals. So the definition or description of oxygen administration is that you are actually giving oxygen to your patient. Right? You may give it at different levels or concentrations and through different ways. And if you want, you can write all of these down as well in this category. But remember, this is the high level definition. Keep it simple here. Then the second part of this process is the R. This stands for reason or rationale. This is where you'll write about the why. Why does it happen? Why does it matter? This is the reasoning behind it all. And in this section, I really want you to dig deep. Focus on the underlying reason. This is the first step of critical thinking. So don't skip on this. Dive deep. Now, in our example of giving oxygen, why do we give oxygen to a patient? Well, we give oxygen to a patient if they're not able to oxygenate themselves. Either they aren't able to get enough oxygen or they aren't able to circulate it as well. Right? So here's where we dive into the pathophysiology behind it. What is happening inside. Inside the body. Now listen friend, if there is one reason that I got straight A's in nursing school, it's this. I dug deep constantly. I didn't just learn the surface level Stuff like everyone else, I use this model and practice my critical thinking skills over and over and over again. That is the difference, and that is what made me successful. And it's what's going to make you successful too. Because when I got to my exam and it gave me a case scenario question about oxygen administration, I didn't just memorize that surface level stuff that the rest of the class focused on, like the textbook stuff. I was way more prepared because I did the critical thinking and learned why it matters. And I was able to apply what I had learned to that question. That's what I want you to do. To really dig deep, ask yourself, why. Why do we give oxygen? Why does it matter? Why is it important for our patients? Now, the third step is the even deeper step and the even more. More critical thinking part, and that's the C connection. This is where you will write how it connects to the other things that you're learning. This is the how. How does everything else connect together? This is where you will really shine at your critical thinking skills and where it will really start to show to your instructors that you really know your stuff. Right? When you can connect the dots and put it all together. So in our example of giving oxygen, how does that connect to other things that you're learning about? So. So in your fundamentals class, you will be learning about things like the nursing assessment, right? You'll also learn about oxygenation and perfusion, how those work together. How does the body get oxygen? How does it circulate the oxygen through the body to keep us alive? So when you give oxygen to a patient, there are a lot of things that you need to assess before, during, and after. You'll look at things like their lips and mucous membranes to see if they have a blue tint to them, which could indicate a lack of oxygen. You'll look at how they're breathing and listen to their lungs. If they're having difficulty breathing, they may need to be on oxygen to help increase their blood oxygen level, right? So walk through each of these nursing assessment components, the ones that relate to giving oxygen. How does giving oxygen affect the body, and how does that relate to the nursing assessment? You'll also learn about oxygenation and perfusion in your fundamentals class. So how does giving oxygen affect perfusion? Well, giving a patient oxygen will hopefully increase the amount of oxygen in their blood, right? It will get more oxygen to their brain and their other organs to help keep their vital organs happy. So are you seeing how all of this connects together? This critical thinking model is Vital to follow in Nursing school. If you want to be a critical thinking rock star, you can use it again and again and again when you whatever topic you are studying. So it'll help walk you through step by step how to study in nursing school. So follow this model. It will be the difference between getting a C on an exam and getting an A. So pay attention, take notes and let's help you pass. Now tip number two is practicing for clinical it's time to step outside the box and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Nursing school is going to challenge you my friend, and challenge you in ways that you never thought of. Yes, it's difficult and it will push you outside your comfort zone. You will come out a better person than you were before though. So worth it right now listen to this. The most important skill you need to learn in nursing school is your head to toe assessment. We already talked about it a little bit. Thankfully this can be practiced at home and it doesn't require a hospital unit or a SIM lab. All it requires is a teddy bear or another person if they are willing. Recruit your friends, your family, your pets, whomever you can. Now remember I said get comfortable with being uncomfortable. That's the name of the game. So here's how this is going to go. You are going to practice your head to toe over and over and over again until you start literally having dreams about it. Practice it on everyone who is willing my friend. Here's the key. Verbalize your thought process as you go through the head to toe assessment and think ahead about possible abnormal findings. Now verbalizing this is key. This will be required when you are checking off your head to toe assessment in the skills lab and practicing those assessment skills will help it stick. So keep practicing and keep practicing it more until you do it perfectly. Even when you sleep right. You need to get completely comfortable with your head to toe assessment and all you need, like I said is a stuffed teddy bear or a willing friend or a pet or something. It's pretty great. You have everything you need right now to rock your head to toe assessment. Now I actually have a free Head to toe assessment transcript cheat sheet for you that will be so so helpful as you practice this. So I'll leave the link in the DES below so you can snag it. You will absolutely want to print it off. It's going to help you so much when you practice your assessment. Now my next tip for passing fundamentals is a huge one. Focus on reading. So you're not reading the entire textbook because let's be honest that is just not going to help you. Now, I see this all the time. Your instructors are going to assign you like 10 chapters to read a week. So it's no wonder that you are feeling completely overwhelmed by how much reading there is to do in nursing school. It is possible. But would it help you pass your fundamentals exam? Probably not. So this tip is all about studying more efficiently and effectively. So focus your reading on studying the topics that your instructors talk about in class. Don't read every word. Focus your reading on what your instructor talks about. Now, I know it's hard to focus on just those things, but this is the most effective way to save study because you won't be wasting time studying things that are not going to show up on your exam. So, like we've talked about again and again and again, your instructors will test you on the things that they believe are the most important things for you to know. And that's what they will teach on in class most often. So if you are wasting time reading the textbook just for the sake of reading the textbook, not only are you wasting time by studying things you don't need to worry about, but you also just won't be focused on the things that most likely will show up on your exams, right? Which could cause you to get a bad grade. Not good. Your time is too valuable to read the textbook just for the sake of reading the textbook. So focus on what your instructor talked about in class. Start critically thinking about it. Okay? Speaking of critical thinking, your exams are going to test you heavily on how well you critically think or think like a nurse, as they say, right? So click on this video here and I'm going to walk you through how to do that step by step so you can pass your exams and go become the nurse that God created only you to be. And I will see you over there in the next video. Take care, friend. Bye bye.