MAY 1 LIVE SHOW | The Nursing School Show | ASK US ANYTHING!
Matthew and Christina Rafano answer nursing students' questions about NCLEX Next Generation, which keeps the same content but adds new question types. They recommend starting study early, using Saunders NCLEX Review, and joining their new Nursing ESSENCE membership for dose-calculation courses, pharmacology, and personalized study plans.
Chapters
Hi everyone. I'll be right back.
All right.
Are we live?
Welcome to Monday. Okay. And I'm here.
Hello everyone.
Ta da. Almost on time.
Happy Monday. Anyone have a case of the Mondays? What does that mean? What does that mean? A case of the Mondays? Let me know in the comments. And for those just joining, or first times or second times or third times, Stephen.
Hello.
Welcome to the Nursing School show.
This is like your second year with us.
Yes. Sometimes we say hi and introduce ourselves, sometimes we don't. But hello, we're here to answer nursing school related questions and just other questions. Hello.
Hello.
Hello. Hello. Hello. Good morning.
I'm Christina.
Good morning. It is morning from us. I hear someone's chiming in from India. Hello. I'm not sure what time of day it is for you.
Where are you tuning in?
But where are you guys tuning in from? And what questions do you have about nursing school? Yes, those are the two questions.
That's what we're talking about today.
We are talking nclex.
NCLEX and ngn. Yeah.
That is not all we can talk about. We can talk about other things too. So are you curious about the NGN or the NCLEX or other test taking things about nursing school?
North Carolina. Hi. Chicago in Florida. Hello, my friends.
Hello, everyone.
It's 7:32pm in India. How can it be 7:32? Oh, how is that possible? Is that actually, is that like legit? Are you sure it's not 702 for 7:03? I don't know. I mean, I don't know.
I don't know how time works. I don't know how time works. I thought that it just changes by hour, but maybe it changes by 30 minutes.
Florida. Two people from Florida.
Do you guys know each other? I don't think so.
But you know, hello could happen. All right. Virginia. Hello.
Hi.
What should I be studying before nursing school?
Oh, nursing school. Anyone in the same boat who is getting ready to start nursing school?
Two people are saying it's 7:33. Okay. I apparently don't know how time zones work. I seriously have thought my entire life that it's by the hour. Are some places by the half hour? That's very. Okay, that makes it way more confusing to me.
Okay, that's funny. Okay, best way to prep for nclex. Oh, Magda. We are going to be talking about NCLEX and ngn, so stick around. Hannah. Yes, me. Is that yes me, NCLEX or yes me? Getting ready to start nursing. The school.
Yes, I think getting ready to start nursing School.
Okay.
Yeah. Oh, handy said I'm starting nursing school this this year in September. Okay, thank you for the clarification.
Great.
That's funny. Okay. Yes. Last semester starting in one week. Fabulous. From Boston, very New York. Ireland.
Ireland.
Matthew and I always talk about. We would love to visit Ireland.
Rua. I can't. I can't wait for the membership program to be open. I'm counting down.
Okay, I think you guys are just joking. Are you joking? It's 7:48 in Nepal. That how. No, this can't actually be real.
So.
Kidding.
It is the top of the hour where we are at How I understood time changes and time zones. Is that all the time zones kind of followed on the hour. So if it's like if it's 8 o' clock here then it would be 9 o' clock one time zone over. But I don't.
How can it be 7:48?
I guess technically if you're counting that accurately.
But I don't know how that works. I don't know. I think you guys are just. It's 5:30 in Iran. Okay, there's. Got it. There's something I apparently don't understand. How time changes work.
So as Rua mentioned, the nursing SOS membership community is opening up.
Oh, on Sunday.
On Sunday.
This Sunday.
One more week. So definitely get on the wait list.
Yes.
To be the first to know, it is very exciting. It is our first launch with the new membership site. Site as well.
Did you guys know we just released a brand new membership experience?
So very cool guys.
Gotta get in.
Get in there.
Enrollment only opens a couple times a year. So highly recommend that you get in now, especially before you start in the fall. Like this is the perfect time to join before school starts in the fall. Sorry Instagram, I forgot to put my phone on silent.
