Nursing School ASK ME ANYTHING!

One, two, three.

You're live.

Sorry, Instagram. I don't know why you're yellow.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome.

Instagram is yellow.

Happy 2021.

Is this our first live.

This is our first live 2021. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Nursing School show. I am Matthew.

I'm Christina. Nice to meet you.

Hello.

Hello.

If you're new, welcome. Nice meeting you.

Welcome to 2021.

Welcome to 2021. We are here to answer your nursing school related questions. And by we, I don't mean me. So don't get confused.

Don't get. Don't get it confused.

It is Christina who is answering nursing school questions. I read the questions mostly.

There you go.

So here we go. A new year.

Christine. Hello.

Hello.

So fun.

New year, new you. Right. Is that a thing? Is that still a thing? New year, new you.

Sounds good. I can get on board with that. New day. It's a new day. It's a new style.

What song is that? That's a funny. I keep thinking that when I. When I hear that, but whatever. All right, shall we get into this?

Let's do it.

Let's get into it. Meg, how do you survive fundamentals? Let's just dive right into it.

How do you survive fundamentals?

Fundle. Fundamentals.

Fundamentals.

Fundelmentals.

Fundamentals.

That is what you call OB Fundamentals. Fundamentals.

Get it?

Get it. Yes.

That is so funny. That is so funny. And I'm actually kind of impressed that you knew that.

I know, right?

It's crazy to, like, make a joke about it. You got likes for that one. That is so funny. Okay, good. That was up top. That was amazing. Okay, what was the question?

How do you survive fundamentals?

Okay, Fundamentals in nursing school. Who's in fundamentals right now?

Who is in fundamentals?

So excited for you. So nursing school, who is starting today? January 4th?

Yeah.

Welcome to nursing school. If you're starting fundamentals, like, today, next week, the week after, in February, like, who's in fundamentals?

I think there's a general kind of theme to today. It's how do you survive? So how do you survive fundamentals? And after that, we'll do how to survive ob peds and med surg. So we'll get to those ones. But let's start with fundamentals.

Nursing fundamentals. So. So the biggest thing that I really want you to remember is that everyone is just as confused as you are. So when you're in nursing school, there's just kind of lie out there that everyone knows more than you do. You know, you'll be sitting in class, in class or you'll be online. And you know, you just have this feeling, this sense that everyone has more experience than you do. Everyone knows what they're doing. Everyone knows more than you. Everyone's smarter than you. All these things. That's not true. That is such the biggest lie. And I do not want you to think that that that is the case at all. So my eyelash is, like, doing weird things. I was telling Matthew yesterday that I've had, like, issues with these ones.

That is okay.

It happens. They get. They, like, stick sometimes. It's kind of annoying. So I don't want you to get caught up in this lie. Rumor in nursing school that you know it. Everyone knows more than you. Everyone's smarter than you. People have more experience than you. And that that means that you can't pass. Right when we start nursing school, that's oftentimes what happens. We feel like we are not good enough. We feel overwhelmed and confused and like we can't do it. It's impossible, all of these things. And I do not want you to fall into that trap. So really, the first thing to do in nursing fundamentals is to overcome that. Don't listen to the rumors. Don't listen to the rumor mill out there. Just, you know, focus on what you gotta do. Make sure that you are confident in yourself and your ability and that you can do it, because you absolutely can. Absolutely. So that is tip number one. Don't listen to all the rumors and lies out there about nursing school. Now, tip number two, I want you to focus on four main categories. And this will be the same for fundamentals. Med, surg, ob, all of those things.

So everyone that's asking about how to survive in OB, PEDs, Med Surg, psych, critical care. Critical care, Yep. All of these topics, fundamentals.

I'm telling you, this thing, right?

This is all for you, that everything comes down to four main categories. Four main categories.

Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. That's it. How amazing is that? How amazing? Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. Focus on those four main categories. You will be awesome in nursing school, my friends. So pathophysiology is what is happening in the body. So if you're a nursing fundamentals right now, these are things like, you know, when you're studying fluid electrolytes, when you're studying ABGs, when you're studying, you know, all you'll study in fundamentals, some of the higher Higher level, you know, med surg disorders, you might talk about diabetes, you might talk about stroke, heart failure. Those are really kind of the three big ones that you'll see all the time. So as you study those disorders, you know, focus on the pathophysiology, what is happening in the body, Fluid and electrolyte imbalances, what is happening in the body, ABG imbalances, what is happening in the body with like metabolic acidosis or alkalosis, you know, those things. So pathophysiology, start with that. You have to know what is happening, what is happening with the patient. Now, number two is signs and symptoms Based on that pathophysiology, then how is that going to show up? How is it going to manifest in the body? That's the second one. So but once you know the patho, those signs and symptoms become a whole lot easier. A whole lot easier. So when you know the pathophysiology, when you know what's happening in the body, it's a lot easier to critically think through the signs and symptoms for a disorder or whatever is happening. Now. Here is what sets our community apart. If you're in the nursing SOS membership community, raise your hand. We got a lot of you guys on here. If you're in the nursing SOS membership community, this is what we do really, really well. I never want you to memorize a list of things that is like not what you do in nursing school, right? I do not want you to memorize a list of signs and symptoms or a list of nursing interventions that you know you could possibly do for something that is not going to be helpful for you. What's more helpful for you is the ability to be able to critically think through things. So that's why we do that inside the nursing houseless membership community. If you're inside there, you know that we divide up our video series into four main categories, those four pathos, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. And we help you, we basically do it for you, connect the dots between the signs and symptoms, back to the pathophysiology, we tell you why those signs and symptoms happen. And then the nursing assessment, what are you going to assess for? We connect it back to the pathophysiology and the signs and symptoms. Critically think. We help you critically think through all of those things. So instead of memorizing, just memorizing a list of signs and symptoms or nursing assessments or nursing interventions that you would need to do, we help you critically think through those things. And that's exactly what I want you to do focus on the pathophysiology, and then you will be able to critically think through the signs and symptoms. Critically think through the nursing assessment and critical. Critically think through the nursing interventions. Makes it a whole lot easier than just memorizing a list because we all know nursing school exams do not test you on how well you memorize stuff, right? No, they test you on how well you critically think.

