How To Study Med-Surg (4 Things To Focus On)

Hello, Hello, Christina here with nursingschoolofsuccess.com and today in this video we are talking about how to study med surg nursing in nursing school. So before I get started, first things first, I've got a free med surg study checklist for you. Make sure you download it. It literally walks you through step by step, how to study med survival surge in nursing school. So that link is down below for you to snag it. It's a totally free checklist for you all about how to study med search. So that link is down below for you to snag it. And of course, make sure you're subscribed to this channel so you don't miss out on any other future video we've got for you or other free stuff. Because I, I give away free stuff all the time. You notice if you've been around for a while, we've got like cheat sheets and study guides and like just tons of stuff, tons totally free for you. So like I said, that link to that med surg study checklist is down below. Do not forget to snag it. We are heading into finals week. So yay. Congratulations on making it through a whole term in nursing school. It's so hard. And med surg is one of those things that's just really, really difficult to get through. You've got lecture and clinical and you know, if you work, you've got family, you've got, I mean all of these things like clinical in med surg is a tough, tough in nursing school. So when you head into finals, there are really four main things that you need to focus on in studying for med surge nursing. Now I have talked about this before, but we're going to go pretty deep here today. Mixer. Make sure that you download this checklist though. That link is down below because I am going to kind of follow that checklist. It literally walks you through step by step what I'm going to talk about here in this video. So do not forget to snag that. So the four things we're going to talk about are pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. Those are really the four key things that you've got to study in med surg. These are the four main things that you're going to be tested on. If you think back to your previous nursing exams, you are going to find that the majority of your nursing exam questions come from one of those four categories. So either pathophysiology, psychology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment or nursing interventions. Now, of Course, you're not often tested in your med surg classes in nursing school on the pathophysiology of the disorder. However, you have got to know the pathophysiology of every single disorder that you are studying. Because then when you understand the pathophysiology, you are going to be able to figure out the signs and symptoms, the nursing assessment and the nursing interventions. So this is something I am super. I get super pumped up about because they see students getting caught up on this all the time. Like, I know pathophysiology is hard, but once you know it, you can figure everything else out. So here's what I mean. So if you walk into your nursing exam and you understand the pathophysiology of every disorder you're studying, if you get a select all that apply question, otherwise known as the SATA question, or, or you get a question that you're just not sure about, if you know the pathophysiology of the disorder, of the case scenario that they're giving you. Cause med surg exams are primarily case scenario questions. So they give you a patient scenario, like, here's what's going on, what are you gonna do about it? So if you know the pathophysiology of that disorder, you are then able to critically think through that question and figure out, okay, what are the signs and symptoms? Like, if the question's asking you, what signs and symptoms would you see or what would you assess for? What interventions would you do? Like, what's your first action? Once you know the pathophysiology of that med surg disorder, you will then be able to critically think through those signs and symptoms, the nursing assessment and the nursing interventions, and select the best answer. So let's walk through this now. I know we have more people joining us. Make sure that you download the free, free Med Search Study checklist. That link is down below for you to snag it. I'm literally going to walk you through step by step here in this video, what that checklist says, and we're going to go into some examples and it's going to be really great. So welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. If you like what I'm saying, if this is all clicking for you, make sure to write love in the comments or to let me know just so I know that this is making sense. So the example that I want to go over is diabetes type 2. So that is really like, it's really common. Obviously you're gonna see it all the time on your med Search floor at clinical or, you know, if you have friends or family with it, it's one of the first disorders that you learn about in your med surg classes. So diabetes type 2, let's walk through this. So the pathophysiology of diabetes type 2 really is there's so much glucose in the blood that the cells become resistant to insulin. So insulin is that key that unlocks the body cells to allow those body cells to utilize glucose. So glucose is needed for energy, right, for metabolism, for the whole body to function. We actually need sugar, you need glucose to function, but without insulin, the body can't utilize that glucose. So that's the pathophysiology. Now, now that we know the pathophysiology of diabetes type 2, if you come