Aaron, how in depth do we need to get with meds for the nclex? All right, so we are talking nclex today so we will get there ngn nclex. That's a great question.
Someone also had a comment about dose cow. Oh Christina, I'm so excited to see you. Okay, let's see. I saw your post this morning. Was it this morning or was it yesterday in the community? I was feeling. Oh, I don't know why Instagram keeps pausing. Okay, Jen who? Hi Jen on Instagram. I was feeling dosage calculations class and was about to take my final and I came across one of your videos the night before my exam and I needed a 95 on it. I had no hope but I Watched your video and got a 98. Yay.
Congratulations.
It's. So I talked about this last week, you guys. Like, nursing school does not need to be as complicated as everyone makes it to be. I just, I like, seriously, dosage calculations, pharmacology, fluids and electrolytes, menstrual. It does not not have to be as complicated as everyone makes it out to be. And dose calc is in that category. Like, Jen, I'm so, so happy for you because, like, seriously, I don't think anyone teaches dose calc like we do. Like, we have a very defined step by step process that walks you through how to get every single dose calc question right every single time. If you follow our six step process, you will get those questions right every time. Like, it will not fail you that process. So seriously, you guys, you've got to get in the membership community. We have an entire dose calc course for you. Fluids and electrolytes course. If you're struggling with that, pharmacology, all the med surg stuff, fundamentals, it's all in there for you. Like, nobody teaches this stuff the way that we do. And it is so, so helpful. You guys do not have to struggle with your classes. It's just, it's crazy to me that, that it just. They make it all so complicated. It just seems like it's so complicated. It does not have to be this complicated. It is. Seriously, Seriously.
So that is really great. Yeah, I'm so excited for, for you for passing and getting a 98. That is awesome.
That is fabulous.
All right, so yeah, the membership is opening. I popped the link down in YouTube. It's opening on Sunday. Instagram. In the bio.
Right?
In the bio. The links are there. So. All right, let's get into.
Someone's asking about wound care because they don't know how much I hate that.
Okay.
Okay. Wound care, you guys, if you haven't been around for a while, is like one of my least favorite, like, things to do as a nurse. Like, I just. There are some things that. There are some spiritual gifts and people have been given that. That gift of doing that. That is not me, not anything. Thankfully. We have nurses on our team that help out with that, so that's super fun. I am not one of them because it freaks me out, to be honest with you. There are just some things, like here's the beauty about nursing. You get to choose your specialty and you can choose based on your preferences.
Yes, there are a lot of specialties out there. We get that question too. Or that comment or yeah, that, yeah, I guess that comment that like, oh, I have no idea what to do. There's a lot, there's a lot of specialties that you can get into. Yes, definitely during clinicals. That's why we also recommend just be first in line to try out everything.
Raise your hand for everything you are.
What you'll come across that, that you might not even know that you want to do.
Yes. So 100.
Yeah, definitely. You'll get your practice in. You'll. Yeah. You'll basically find out what your gifting is that way. Yeah, perhaps so.
Hi Sharma. Good morning. Okay, real quick about the nclex because that will be our primary topic today.
Nclex, ngn.
The first thing. Okay, who will be taking the ngn? Everybody. Unless you already graduated and you took the old one and you're just here hanging out with us. Who's taking the ngn? Pretty much everybody.
Or who has taken it already. And how was it?
Who has taken it?
How was it?
How'd it go? Because we get students who like just took it. Hi etc. Good morning. So all of us, right, all of y' all are taking, taking the ngn.
Magda, what's the best way to prep? You're going to be taking it with. Do you have a date set on when you are taking the ng? Nclex?
Yeah, that's a really great question. What, when do you guys plan on taking it? Are you taking it like summer of next year? Like when do you graduate and when are you taking the nclex? Yes, tell us in the comments. So here's the first thing I want to say. Okay. First thing I want to say about the NGN is that nursing content has not changed. Okay. Even though the NCLEX did change and how they test you on things did change, the content itself, what you need to know to prepare did not change. Okay? So there's been a lot of freak out about this new NGN because people are saying, you know, it's, it's harder. They're testing us on different things or like it's just. Yes. We don't like the unknown. Right. People don't like change. We don't like change. It's just like we like the things that we're used to and that's about where it ends. Right? So when the NCLEX change is when, when it, you know, when they make tweaks to it, everyone freaks out about it. Now I'm here to tell you that it's not going to be as bad as you're Thinking that it is. Okay, all right. We all cool with that.