So Melinda's asking, hello. Is patho what is happening for a specific illness?

Yes, basically, pathophysiology is what is happening inside the body. And you know, when a disorder or whatever, something abnormal is happening. If it was normal, it would be. It would be physical physiology. But because it's pathophysiology, patho means this abnormal. So abnormal physiology. There you go.

So the first step is what is abnormal about the physiology? So pathophysiology.

Yes.

So great question. Yeah. So everything stems from that. So understanding physiology, understanding what's supposed to be going on, which is. Right. That's really.

Yeah. And then physiology.

And then beyond that, the pathophysiology. What's wrong in the body or what's wrong with what's going on. And then from there, critically think the other three categories down from that. What are the signs and symptoms? Nursing assessment and nursing interventions.

Yep, absolutely.

So again, this is covering everything from fundamentals. Meg asked about fundamentals goes there, how to survive, OB and PEDs and med surg. All of them. All disorders go into those specific categories. So find out what's wrong and critically think all those things into that. So.

Yep, yep, absolutely. Do you have examples to help us think through this process or think this process through, Jill? Yes, we do. Inside the nursing office membership community. This is why we divide up our video series into these four main categories. Pathos, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. So we basically do all that hard work for you. We walk you through those steps. If you have the nursing school study system, I walk you through it in there as well. And then also where I want to direct you to is YouTube. If you are looking for, you know, some med surge disorders, things like that. I think we have DKA up on YouTube. We have some cardiac things as well. Pancreatitis, we have some. Some med surg disorders up on YouTube. Definitely check those out. Those will give you examples of how we break things down into those four main categories and how we connect the dots between those four categories.

Okay. Is there. Is there one really high level one that we can just kind of go through? Not. Not a full One. But just what's something that's just to follow through those four things. Really?

Yeah, I mean really for, for most people, if you're in fundamentals, like I said, like heart failure is always a really good example because people know, you know, you'll learn that pretty much right off the bat. So like heart failure, right? Heart failure, a very high level of this. Right. There's multiple types, but high level heart failure, the heart is not able to pump blood forward into the body. So that is the, you know, pathophysiology of that. There are of course a lot of different causes and things like that. So you would want to know the deeper patho based on, you know, what type it as, you know, what's actually causing that. But high level, you know, heart is not able to pump blood forward into the body. So some signs and symptoms that you would see. Once you know that the heart cannot pump blood forward, where's that blood going to go? It's going to go backward. Right. So where's. What's going to happen? What signs and symptoms would you expect to see? So oftentimes we'll see things like edema that's going back, back flowing into the body. So you'll have, you know, edema in the feet and legs and the ankles. You know, swelling is edema and then, you know, shortness of breath, flu to the lungs, crackles in the lungs. Because all that blood's got to go somewhere, right? Of course, it depends on what kind of heart failure it is. But, you know, that's a high level overview of heart failure. Heart cannot pump blood forward into the body, so it's got to go backwards somewhere else. So, so right, pathophysiology, Heart cannot pump blood forward into the body. Signs and symptoms you would expect to see, you know, crackles in the lungs. There are things you would hear when you auscultate the lungs. Right. Or listen to the lungs with your stethoscope. It's called auscultation. Crackles in the lungs, fluid in the lungs, edema and the likes, things like that. Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah, I think that that's a good one. Just a high level. But again, I think that's one that.

More students would understand.

Yeah, those four main categories is what everything goes, goes into. So let's see, Sebastian, you were just asking, any advice and tips for Med Surg 1.

That's it.

Get those categories straight in your, get those categories straight in your mind. Patho, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, nursing interventions.

Yes.

And even if it's not clear from your professors or whatever, your classes. Just as you're learning these things, think about what category each thing fits into and just kind of get your head around critically thinking. Because again, the end goal is for you to critically think about general things and then be able to break it down into those categories so that even if you encounter a disorder that you don't even know, if you know the pathophysiology, you can critically think all those other things.

So if you don't know the signs and symptoms of, you know, like dka, but you know what DK is, when you get a question on your nursing school exam, you will more be able to critically think through, okay, I think these things might fit with a dka, you know, patho pathophysiology, because you understand that. So that's why we always say, focus on the patho. Focus on the patho. Focus on the patho. Because then you'll be able to critically think through everything else. Because, friends, here's what happens. In nursing school. You can memorize a list all you want of signs and symptoms or interventions or whatever, but when you get to your nursing school exam, you're going to be thrown a SATA question, a Select all that Apply question that is like, it asks you what signs and symptoms would you expect to see or what interventions would you do? And some of those might not be on the list that you memorized. But if you're able to critically think through those things, you have a much better chance of choosing the right answer. So make sense. That is like gold right there for you in nursing school. If you get this right, you can do anything. Pretty amazing.

And Sebastian, I just want to call out something else that you said that I think is really good and we talk about even I will be taking in a matter of weeks. And I've heard so many stories about this class, especially from the cohort above me. So that's really good that you're talking to the cohort above you. That's one of the tips that we even talk about is talk to the cohort above you, do a brain dump. Get their opinions on what they went through, exactly what they studied, how they studied, the topics that they covered. So you are more prepared when going into it. So that's really, really good that you're already talking to the people above you.

Absolutely. Yeah. We talked about a lot this a lot last week with finding someone who is just one term ahead of you and asking them all of the stuff like, I want to know everything about that Term in nursing school, what papers you have to write, what's expected, you know, what care plans you have to do. What are the clinical days? Like, how long are they? Where are they? What are the clinical, you know, facilities you go to, you know, how you know all of this stuff, like, what do you study? What books do you need? I want to know everything. Everything. The more you can know about the next term that you're going into, the more prepared you're going to be. So I don't know. For me, it gives me a lot of peace to know what's coming next. Right. I'm not the kind of person that can just. I mean, I could, but I. I'm a lot better when I know what to expect.