up with a nursing school question, if you walk into your nursing exam and you get a nursing exam question on what are the common signs and symptoms or what would you expect to see the patient? The patient to have what signs and symptoms? You know, something like that. You can critically think through that pathophysiology. Once you know that med surg disorder pathophysiology, you can critically think and say, okay, well, if there's tons of glucose in the blood and the cells are resistant to insulin, you would expect to see what we're going to call the 3P. So Polyuria, Polydipsia and polyphasia. And those are the common signs and symptoms of diabetes. So excessive urination, the body is. The kidneys and the body are trying to get rid of glucose. Right. Common signs, common symptom. So a lot of urination, polyuria, polydipsia, excessive thirst. There's so much sugar in the blood that the body is trying to dilute that sugar. So it's going to be. You're going to be super, super thirsty if your blood is filled with sugar. Is that making sense? If this is clicking for you, either like this video or let me know in the comments just so I know that I'm explaining it right. I really like the interaction. So I know that this is all helping you. So you're going to be super thirsty if your blood is filled with sugar, right? Your body wants to dilute out all that sugar. And now polyphasia as well. If the cells, if your body cells are not getting glucose into the cells so that they can use it for energy, then they don't have energy. And what is your brain gonna say? Your brain's gonna say, oh, well, I'm hungry, I need more glucose. So you're gonna be super, super hungry. So your brain is gonna then tell you to eat and eat and eat. Does that make sense? So even though you are, there is so much sugar in the blood, the body cells can't utilize it for energy because they're insulin resistant. So there's insulin resistance. Just the cells cannot use that glucose. So even though there's so much sugar in the blood, the cells can't use it. So the cells are going to tell your brain to eat to tell you to eat, and then that is going to create that poly, so that excessive hunger. So when you see an exam question like that, like, what are some signs and symptoms, you have to think back to the pathophysiology of what is going on. So once you know the pathophysiology of diabetes type 2, you can then critically think through the common signs and symptoms. So if they give you a SETA question or a select all that apply question on your nursing exam, you can then critically think through those signs and symptoms and say, okay, well, check that one. That one fits well with the pathophysiology. Or no, that one doesn't, you know, fit well. So you could just go through them one at a time and see which ones fit best. Because once you know the patho, you will know you can critically think through those signs and symptoms. I hope that's making sense now. Nursing assessment. So the nursing assessment, you also have to think back to the pathophysiology of what is going on. So, so during diabetes type 2, obviously there's insulin resistance, there's a ton of glucose in the blood. So you're going to check their lab values, right? You're going to check their, well, not only their fluid and electrolyte values, but you're also going to check their glucose. So make sure that you're checking their glucose lab values, you're tracking it, making sure that it's, you know, either staying stable or dropping with your nursing interventions. So you've got to check their blood glucose level. Urine output is another great thing to check because like we said in the signs and symptoms that excessive urination. So you've got to track their eyes and nose, their intake and output, and definitely their urine output. For diabetes type 2, wound care is also a good thing. So you want to make sure that you're assessing their wounds because there's so much glucose in the blood. I always teach this like there's. Because there's so much glucose in the blood, the white blood cells just get kind of caught up and stuck in it. That's how I imagine it happening. So. So with all. It's kind of like a big crowd, right? You've got a whole crowd of glucose. The white blood cells just can't move freely through that crowd of all that crowd of glucose. So the white blood cells can't get to any wounds in time to kind of heal it. So that's why diabetes type 2 patients, patients with diabetes type 2 will have often wounds that don't heal because those white blood cells just can't get to it. So does that make sense when you, when you critically think through the pathophysiology on what is going on, you will be able to identify these things on your nursing school exam. Now, the final thing we'll talk about is nursing interventions. So obviously wound care, things like that. I'm here somewhere, guys, I'm sorry, keep itching my face. Ah. So nursing interventions, wound care, obviously for patients with diabetes you will do, educate them on diet and exercise and lifestyle choices to help them get, you know, drop their weight and eat healthy and make sure that they're balancing their glucose levels correctly, doing medication education as well and giving prescribed medications as prescribed to help, you know, balance that glucose, regulate glucose, draw labs like we said, you know, making sure that you're watching their electrolytes and drawing their glucose levels. So those are all really great nursing interventions to do with a patient with diabetes. So med surg nursing