A lot of times that's how it works, right? We always build up these giants in our mind that end up not being as big as we thought they were.
Yes, a hundred percent. The NGN does not have to be as complicated as y' all are making it right now, okay? Like, that's just the moral of the story. Like, nursing school does not have to be as complicated as everyone makes it out to be, okay? Like, that should really be our slogan. Don't make nursing school more complicated than it needs to be, okay? The nursing content does not change. So everything you're learning in nursing school right now that is applicable to the ngm, all right? Like, the content is not changing, so you don't have to freak out, okay? Also, the other thing that I think is a big rumor going around that is not true, okay, is that the entire test changed. It did not. Okay? The entire NCLEX did not change, okay? They just changed specific questions. They just added. They basically added more different types of questions, but the entire NCLEX itself is not all of those questions. You still have your regular SATA questions. You still have the regular multiple choice questions. Those are still there. They just added, Sam, some new types of questions, okay? So the entire test did not change. You're still going to see regular multiple choice. You're still going to see the regular static questions. You're still going to see the ones you are more used to. And then they also are adding on top of that some other different types of questions, okay? So don't freak out about it. Really, like, moral of the story, don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Don't freak out about it, okay?
Mm.
Thank you.
Especially Magda.
You welcome to my daddy.
You were. You were saying, I have a one credit NCLEX prep class before I can graduate. So you even have a prep class, so.
We had that too, and it was really helpful. Yeah, that's a lot of that Inside the Nursing ESSENCE membership community. If you go into the Nursing ESSENCE membership community, you'll see a. We have a video there on passing the NCLEX and NCLEX strategies to use. And actually we have the. We have an NCLEX bonus for you next week if you join the nursing SOS membership community next week. You will get an NCLEX bonus if you join by Wednesday. So make sure you join the Nursing ESSENCE membership community next week because we have a really fabulous NCLEX prep guide for you that will walk you Through a lot of the key points that you have to know and as well the test taking strategies. So, so, so helpful really. Moral of the story, don't freak out. We're going to prepare you for it. Don't worry about, especially if you're a nursing assist member like the ngn, the nclex in and of itself it's just really. Matthew likes to say it's become more realistic.
Yes.
Like they're just trying to make it more real life. Like you're going to get a patient chart to be able to click through it on these new like test items like the, the new types of test questions they are giving you a patient chart to click through. Now with that it just makes it more real life and so it's more critical thinking which is fabulous because that's what you do on the floor anyway and that is how we teach you inside the Nursing ESSENCE membership community. That's everything that we do. We walk you through the critical thinking behind everything. So if you're a Nursing ESSENCE member for sure, like don't even spend two seconds freaking out about the NCLEX because you will be prepared. Like that's what we do. We prepare you for that. We help you pass nursing school, we're going to help you pass the nclex. The content is the same so don't worry about it. You're going to do fabulous.
So I asked this question a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about the NCLEX as well. But can you imagine if they never update the tests? If they never update any of the tests that you take and you're still stuck taking those old Scantrons where you have to use a number two pencil or you will get it wrong and you have to make sure the bubbles are perfectly circled. Does anyone remember these, these Scantrons? Do they still use these Scantrons? Let me know because did we have someone who had. I did not like those. And can you imagine if they just never updated tests and that's.
And if the questions were the same.
Yeah.
Years ago.
So really that, that's the point is that we have, we have better ways of getting the information to you and for testing you to make sure that you'll be the best nurse that you can be getting out.
Flashback.
Yes. Yes, I love those flashbacks. Right. But so don't think of it as oh, they want to trick you. Oh they want to bring you down because again it's the mindset. It's mindset is a big thing and if you come at it with A negative attitude saying, oh, why did they have to do this Right? Then you're not in the right mindset to really take your exam and excel in your exam. So look at the positives and just don't worry about it. And again, a big part of nursing school in general is the mindset and placing yourself in the right mindset so that you can be successful in nursing school. And same goes with the nclex. A big part of it is not getting too worked up about it, about these giants in your mind and. Yes. And psyching yourself out. Right.