Yeah, it really does decrease the stress, knowing what's coming down the road. Even if it's things that will make you stressed out, Even just knowing what's coming is. Is better than not knowing at all.

What's coming down the road.

Yeah, what's coming down.

Okay, for all of you guys, we have a preschooler who always takes things all around is like, here comes the dump truck coming down the road.

So everything is coming down the road. No matter what it is, it's just coming down the road.

Here's my Bingling cream cheese coming down the road. So funny. Yes. Know what's coming down the road.

So Kayla was asking about psych, and does psych fit into those. Yeah, this is my question. Does psych fit into those four categories, or what else do you need to know about psych?

Yeah, so psych is a little tougher. It does fit into those four main categories. The tough part comes into we don't exactly know why things are happening right. In psych, mental health disorders, and things like that. We have kind of a general idea perhaps, but a lot of psych disorders, it's just a guess, you know, it's just a guess as to why things happen. And then when you get into, like, medications for psych, you know, psych medications, a lot of them have side effects that we're like, it does this thing, but we don't know why. So, yeah, we have done our best to explain those things. If you're a nursing SOS member, you have access to a full pharmacology medication database. So if you are at all confused on your medications, then you can, you know, log in there to the pharmacology course, pull up one of the meds, and we'll walk you through it.

So the reason I walk you through the reason I asked that is actually for purpose. Maya's question was tips for getting through, learning meds. So, okay, psych. Psych really has to do a lot with meds, so that's why we talk psych and meds go kind of closely related. So we do have a pharmacology medication database in nursing sos. But Maya, just generally, what are some tips for getting through or learning meds?

Yep. So that's a big, big one. Making sure that you are critically thinking through things and not just memorizing list again. So when we talk about these four main categories for med surg, right, Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions, we actually have the same four categories. For pharmacology, they look slightly different. Instead of pathophysiology, like we would think of med surgical disorder, we focus on the mechanism of action of the medication, which is. Which is to pharmacology what patho is for med surge or fundamentals or whatever. So the mechanism of action is how the medication acts in the body. So you have to understand that first before you can move on to everything else with the medication and learning it. Right. So the mechanism of action of the medication, you have to understand that, and then you can go on to the side effects of the medication. What are the side effects that you would need to assess for? What are the side effects that could manifest when a patient takes this medication? Then the nursing assessment. What are you going to assess for before, during and after giving a med? What are you going to assess for the nursing considerations, Interventions, those things grouped up in there. Nursing considerations. Is there anything you need to consider? You know, how do you give it, how is it administered, you know, safe range, things like that, the antidote for things, you know, what are the interventions that you would do if something goes wrong, all that stuff. So nursing considerations. So there's four main categories. Mechanism of action, side effects of the medication, nursing assessment, and the nursing considerations.

Great.

It makes it pretty easy because there's four main categories for each and they're very, very similar. So for, you know, just regular studying in nursing school, for fundamentals, for med surg, for critical care, for ob, for psych, focus on those first four main categories. Right. Patho, pathophysiology, science and symptoms, what would you expect to see? Nursing assessment, what are you going to assess for? And then nursing interventions. What are you going to do about it? Then? For pharmacology, four main things. Mechanism of action of the medication, side effects, what could manifest if a patient takes this medication? Nursing assessment, what Are you going to assess for before giving the medication, during administration and then after. And then nursing considerations. All those things. Four main categories. Four main categories. So nice.

Awesome.

So easy.

All right. R. Thomas, member of Nursing sos. Hello. Hello. Do you have any dosage calculation worksheets? I start NYU's accelerated nursing program February 1st. I need to start practicing a member of your website.

We want to go for it.

All right.

Matthew's up.

Our Thomas. I just.

We have secrets.

Yeah. So we're. We have a lot of things coming down the road, as our, our son would say. And one of them is a dedicated dosage calculations course. It is now published. I just published that like 20 minutes ago. Like right before we started. I just published the dosage calculations course. It is available in our membership community right now. Inside of it we have a bunch of videos and a bunch of practice problems, practice worksheets to walk you through dosage calculations.

So winner.

There you go.

Boom. Just in time for first semester. I am so excited about this Dose Calc course. We have been working on this behind the scenes for many months now. I am so excited to give it to you because it is just like none other. I know that there's a lot of YouTube videos you can watch on Dose Calc, but my friends, I'm telling you, our step by step process for Dose Calc is unrivaled. Like, nobody teaches Dose Calc as well as we do. Hands down. Hands down. So if you are confused at all about doscalc, two things. If you're a Nursing SOS member, log in right now to your dashboard. Get that course. It's in there for you. Check it out. Print out all the worksheets and everything. All the practice problems going to help you so much. Number two, if you are not a Nursing SOS member, go to YouTube, type in Nursing SOS Doscalc and you'll find a few videos that we have up there to walk you through Dos Calc in nursing school.

Awesome.

So exciting.

So it is there. Go ahead, check it out.

Yep.

And let us know what you think.

There you go.

Peachman Pajman, Happy New Year to you as well.

Hello.

Do you know when the new cycle of SOS membership? So when is our membership going to be opening? And the only reason why I'm also talking about this is you said nice haircut and thank you. So thank you. I did it myself. Not. Not. That is false. That is false information.

That would be crazy if you could.

I did not cut my own hair.

Have you ever cut your own Hair.

No, I have not. I know some people that do.

Is it like, does it look good? Like if you cut your own, like, as a guy, like.

I don't know. I do not know. So anyway, thank you for that. I like it. Yeah, I like it, too. So when is the membership going to be opening?

Soon. I'm gonna do my. My wink again.

Christina's wink.

My non wink.

Christina's wink. Go to nursingschoolsuccess.com join. Join the waitlist because it is opening soon.

Soon.

When can we say when?

So definitely. I don't know. I guess we can't know because it's like.

I mean, like, we probably should say now.

Yeah. Right. Okay. So it will open on Sunday.

That's how soon? That's why we're saying. Should we say what? Okay, so by soon, I mean six days. So.

Because today's not.

It's. Oh, well, something like that. Sunday.