interventions, you've got to think back to the pathophysiology. So when you are sitting at your nursing school exam or your nursing school final, then think back to the pathophysiology of that disorder and pick out the best interventions, the best assessment, you know, what will you do first? What's your first priority action and what signs and symptoms would you see? Things like that. So these are the four main categories that you have got to know about your nursing med surg disorder. So you've got to know the pathophysiology, you've got to know the signs and symptoms, you've got to know the nursing assessment and you've got to know what you will do about it, the nursing intervention. So those are really the four main things that you have got to know about each of your med surg disorders. Does that make sense? I hope this is all working well for you and everything is kind of clicking in your mind. I hope that this is all coming together. It's super duper important. If you think back to the med surg nursing exams that you have taken already, you will find that the majority of your Nursing exam questions do fall into one of these four categories. Oftentimes, like I said before, you're not tested on pathophysiology. However, you kind of are because you've got to know the patho in order to get the other questions right. So, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, nursing interventions. So I hope that helps. One thing I do also want to note with that is that nursing interventions will deal with medications too, because obviously you have to know those. And then nursing assessment will deal with labs as well as medications too. And then patient education kind of falls into nursing interventions. So you are just tested on those things obviously to labs and meds, like we did talk about in our example. So I hope that all helps. Also the nursing SOS membership community, if you are a member and if you have any questions on med surg disorders, you will definitely want to log into your account, click on the med surg disorder videos that we've got for you. So whatever disorder you're studying, make sure you click on that video because we actually have all of those med surg disorders broken up into these four categories. So I literally walk you through, step by step, the pathophysiology, what the signs and symptoms are, what the nursing assessment components, what you will need to assess for the interventions that you'll need to do. We literally, inside the nursing SOS membership community, we literally break it down that way because your nursing exams are written that way and these are the categories you've got to know about. So for the med surgical disorder that you're studying, if you are currently a member, make sure you log into your account. If you're studying for finals, just as a reminder, it's there for you. Find the disorder that you're studying, click on it and then choose one of those videos to watch whatever you need the most help on, or watch all of them because they all kind of flow together and it will really, really help you. If you are not a nursing SOS member for real, you've got to join. You're going to love it. It's going to change the game for you. Everything in there is to help you save time and raise your grades in nursing school. That's what we're all about. That's exactly what we're here to do. I. I want you to be able to spend more time with your family. When I was in nursing school, I followed these steps and I was able to take every single Saturday off. I literally took every single Saturday off because I wanted to spend that time with my family. So this is why I created this. I wish this existed when I was in nursing school. That's exactly why we created it, is because it was so, so needed and our students have had so much success with it and, and I know you will too. So if you have any questions, there is a link to it down below the Nursing SOS Membership Community. It's there for you. Enrollment does close tomorrow. It does close tomorrow. And I always stick to my word. This is like integrity is what we are all about here. I am here for integrity and positivity and to help motivate you through nursing school. That's what we're all about. So, yes, enrollment does close tomorrow, right at 8. I think I said 8:00pm p.m. pacific time. So if you are watching this video after that deadline, so sorry about that, but it will actually convert to a wait list after we do have a wait list. So if you are kind of outside that window, if you're watching the replay, then you will be able to sign up for the wait list. But I hope that you will enroll if you're coming up. We're all coming up on finals week now. So if you do have questions on your final exams, definitely enroll in the nursing SOS Membership community because I'm more than happy to help you out with studying for finals along with all the resources we've gotten there for you. It's just amazing. So it will super duper help you out. So I hope this video was helpful for you guys today. Remember those four key things that you've got to know about med surg nursing when you're studying for med surg nursing. They are pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing intervention. So what are you going to assess for? What are you going to do about it? Those are the four key topics that you really need to know about for nursing school. So I hope that helped. I'm gonna take a peek at these comments here. Hillary. Yay. I'm so excited. Let's see. I'm taking med surge next quarter and I'm so excited. I got a little head start. Yay. I'm