It's a mental game for sure.
It is definitely a mental game. So just be thankful that they're not Scantrons and move on.
Be thankful we don't have to go back to third grade. How do I get over test anxiety? That's a fabulous question. Let's write that one down so I don't forget. All right. And then we were also going to talk about mentors. Somebody asked about men. We'll just add those two maybe today or maybe for Wednesday if we don't get to it. Because I want to talk about this. Okay. Actually, first thing I want to mention, we have a video for you that's from the ncsbn. Those are the people that put out the nclex. Like, those are the people that make the nclex. They put out a video that walks you through all the changes. Okay. So I have that video. I will send it to you. Just DM me on Instagram. Okay. DM me on Instagram. And I will send you that video about the changes about the NCLEX with the ngan so that you know kind of what those changes look like and you can be more prepared. Okay.
Now, I did want to back up a little bit, especially for Magna, because we talked about the changes in the nclex because that's what a lot of people ask us about, is what's different. And they're freaking out about the whole mindset thing. But diving into the actual content, just for. Just for a second here, Magda's asking, what's the best way to prep for the nclex? So, honestly, the best way to prep for the NCLEX is to go through nursing school.
Yeah.
Understand the content is really the beginning of it. Right. Understand the content, work through everything, realize that it's all cumulative. Everything kind of builds on another piece. So that's really. It is going through nursing school, learning critical thinking, learning all the content, and being really comfortable with all the content that you're getting through in nursing school, it is a giant cumulative final at the end of the day. So the best way to study is a little bit at a time and you start early, like at the beginning of nursing school and just realize that all of that is building up to your nclex. Right. If you come at it with the idea of, oh, I now need to cram for this in the next couple months, that's going to be a lot tougher for you. It's still possible. That's fine. If, I mean, if that's where you're at, that's where you're at. But the best way to prep, which is a question. Best way to prep for NCLEX is to start at the beginning. Start at beginning.
Make sure you know the content.
Just learn the content and hang on to the content.
As you, as you go through nursing school. Yes. Make sure you actually understand what they're teaching you. Yes. When you get to prepping for the nclex, you have to make sure that you know your strengths and you know your weaknesses, focus on your weak areas. And like, for me that was pharmacology and lab values. I had to really like drill those down before I took my nclex. Those are my weaker areas. So as you do practice questions, as you go through your study stuff, whatever you learned in school, like as you go through your lectures and stuff like that, as you prep for the NCLEX and make sure that you are focusing on the things that you don't yet know, you need to focus on your weaker areas. Don't just study the things that you already know. Okay.
Yeah. So that's another big part. Like, like Christina said, we have all these tips as a bonus for the membership launch when it opens next week. But these are just some high level things. And that's a really good point. Again, for any exam, but especially for your nclex, focus on your weaknesses. I know that you want to focus on the things that you're already good at because it makes you feel good the more questions you get. Right. We get that and I understand and I totally do that too. However, that doesn't help you learn anymore. If you already know the content and you're going through the content, you already know you're not learning anything new. So focus on your weak spots, your weak areas and shore those up so that you can have a more holistic, I guess, approach on taking your exam.
Yes. 100%. Yeah. And actually someone just posted Eccentric. Are you a nursing SS member? I thought you were. I want to build A study plan. So we have inside the nursing SS membership community, we walk you through how to build a study plan. Are there any specific books we should refer to? If you are not a nursing SS member, I do recommend help to help you study for the nclex. The Saunders NCLEX Review guide. I really like that one. Saunders NCLEX review guide will help you to study if you're a Nursing Essence member. Just print off the, print off the study guides and use those as you are really, you know, starting to, to prep for the nclex because those are the things you have to know to pass and eccentric.
Inside the brand new membership site, if you haven't gotten in there yet, check it out. Do that. Step three has building your study plan out.