So Sunday.

It's now public information. So no going back now.

Sunday.

Sunday.

Membership is opening up on Sunday.

So there you go.

Yep. I asked my friend to get a syllabus for spring semester to know what drug cards to complete to remove the stress during the program.

Boom.

You are doing it right, my friend. Julie. That's perfect.

Okay.

That's a perfect way to do it.

Hannah, asking a question here. Due to everything going on. I know that you said something differently, but I'm just going to say that way. Due to everything going on, we were just told that our first semester will be delayed until September. So I was thinking about getting a CNA certification. Do you think it's worth it during. During this time? So are you going to be doing the CNA and then doing nursing right after it, just as a kind of filler or. What is your plan there, Hannah? And did you have any.

I think you should. Sure. Yeah. Why not tomorrow? Yeah. Why not become a CNA now? I guess, is my question. Like, why wouldn't you.

Yeah, so I guess a couple. Couple things. But. Yeah, I mean.

Yeah.

Guess it depends on what your. What your plans are and what your goals. What your goals are as well. Yeah, but I don't see why not.

I don't see why not either. I mean, um, if you were, like, trying to go to nursing school and it, like, didn't fit in with that or something, like, I could see, you know, But I don't. Yeah, I don't see why we're in.

Demand and then follow up or not follow. But just another question from Hannah is what do you think about purchasing textbooks and NCLEX Q&A books. Do you think. What do you think about older versions and how old are the versions? You recommend purchasing the newest addition for any specific subjects?

That is a great question, Hannah. Hannah, are you in nursing school? I would not said you wanted to go to a. Yeah, so it's CNA certification.

Well, so she's. It's going to be. So I guess that's the other thing that I'm confused about. So the first semester will be delayed until September. So are you. So are you going to take the CNA and then still go to nursing school in September, or are you going to just do the CNA and forget about nursing school? What's your plan there?

Or like, work in nursing school as a cna? I mean. Yeah, it's up to you. I don't see why not become a cna. I'm glad that you're starting nursing school in the fall. That's awesome. So it sounds like you, you know, have a plan on what you want to do. So I don't see why not go, you know, get your CNA certification. If you wanted to work as a CNA in nursing school, that's fine as far as textbooks are concerned. Yes, I think it's totally fine to buy the previous edition. I wouldn't go more than like the most recent edition. That's not the most recent edition. How do you say that?

Wouldn't go one old more than one older.

Yeah, so not. Yeah, so like, purchase the newest edition or the second newest edition.

There you go.

Does that make sense? There you go. However, there are two books that you really need to have the updated version of. The first one is this book or a care plan book that's similar, but this is my recommended. Christina's recommended care plan book is the Nursing Diagnosis Handbook by Ackley and Latwig. This walks you through care plans and because I tell you that you need to have the updated edition because they update the NANDA nursing diagnoses regularly and you need to make sure that you have the updated ones because you can't use the old ones because they don't exist anymore. So you do need to have the most recent version of this book and then also the, like a pharmacology book drug guide book. You need to have the most updated edition, most recent edition of that.

So.

So this is the one I had in nursing school. And this is old. So now we have this one. Except this is not even. We keep saying this. This is not even the most recent edition.

This is the.

Yeah, this is.

We need the new one.

2019S or 2020s or whatever. And now we need 2021. 2021.

What year we're in now?

Because that's the year. So there you go. Those are the two books that I recommend having.

The most recent.

The most recent versions for.

Okay.

Care Planes, Drug Guide. Screenshot. Screenshot. This Instagram. Can we get in there?

Oh, there you go.

Screenshot it. Hello.

This one. Do I point? Do I point?

Okay, there you go.

In regards to the nanda, quick question from someone, and then we're getting into a couple just questions about terminology. So I thought these were interesting. What's the difference? Is there a difference or what's the difference between NANDA and a nursing diagnosis?

Oh, yeah, that's a good. That's a good question. So NANDA is the company. They're like a company organization. It's like nanda. North American Diagno. North American Nursing Diagnosis Association. That sounds right.

And then if you want to put an ia. There's an international.

International. There's an international onto it. And I'm just gonna, like, flip through here because it's got to be somewhere in the front just to, like, double check myself. It's not in the front here. It just says Nander. Nanda. I. But I'm pretty sure it stands for North American Nursing Diagnosis Association International. So NANDA is the organization, and then nursing diagnoses are what they create. Are the nursing diagnoses.

Yeah. And those are standardized by nanda.

Those are standardized by nanda. Yeah. Oftentimes we get nursing students that are, like, making up their own nursing diagnoses. And you can't do that.

Why not?

They decide for you. Which actually makes it really easy. Right. For nursing students, because, like, you don't have to make stuff up. It's just you just choose from a list, which I think is a lot better. Okay. Fabian, thank you. I'm.

I was correct. You're right.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm right. Oh, good.

About what? About everything.

About everything, babe. Yes.

Another question from kf. Is pathogenesis and pathophysiology the same?

So pathophysiology is like, what's wrong with the body? Pathogenesis would be like, the start of that I'm imagining. Right. Patho is abnormal. Genesis is beginning. So the beginning of. So, like, how it starts. Like, how does that patho start? Like, what's the pathogenesis of this disorder? How did that pathos start? But I think I have heard them use, like, interchangeably. So I think, like, if you Want to get literary about it? They are two different things if you want to get practical about it. I have seen them used interchangeably, but.

Okay.

I don't really. I mean, it's a good clarifying question. I'm not too concerned.

I never use the term pathogenesis. Yeah, that's really never the first time I heard. It actually is here, so.

Yeah.

But critical thinking. I could figure out what pathogenesis means because patho is abnormal and genesis is the start of.

You have critical thinking skills.

Do have some of it. A little bit.

A few critical thinking skills. Ah, so funny.

Onto a lighter topic. Lighter topic. I don't know. Maybe a lighter topic.

Maybe it will turns are heavy.

Maybe it will turn and not be light. But what was your favorite thing about nursing school?

What was my favorite thing about nursing school?

Yes.