so glad it helped. And let's see. Khalsar. I hope I'm saying that right. Thank you. I'm glad you guys joined me today. Thank you so much. Much. Your support really means the world to me. I absolutely love doing this. This is just what I'm super passionate about. What I super duper love. If you're not familiar with my story, I actually never wanted to be a nurse. It was actually the last thing That I wanted to do. My dad had wanted me to become a nurse for, like, ever my whole life. I remember he would even pull out newspaper articles about nursing and, like, cool stuff nurses did. And I, like, told. Totally rejected it. I actually. This is actually a second kind of. Not second career, but a second kind of educational cycle for me. I became a nurse after I went to school for psychology. So I actually have a psychology degree on top of my RN degree. So I actually did never wanted to be a nurse until I ended up in the hospital. I actually. I have a cardiac pacemaker. I had passed out from for years and years and years. I mean, almost a decade, actually. I think it was just about a decade. I had been passing out all the time, and they could never figure out why. They thought it was, like, multiple things like heat stroke or, you know, low blood sugar. You know, you hear all those things. But I live in the Pacific Northwest, and heat stroke, I mean, come on. Like, we're like, generally, like, 50 degrees around here. So, you know, it took, like, a decade to figure out what was going on. And then they found out that my heart had been stopping all that time. So my heart. I went in and did a tilt table test, and my heart stopped for 25 seconds. And then I was admitted into the hospital to get a pacemaker. So I have a cardiac pacemaker. Keeps my heart pumping. So anytime my heart rate drops below 50, I believe it's set up now 50. It used to be a little higher, but now it's 50. It will kick in. So my heart rate can actually not drop below that or my cardiac pacemaker will kick in to kind of help my heart. Heart keep moving. So after that experience, I was in the hospital, and I have had so many amazing nurses, so many amazing nurses. I remember being in the emergency room, and this is just incredible. It's just incredible. I was in the emergency room, and I heard on the, you know, the intercom, they said that a bicyclist was actually coming in. Super duper trauma, like he was gonna die. And we were there for a while. So they said the ambulance was on its way. And so they came in, they had him. You know, the kind of curtain was closed, But I saw them move, move him down the hall. And it was probably about an hour later that the doctor and the whole team of nurses came out. And the doctor brought them all together right in front of my room. This was, like, amazing. It was right in front of my room. I could hear everything that they said, we'll never, ever forget this. And he looked at all those nurses and he said, that man is alive not because of me, not because of the doctor, not because of me, but because of you and because of all the hard work that you guys just did. I'm going to cry because it was amazing. It was an amazing moment. It was amazing. Life changing for me as a patient right there. Knowing that nurses just saved that man's life and they saved my life too. It was not a doctor that did that tilt table test on me. It was not a doctor that was there that did that tilt table that watched my heart stop for 25 seconds. It was the nurses that were there. So the nurses that helped get me the diagnosis that saved my life, the nurses that saved that man's life after his bicycle accident. It's just incredible the amount of impact that you can have as a nurse in this world that changed the game for me. So I am here to help you get through nursing school because you are more important than you realize. You have so many patients out there that are waiting for you to take care of them, that need you to take care of them, to help them live a healthier lifestyle, help them have lead a better life and believe in them that they can do whatever they thought possible. And you know, as a nurse, you not only help heal their physical body, but their spiritual body, their emotional health. You have so you are so, so much more important than you realize. So I hope you know that going into finals week that you are not studying just to take a test. You're not studying just to pass a class. You're not studying to make your family happy or your professors happy. You are studying for those that whose lives you are going to change. That is why you're here. You are here because you are the hero in your story. You get to be the hero. You. So I'm so, so glad to be here helping you along that way. Like I said before, we've got that study checklist, that med surg study checklist for you. That link is down below. I hope that helps you out and I hope this video really helped to clarify everything that you need to study for in nursing school. For med surg. This was super helpful for me. It's the exact process that I used to study in nursing school and it allowed me to take really every single Saturday off. That's what I'm here to do to help you do that, to help you raise your grades and save time in nursing school. It's what we're all about. So if you have any questions feel free to pop them down below in the comments. I will be hanging around obviously after the video answering questions. So if you have any questions let me know and I hope you have a great, wonderful rest of your week. We will chat soon guys. Take care.