Yep, there. So, so yeah, you guys, the new, the brand new membership community walks you through step by step, how to pass nursing school. So the first step is making your decision to go all in. And seriously like this is so key. You have to, when like we said, like nursing school is a mental game really, you have to make that decision to go all in on yourself. Step number two, we're going to walk you through how to make a time management plan. We call it your nursing life map. We are going to walk you through literally how to balance your time, how do you take care of your family and past nursing school. So inside the nursing houseless membership community, we walk you through in step number two, how to make a time management plan so that you not only pass nursing school but you also have a life at the same time. Step number three is that study plan. Like Matthew was just saying, we walk you through, you will literally come away with a PDF of a study plan. Like, this is how I'm going to study in nursing school. We help you create that, we walk you through, we give it to you and we walk you through how to create it and personalize it for yourself. So it's immensely helpful. Immensely.
It is our step by step process of getting through nursing school. Because when you come to nursing school it's, it's going to affect your whole life. It's not just this silo of a thing. So treat it that way. And so we walk you through the whole process again, the mental game of really going all in and deciding I am going to succeed in nursing school and I'm going to put my foot down and stop wobbling on it. Oh well, if it's hard then maybe not or whatever. No, you need to, you need to focus and you need to go all in and then you need to figure out your whole life, not just your. Your schedule within nursing school, but figure it all out and how everything plays together while you're in nursing school. Again, we also talk about, this is the nursing school season now, so what are you gonna do in the nursing school season?
Because it's not like your life stops. Your life doesn't stop.
Yep.
And to be honest, if your life is a chaotic mess, you're not gonna.
Be able to study.
So you have to do both.
Yep. So again, it is a step by step process. And then we have building your study plan and actually have all the nursing content in there. So. So it is a step by step guide. We will walk you through how to pass nursing school and have a life while doing it too. So it is really great. We just launched the brand new membership site, so it really helps you walk through that. So eccentric. If you're looking for your study plan, that is where you go.
Check it out.
Milestone in step number three. So definitely take a look at that.
And then Van. Van, you were asking how to join the community. So enrollment opens on Sunday. Enrollment is not always open. It only opens a couple times times a year. So make sure that when it is open that you join. Okay. Or you'll miss out. Make sure to join on Sunday. Get on the wait list. The link is in my bio to the nursing as well as membership community. Now, real quick, I want to talk about what to study before nursing school. So there's a couple things that you really want to focus on. So like I said, you've got to join the membership now. If you're starting in the fall, especially like if you are, if you're going into a new term or for starting nursing school in the summer, this is the time to join.
So shout out to Hannah, who's asking. And you're starting nursing school this year in September, so shout out to you, congratulations on getting into nursing school. That is a really big accomplishment in and of itself. So congratulations there.
And Fabina is going through her prerequisites.
Sabina, you're going through your prerequisites. Anyone else starting in the fall, hooray. Let us know.
Congratulations.
What do we do to prep?
Yes. Yes. So when you are starting nursing school, if you're starting nursing school in the fall, if you're starting in the summer, if you're going into a new term in the summer, you've got to join the community. Because here's the thing, you have to make sure that you are studying Dose Calc. Dose Calc will be your number one priority right before starting nursing school. So we have an entire dose calculator course inside our community that like we said at the beginning, no one teaches dose calc like we do. You guys, it makes it so, so easy. Like, don't over complicate nursing school. It does not have to be as hard as everyone is making it out to be. You can learn these things, okay? You don't have to figure it out by yourself. We're here to walk you through it. Everything that you have to know, okay? Make sure that you understand these things. So you have to understand how doscal works, but you have to understand how to pass your dose calc exam. And which is exactly what we teach you inside the community. So make sure you're studying those count. Make sure you have your time management planned out. You have your study planned down, that you have a solid study strategy. You cannot. Here's one of the biggest, like study problems in nursing school is when students look at other students and say, I'm going to study like that because it seems to be working for them. But how you study might not be how long. How someone else studies, like how you study best might not be what everyone else is doing. You have to know what works best for you, which is exactly what we walk you through inside the community. We will help you figure out how you study and learn best so that you can really optimize your time. Because you. Nursing school is, is a mental game. It's a time game. You cannot waste time. You just can't. You have to. When you go to study, you have to hit the ground running and actually study to save time. Because there's just so much to know in such a short amount of time. So make sure that you are studying efficiently and effectively and that you're really getting the most out of it. You don't want to study in a way that someone else is studying and then not have it work for you. Like try to study 20 hours in a way that works best for someone else, but doesn't work for, for you. And then you end up failing your exam. That's not a good way to go, right? So that's what we walk you through. We walk you through how to manage your time. We help you create your time management plan. We call it your nursing life map. And we walk you through how to create a personalized study plan for yourself. Okay? And then of course, we walk you through all the content. You have to know whether it be dose calc fluids and electrolytes, pharmacology Med Search fundamentals. We walk you through all of it. You do not have to spend thousand hours every week trying to learn it yourself from a textbook. That is not helpful because when you're trying to memorize things from a textbook, you are not critically thinking. And your exams are going to test you on how well you critically think. There's a huge gap. There's a huge gap between memorization and critical thinking. All right? You have to bridge that gap. That's what we help you to do. We give you those critical thinking key points and we walk you through it so that you can pass your exams.