There are a lot of good things about nursing school. My favorite thing about nursing school. I've got to go with. How do I put this into words? The person you are after. I think that if you do nursing school right, you will come out a better version of yourself than when you went in. For a few reasons. Probably the. The most prominent reason that. The most prominent reason that comes to my mind is that you see what you're capable of before starting nursing school. You didn't. You don't really know. You don't really know what you can do. I mean, we all just did. We made it through 2020, so we have a general idea. So you just. You learn a lot about yourself. You learn a lot about how you interact with people, how you study, you know, how much you can handle. You just. You learn, you grow a lot. I think that's really. Yeah, the growth.

You.

You grow a lot in nursing school. And I think that that was definitely my favorite part was learning who I was and what I could accomplish. Okay, well, we could accomplish together. I think so too. You know, if you're married, making sure that you are, you know, on the same page about those things and how you run your life. I think that. I think we did it right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cool.

Yeah, I think we did a lot right in nursing school.

All right. For those just joining. Hello, welcome. That was Christina talking about nursing school and what she liked best about it. I'm Matthew. I'm just here so she has someone to talk to.

And he's here for the joke.

I'm here for the jokes.

And if you missed his really good joke at the beginning, you should definitely watch the replay.

But we.

That was really funny.

We tell jokes, but usually what we Do Well, I tell jokes all the time but usually what we do is answer nursing school related questions. So thank you guys for joining.

Hello.

If you're on YouTube and haven't yet hit subscribe, hit the bell, hit all the things or any other place, Facebook or Instagram, just hit all the buttons and see what happens.

All of the buttons.

Yes. But thank you for joining.

There you go.

Stephanie was asking tips for 120. So tips for med surg. So that's that is topic that we talked about at the beginning of this live. The four main categories to talk about for med surge. Why don't you go through them really quickly and I actually want to circle back on something that we didn't get to. Okay, so really quick for Stephanie and all of those other ones for med surg or anything like that, what are the four categories to talk about or think about?

Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. If you are at all confused about what to do study in nursing school, what to focus on, focus on those four main things. Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. That's it.

Awesome. If you want more detail, like I said at the beginning of this live, you can go back and take a look at what we talked about in detail. An example of that, heart failure, something like that.

We also outline it inside the nursing school study system. So if you want this, this is your step by step guide for how to study in nursing school. So good. So go to nursingschoolofsuccess.com forward/study system. It's in there. You will love it. It will change your life. It is on page. So we have fundamentals and how to study fundamentals on page 22 through 23 and beyond. And then Med surge is on page 34 of the nursing school study system. So yep. Nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward slash study system. Yes, it is a PDF.

Yes. You can get it printed out at wherever you print stuff out at or you can, you can print it out yourself or you can just carry it around on your phone or whatnot or on your computer.

So super handy.

Yep. And the topic that I wanted to talk about is a mindset topic because I did notice that people when we first started our live and asking about med Surg or what OBPs or fundamentals or whatnot, which all those four categories apply, the way that the question was stated. The question was questioned, the question was.

The question was questioned.

Worded, worded question, we're a team was how do I survive fundamentals or how do I survive ob peds and med surg. And I really want to challenge that because Christina was talking about what was her favorite part about nursing school. And it's really the growth, growth part of it. And we really want you guys to be the best nursing nurses. Nursing nurses. Nurses out there. And so part of that is changing the mindset a little bit. So instead of how do you survive? How do you survive this? Or I just want to get past nursing school, I want to challenge that a little bit and say, how can I excel? How can I learn the most? How can I help the most people?

Dominate.

How can I dominate nursing school? Sure, sure. That's a positive spin on things.

Yeah. How can I rock nursing school?

How can I rock nursing school? Is something I think that you say quite a bit.

I say that a lot.

Yeah. So just changing that a little bit. I know that it's. It can be minor as far as just words that you say, but it really does affect how you're looking at it. If you're just looking at how to survive or just how to get past the semester, you're. It's going to be very limiting to you and really hold you back versus what, where. What can I do? What's the extra things that I can do? How can I excel? Be a truly great nursing student and nurse. So just thinking about that on how to. What's the best mindset to have going into nursing school and beyond? Because, yeah, Christina said that really, that's one of her favorite part is. Is growth. And I don't think that that would have been the case if you had approached it saying, oh, I just need to get through this.

Right. I just need to survive.

Yeah, we don't want you just to survive. We want you to thrive.

Yeah.

So.

Good setup. Yes, that was good. He set me up pretty well right there. Matthew and I have been. We talked a little bit last week about, you know, turning. Turning a new leaf.

I wish I had a leaf to just turn away.

But with the new year and something that we've heard more than ever, I think, is that, like, 2020, I just need to get through 2020. I don't think we ever said that. Like you or I. Yeah, I don't think we ever said that in 2020 and intentionally didn't say that. Like, that is not. That was not on our radar at all for 2020, and it is not on our radar at all for 2021. I can tell you how much I think that a lot of People had this mindset in 2020 that it's a throwaway year or it's. You just have to get through it. Like, nursing school. Everything's like, terrible, awful, horrible, rotten. What's that book? I don't know. You know, all these bad things, and that is not helpful for you. That is not. I mean, how do you show up if you think that the world is terrible, horrible, rotten, and all wrong? You know, if your life is a complete disaster and nursing school is the worst? Like, how do you show up? You show up as if it's the worst. You show up as if you're, like, resisting it and pushing against something that's so hard all the time. Like, what if nursing school was just fun and easy? Like, that's a possibility, right? But we don't often stop and think about that. Like, what if it was just how it is? I have friends. Seriously. Like, I have friends who are going through nursing school and applying to nursing school right now, and they're like, it's just. It's gonna be so fun. Like, I'm so excited. I've worked my whole life to get here into nursing school. I am so excited for it. I am here for it. What if you just had that attitude, right? Like, you are here for this, and it is so fun, and we are just so grateful and so blessed to be here and so excited, right? Like, what if we just all had that energy coming into nursing school? Like, what if you just had that, like, emotion coming into nursing school and doing nursing school every day? I think that would change everything. And as far as ending 2020 and moving into 2021, I really want to say that I don't want you to use 2020 as a throwaway year. I do not want you to ever think that or say that, ever. I want you to take what you learned from 2020 and use it to your advantage moving forward in your life. Do you realize. Do you realize how much you just overcame in 2020? That's not a throwaway year. You learned how much you can handle, how much you are capable of. Do not forget that there was a lot thrown at you last year, and now is the time to take that and apply it to your life going forward. There you go.

Andrea, I really like your comment here. I was totally in that positive mindset until my instructors, the way they react and the way they test, they stole my spirit, literally. I started calling it my journey. So glad you brought this up. Like, literally, today, it is your journey. Yes. Make that positive energy, turn that positive Energy around. Sometimes you may have down days. That's. That's fine. But really work on that mindset. And it is a journey. Yeah. And it's. It is your journey, and we're here to support you and come alongside you and help you any way we can, but it is. It is your journey, and we want you to. To excel at it, not just slog along and get through it, but we want you to really thrive and. And excel in your journey. So that's.

Log along. That was such a good phrase. Like, that's just how I feel. Like, we get emails all the time, and I just feel like nursing students are slogging along. Is that like, slogging?

I don't know if that's a word.

But it's a perfect word, right? When you think of, like, slog, I don't even know what that means, but it's like, seems so perfect. Like, I don't want you to just keep drowning in nursing school. That's not what we do. Right? Yeah, man. I also want to point out, you said I was totally in that positive mindset until my instructors, the way they react, the way they test. Did you guys know that no one can make you feel a certain way? That's up to you. So you can totally keep positive energy and positive stuff and keep going. You know, this is just. This is a funny example, but I'm gonna use it anyway. Oftentimes on these lives, we get the weirdest trolls. Like, seriously, like, people are commenting, telling me how much they don't like us, or, you know, all this stuff, and, you know, we just keep going, right? Like, people can hate us out in the world. Like, even on a live video, people just tell us how much they don't like us, apparently. And. And it's fine. You can't make me feel a certain way. Whether you tell me that I'm doing a good job or whether you tell me that you hate my guts, I never want to see my face again. That's fine. Go somewhere else. But you cannot make me feel a certain way. That's up to me. I get to decide how I'm going to feel. So if I'm in nursing school and my instructor tells me that I'm doing a terrible, horrible, rotten job, take the feedback and constructive criticism, but don't make it mean something terrible and negative about yourself. Yourself, that's not helpful for you. Take it as a learning experience and move on. You are 100% worthy the way you are because God made you that way. End of story.

And Monica, as a former emt, I can say I have. I am very excited to be in nursing school. This has been a goal I have had on a shelf for a while or while raising my kids. So, yes, that energy, that, that passion, use that and really excel in nursing school.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

So I think that, that, that is, that is really great. And like I said, we're here to support you. And if you need a community, if you need a community to support you, to uplift you, that's. That's. This. That's Nursing SOS. That's our YouTube channel you guys on. Our comments are super uplifting, are super helpful. We want to bring that positive vibe or even further in our membership community, our private Facebook group. There, just, just going in there, just reading the comments there. It's just amazing how much people uplift each other. And yeah, people have no control over how you feel. But definitely reading those things, it is definitely uplifting and it does help out a lot to have a community around you.

Yep, absolutely.

So I would just want to throw that out there too.

Zenobia. The website for the study system is nursingschoolofsuccess.com forward slash study system. This is your step by step guide through how to study in nursing school. If you do not have this yet, I just, I don't know what you're doing. Get it right now. Nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward/study system. This will be your lifeline through nursing school. If you are a nursing SOS member, it is free inside the community for you. There you go.

Hannah, do you have to be super smart to be in nursing school?

Absolutely not.

No, no. It's all about.

I would not. I, I would. This is not something negative about myself. I think that I am smart, but I think in the grand scheme of things, like, I am less smart as I am scrappy. I can figure anything out and I have that belief in myself that I can figure anything out because I don't know, there's a whole lot of things that I don't know. A whole lot. I did instructor in nursing school. She was amazing. Her phrase was always, what I don't know could write volumes. And I agree, what I don't know could write volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes. So, no, you don't have to be super smart. Know all the things and, and do all the things in nursing school. That's not how it works. You just have to be dedicated and be able to figure it out. Right? Like, be able to figure it out That's, I think that's just the best advice for life. Be able to figure it out and be willing to figure it out and be willing to challenge yourself. What is it about how things are and how we, you know, how we operate our lives that like, everyone wants to stay comfortable and stay here where we are right now. We don't want anything to change, we don't want to grow, we don't want to do like anything new. But that does not help you in nursing school.

Right.

Because every day is going to be new in nursing school. So you have to really adapt yourself to that and like, almost take on this new identity that you can do this and like, you actually are a person who can change. Right. And adapt and overcome and try new things. Because every day in nursing school is going to be just that, adapting, overcoming, trying new things, pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. You know, walking into a patient's room, what do I say to them? You know, how do I assess somebody? What interventions do I have to do? Like studying, taking an exam, taking an exam online? Like, all of these things are new hurdles that you're gonna have to overcome in nursing school. But remember that you are a person who can do that. You absolutely can. So take on that as an identity.

Grace Ann was asking, I start nursing school on the 22nd and I am very scared. What advice can you give me? So all of this, all of this is advice that applies to you. Applies to anyone, really, But. Really? Yeah. Just change that mindset a little bit. Go get it. You don't. No need to be scared.

Yep.

It's. It's something that is a growing experience and just dive into it as far as far as that is concerned. On a more practical level, or not more practical level, but on the studying front, our advice for anyone starting nursing school, right, Dose calc is dose calculus.

Yep.

Study up on your dose calc.

Yep. Yep. Study up on the dose calc. Make sure that you understand how to answer dose calc questions using dimensional analysis. Now, if you are a nursing SOS member, we just released a brand new course inside the membership community for you. That's everything. Dose calc. So if you were ever confused about dose calc before, whole course inside there for you.