Yeah. So. So to those starting in the fall or starting this summer or starting soon. Yes, definitely. Like we said, membership is opening up next week. So get in there. Steps one, step two, step three, to get all prepped up for nursing school. And then the first thing in step four of with where the nursing content in is dose, calculated dose calc is what you want to get comfortable with and understand and use those strategies in there, because that is something that everyone needs to go through is dose calc. And you'll. You'll be taking exam right when you first start, within the first couple weeks.
You have to pass it.
Yep.
You have to pass it to stay in the program. That's what we were just talking about at the beginning of the slide. Like, we had a student who needed to get a 95. Like, you have to pass your Doscalc exam to stay in your program. And a lot of nursing students miss this. Do not miss this. Okay. Make sure you study.
Yes.
Right. Dose calc sound good?
Yeah, that sounds good.
Are we all on the same page?
Rua Channel notifications only to check. I think YouTube automatically sends your notifications when we set it up.
It should be in your time zone.
Yep, it should be in your time zone. And it lets you know, like 30 minutes before. So.
Yeah.
And also both Instagram and YouTube, if you do miss the lives and want to go check out previous lives, they are all on YouTube. They're just posted up there. If you go to our YouTube channel under lives, then they're all there too.
Yes.
So if you do miss us, go back and check out some of our old ones, the ones we previously posted.
So yay.
That's good too.
Okay, what did we miss today? Med surge.
Getting over test anxiety.
Test anxiety. Okay, let's talk about test anxiety, because that's a big one. Okay, let's talk about test anxiety on Wednesday and then let's talk about med surge on Monday. Does that Sound good?
All right, sounds good.
And I'm going to actually schedule those out on Instagram as well. So on Wednesday we will talk to you about test anxiety. Okay? So join us. Same time, same place. Yeah, it's 7:00am Pacific, 10:00am Eastern, every Monday and Wednesday.
And like you, if viewer guys were with us since the beginning of this live, apparently we do not know how time zones work. I do not know how time zones work. I always thought that it was the top of the hour. It's top of the hour straight across.
The world, but apparently it's not.
Apparently some people it is different times.
On the half hour, on the half.
Hour, on the, on the quarter hour. Whatever you have you or whatever time you want it to be, I guess that's fine. That is okay. But we're going to schedule these out, so be sure you like and subscribe on YouTube and you will not miss the notifications. And on Instagram, be sure to follow us. Christina will schedule those out as well. And if anyone has an answer to that time zone question, let us know.
Because that is so confusing to me. I don't understand that. All right, friends, I hope you have a fabulous rest of your Monday. If you're a nursing member, I will be emailing you today about the new site, the very exciting things we have coming up for you, all of the fancy things. So keep an eye on your email and.
Yeah, okay, since we're doing announcements, what tonight is also the community call.
Yes.
For the nursing SOS members. So don't miss that. And also if you want, if you are going to be joining the tutoring hours, the tutoring hour tonight as well.
Right, Tonight and Thursday. So if you need tutoring inside the community, make sure that you jump on that tutor call. Okay. Tonight and then on Thursday. And Those are at 5, 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. There we go inside our community. Okay. And if you need tutoring, make sure you join the Nursing Essence membership community next week when it's open so that we can literally walk you through everything you need to know. So bring your questions. We're here for it. Yes, sounds good. Definitely, friends.
All right, great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
We will see you.
We will see you guys on Wednesday. Bye.
All right, bye. See you later, alligators.