Where I just published it before we went live.

So step by step, how to ace dose calc.

Yep.

It's amazing. I can't even tell you. I cannot even tell you. If you are not a Nursing SOS member, go to our YouTube channel, Nursing SOS Dose Calc. Search that Nursing SOS Dose Calc videos will pop up there for you. But I highly, highly recommend that you get inside the membership community and check out that course because it is the ultimate. I seriously, I said it before in this live I no one out there, no one out there, no other YouTube videos out there can hold a candle to how we teach dose Calc. We have a very defined and distinct step by step process that walks you through how to ace dose Calc, how to get dose Calc questions right every single time. Every single time. And so if you're at all confused about it, check out our videos and we will walk you through step by step, how to do it. It is the best. Is the best out there. Yeah.

And you heard it here first earlier. I'll mention it one more time.

You heard it here first.

Membership is opening again on Sunday.

Yes.

So for those wondering membership is opening on Sunday. Go ahead and go to nursing schools because success.com join to go ahead and get on the wait list if you're not already and then you'll be the first to know when it opens. Exactly. But it is opening on Sunday.

Make sure that you are on the waitlist so you get an email about it when it opens or you might miss it. And when I say might miss it, I mean like a lot of people miss it. And then they message us right after it closes like, oh no, I missed it. So don't miss it. Don't miss it. Nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward/join to get on the wait list. Don't miss it.

That's either monthly or yearly.

Yes.

Is the two plans that we have. So.

Yep. Absolutely. Yep.

Learn more about it at that that website.

So yep.

Yes. Let me see, let me see.

Is there anything else here? Hey Christina. Yes. Dose Calc Boom boom. Yay.

It is there. I'm super excited for it.

Have a question about t the cheese test that got a heart. Okay.

Okay.

Yeah. So tease test we do not really help with that is pre nursing school. So our what we teach here and inside our community is about nursing school helping you with your core nursing classes. So the teas is like getting accepted into nursing school, those things. So I recommend Kate over at Pre Nursing Smarter for the help with the tease test. Check out Kate over at Pre Nursing Smarter. So it's pre nursingsmarter.com or at pre Nursing Smarter on Instagram.

Great.

Yep.

Going back up here, Christy had a good question that covers our topics that we talked about earlier about med surge and fundamentals and all the things can you give Me a rundown for the need to knows with advanced med, surgical patho ideology, risk factor, signs and symptoms, diagnostics, nursing diagnosis, interventions, teaching education, etc. Am I missing anything? Is this in the right order?

So it's so funny. We try to make it so much more complicated than it already, than it than like it needs to be. So with anything even advanced or basic med surge, those four main categories, patho signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. Now to your point, Christie, you know, like patient education, that's going to fall in there under nursing interventions. What are you going to do? How are you going to help the patient? Patient education is helping the patient, right? So you would put that into that category, things like that. So you have to know the pathophysiology first. And Christy, I know it sounds like nurse, you go to nursing school and your instructors and everyone's going to tell you, you have to know all of the things about all of the things. That is a total lie. If you knew all of the things about all of the things, you would never graduate nursing school. Right? We can never know everything. You can never study everything. There is no way that they can test you on everything or you would never end the exam. It would be a never ending exam for them to test you on everything. It's not possible. So those are the four main things they're going to test you on. Those are the four main things you have to know for nursing pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. And they all stem from the pathophysiology. So make sure that you understand the pathophysiology first and then you can understand more and critically think through those other three categories.

And so yeah, those four categories. And like you said, even in advanced.

Med surgery, even in advanced med surgery.

It just all boils down to those four things.

Now I will say with like diagnostic things, that would be like nursing assessment, right? What do you need to assess for? Or it could also be like signs and symptoms, because a lot of the signs and symptoms go into the diagnostics of it, right? So nursing assessment. Because you mentioned diagnostics, right, Christie? I just wanted to make sure that I. Oh, diagnostics and then nursing diagnosis. Yeah, diagnostics is right. It is like the nursing assessment and the signs and symptoms that go into it. And then the nursing diagnosis is like the assessment, right? It's everything. How you're going to structure your nursing diagnosis, you have to critically think through. Okay, like this nursing diagnosis makes sense because this is like, you know, what's going on with the patient, the pathophysiology. The nursing diagnosis is such a great example because it is the pathophysiology, it is the signs and symptoms, and it is the nursing interventions that you're going to do. Right. It's those categories. So it all goes through those four main categories. Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. You gotta focus on those things. You've got to focus on those things.

Awesome.

Yep.

Great. Thank you all so much.

Wheat, any tips for 2700? 2700 what? Yeah, I'm assuming that's a class name, but I was thinking, like, the year 27.

That's a little ways off. We're just in 2021 right now, so I don't know.

I can't help you with the year 2700, but if you're watching this video in the year 2700, that's exciting.

Yeah.

Is YouTube still around? I would be pretty impressed.

So, Tim, I think you were on YouTube too and also asked this question. What's the most critical stage in entering nursing school? And I'm.

I thought. Yeah, I thought I saw a question like that. Like, critical stage. I don't know what that means.

I am not sure what that means.

Critical.

Can you explain what you mean by that?

Yeah, I don't know what that means. Like, when you do critical care. Because usually critical care is after, like at the end of your program. The most critical stage in entering nursing school. Well, like, yeah, I would say critically, you need to know that you can do it. And if you believe that you can and put in the effort to make it happen, then you will. Like, that's the critical stage.

You need to have all your prereqs done.

Is when you decide that you want to.

I'd say the critical stage is after you get all the prereqs done. So I think there's a lot of ways to answer it.

So I'm very subjective.

I am. Hopefully that helps. If not add a little bit more comments on. On what you mean by that and we'll try and try and get that answered.

How do you study for psych meds? We talked about that about 30 minutes ago, I'm going to say, or 40 minutes ago. Psych meds, you absolutely have to understand the mechanism of action first. For anything medications, you have to understand the mechanism of action first. Do not memorize an entire list of side effects. That is absolutely not how we do it. That will not help. That will not help you. You need to be able to critically think through things. So when you understand the mechanism of action of the medication, then you can more critically think through the side effects of that medication. And so that is what we do. So we do such a great job of that inside our nursing us. Those membership keeps community. If you are confused at all about learning medications, how to learn medications, how to memorize all the things, get into the community because we have an entire medication database for you where we teach you what you need to know for all the meds you need to learn. So amazing. I'm telling you right now. Check it out, check it out. Nursing ancestors membership community. Nursingschoolsuccess.com forward/join. Everyone's been asking for the link. I cannot put the link in Instagram.

I can just go ahead and put the link in real quick.

We can put the link in YouTube, but I can't, like type on Instagram right now on my phone. That's what that works.

All right.

How awful is fluid and electrolytes? You guys have to stop. You have to stop, stop.

Go back a couple minutes and by a couple minutes, like 30 minutes ago, and really, really, really listen about our talk on mindset and really shift the way that you're thinking and think more positively. Think as a way to excel. All the negative thoughts again from verbiage and just words. It's just words. Whatever. And how awful is fluid electrolytes? I mean, what's the difference between saying that and what's the best way that I can excel at fluid and electrolytes? It's just words. But it really does affect you and how you look at these subjects or these courses or whatnot. And it really does affect your studying even too. Because if you're already had that preconceived notion of how awful something is, or I just need to get past it, I just need to survive, it is really going to affect how well you're going to study.

Absolutely. I mean, just think about it. And we're not trying to pick on you, we're not picking on you guys. We just want to point it out because this happens all the time. And it is holding you back. It is holding you back in nursing school and it is holding you back in life. And it's gotta stop. It's gotta stop right now. If you keep telling yourself negative thoughts how much you can't do this, how hard something is, how impossible it is, how you're not smart enough, how you're not good enough, if those are things running through your mind, even unconsciously, you have got to check it My friend. Or nursing school is gonna be real hard. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. That's so funny, but.

Oh, okay.

Go ahead. Got it. Okay. Go for it.

All right.

I'm just kidding. Real.

But to answer your question about fluid and electrolytes, guess what? It's what we have been talking about since the beginning. About med, surg, about fundamentals. Guess what? It's the same four categories for fluid and electrolytes as well. So pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, nursing interventions.

Boom. Rockstar.

So even fluid and electrolytes, four categories. It all fits into those four categories?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. I'm not sure we totally convinced them. We need to do an entire YouTube video about. About mindset. We really do. Because this is like, if you don't get this, nursing school is gonna be. It's rough. You know, friends, I really, really want to make sure that you get your mind right. And you are telling yourself positive things. Because just like Matthew said, if you are telling yourself that nursing school is hard, that it's awful, that it's impossible, that you can't do it, if those are things running through your mind, how are you gonna show up? How are you going to study? If you get an A assignment from an instructor or you sit in class and you're, you know, going through your lecture and you have an exam next week and you don't understand anything. If you don't understand anything that the instructor is teaching, you're. You're telling yourself, this is too hard. I'm not smart enough, I can't do it. All of those things. How are you going to study for that exam? You're not, right? You're going to procrastinate. You're going to, you know, do like study a little bit here, say a little bit there. Kind of wishy washy. You're going to get stuck somewhere. You know, like, if you're studying, you're going to get stuck on something and then get all overwhelmed and confused and then quit. You know, it happens all the time. You're going to like, sit down for a. You're, you're going to tell yourself, I'm going to study for two hours, right? And then you're going to get stuck on something and you're going to go to the kitchen and have a snack because you're just overwhelmed and confused and you don't want to study anymore, right? This happens all the time. So if you keep telling yourself that you can't do it, that it's impossible, that you're not smart enough, that you're not good enough, and all these things, you are not going to show up how you need to show up. That makes sense. Okay. We just really need to do a whole YouTube video.

I do want to answer this question from Kendo. Kendo Wash. Hello. How can you tell that you're. When you're overstudying, I will literally. I will study for literally 12 hours. Is that too much?

How can you tell when you're over studying? The first thing that comes to mind is your exam. If you're overstudying for your exam, two things will happen. You will feel like you really know it because you studied a lot. You'll feel like you really know it, but then you'll get to your exam and it won't reflect on your. On your test score. And that tells me that you're overstudying and studying the wrong things. Those two in tandem together, that's most often what we see happening with nursing students. If you're overstudying, studying, like 12 hours literally tells me that you're not focusing very much on those four main categories. It tells me that you're, you know, not exactly sure what to study, that you're trying to memorize all the things and know all the things. Not gonna happen. I have to sneeze. So you're supposed to say strawberry when you have to sneeze.

What?

I have heard that, like, if you have to sneeze, like, I don't know, you say.

Do you say it to not.

You say it to not sneeze. Has anyone else heard this before?

I don't know.

I have heard that.

I've never heard that before in my life.

So I have, and I'm not convinced.

I don't know.

Convince me.

So, yeah, over. Over studying is definitely impossible to do. And definitely we don't want you to do that. So that's part of the reason why we have nursing SOS and the membership community and all our resources is really, we want you to be efficient about your studying, to study the right amount to know what you need to know, but still be able to do other things as well. So study literally 12 hours. I'm not sure exactly what that encompasses. That might be enough. That might not be enough. But yes, there is a point for overstudying. And like Christina said, check on your tests. But really it's study what you need to.

Absolutely.

And don't study all the other things that you don't need to.

Four main categories.

So four main categories. I think that's. That's the takeaway for this. Live is the four main categories.

I'm not gonna say signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. You've got it. You've got it. All right, my friends, we will see you back on Wednesday.

Wednesday.

Wednesday, right.

Yes.

Okay.

Wednesday, 9 Pacific or other times for other places.

9. 00am Pacific Standard Time or 12 noon Eastern. Right. Because we can do math. I can. I can add three together makes 12. So 9am Pacific, 12 Eastern.

We will see you then.

We'll see you on Wednesday.

Take care, guys.

Take care, friends.

Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye.

Oh.

See you later, alligators. See you later.