NURSING SCHOOL | ASK ME ANYTHING

Hello. Hello.

Good morning. Welcome to the nursing school show.

Let's go live Monday on Instagram. Oh, all right. Not checking connection. You are now live. Good morning, everyone.

Wow. We are like. My phone is like. Yeah, it's a yellow tone.

Slightly different. I don't know.

Why are we yellow?

I don't know why we're yellow. All right.

Good morning, Instagram.

Happy Monday. It's the case of the Mondays on your phone. We are slightly yellow.

There we go. And we're back. Instagram, and we're yellow again. This is weird. I don't know what's happening.

Still not sure.

Good morning.

Where'd the sound go?

Good morning.

All right. YouTube. You can hear me?

Can YouTube. Can you hear us? YouTube. Instagram. Can you hear us? Instagram.

Hello.

Alrighty.

Testing, 1, 2, 3.

My name is Christina Rafano.

Hello, I am Matthew. Welcome to the nursing school show. Ask me anything. Ask Christina anything.

Ask me anything. Yay.

Hey, guys, on YouTube, if you guys can hear us, let us know. I'm not 100% sure.

Good morning, Brittany. All right, I think Instagram can hear us. Sorry. That we're yellow on Instagram. That's kind of weird.

Yeah, that is odd.

Why are we yellow on Instagram? Instagra. I don't know. Why? Should I do some, like, fancy, fancy things?

No, probably not. Oh, thanks, Nicole. Glad you can hear us. It's not just me talking to myself.

Sweet. Okay.

All right.

Everyone on Instagram says we're good. Okay, friends, you know me and the technologies and stuff, like, we just don't get along. Technology and we just don't get along. Yeah.

This is getting to another week, so.

Let'S dive into Happy Monday.

Welcome to ama, where we look through questions and ask, answer, not ask, answer as many as possible. That will help you guys out.

I ask some questions, too.

We ask some questions, too.

I don't have the answers to hardly anything. And Happy Monday, friends.

Happy Monday.

Christina is brain dead today. Let's see how this goes.

All right, sounds good.

It might just be me falling on my face for a whole hour.

So one thing that we like doing for our members of the nursing SOS membership community is that they can submit questions at any point in time, and we want to answer those first off the bat. So we actually had a couple people ask a few questions from our membership community. So the first one, what is the difference between causes, associated disorders and risk factors?

Causes I try to think of, like, what's the connection between these two? I guess it's between the three. Oh, Wait, can I see the question? Because I will forget. I will forget.

All right.

It's Monday at 9am I'm going to forget things today, you guys. Causes, okay? A cause for something is just like what causes it. Like, what's another word for that? Like, it's this and this and those two things are linked. That's not a very good explanation. Do you have something better for me? I'm phoning a friend. It's like something causes something. Like cause and effect, right? It's like cause, effect.

Something is directly causing something else. You can't use the word in the definition, right? You can't do that.

So what's another word for cause? Give it to me. What's another word for cause? Okay, stumped. Christina, point number one. All right, now, associated disorders. Associated disorders. We're probably specific. I think this question is specifically talking about med surge. Let's be honest. So associated disorders for like med. Surg. Studying in nursing school. And it could be anything that's like, ooh, tangental, tangential.

Okay.

Is that a word?

That is a word that sounds like.

The word of the day. Anything that's like. I just. I can't talk today. English. Anything that's like related to the disorder that you're studying. So the ones that come to mind are like hypertension and diabetes. Those two things are very, very much linked. Really. I mean, kind of that.

That.

Those three, right? Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, associated disorders. Those three, you know, they tend to go kind of hand in hand. So that would be like associated disorder. What is related to. Associated with other med. Surgical disorders. So that's kind of the breakdown of that. Was that helpful? Help?

Helpful.

Was that helpful cause? I still can't. I don't know what's another word for cause? Because you can't use cause in the definition of cause. Right? That doesn't make sense.

That's a tough one.

That's source. Source.

The source of it.

I love that. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Instagram the source of the issue. So the cause? Yeah, the cause, like the pathophysiology or whatever caused it. Genetic factor, you know, whatever disorder we're talking about. Blood clot, you know, things like that. Infectious disease, you know. Not the right time for that. Too soon. Okay, what's the other one? There were three. I do remember that there were three. I don't remember what they were.

Causes which we kind of addressed.

Associated disorders, associated disorder and risk factors. Risk factors. So this is kind of like genetic things, right? Is the first thing that comes to my mind, like a risk factor. Like what puts you more at risk for something. So for example? Well, we just haven't had a baby, so I'm going to use a baby. One with, you know, baby and maternal. Having a baby and maternal age. The risk for genetic abnormalities increases, you know, with maternal age. So that would be like a risk factor. Right? What are. See, you can't use the word risk factor in the definition of risk factor. So help me out. Monday. Come on. Monday. All right, I don't know. How do you define risk factor without using the terms risk or factor? Something that could potentially lead to something else. Is that helpful? Yeah, I'm sure that's all I got for you.

Root is another word for cause.

Oh, love it. You guys are the best. Okay, thanks for having my back phone and my friends on YouTube and Instagram. Thank you. Good morning, Barbara. Thanks for joining us as always.

Morning, everyone.

Etiology, Perfect. Yeah, the ed. See, we actually have medical people in the house.

That sounds like a fancy word.

I am not. I am not into the medicine.

That is a very fancy word.

Etiology is perfect word for cause. That's great. All right, let's see. Instagram. What you got for me? Yeah, or root. Perfect. You guys are just looking things up on thesaurus.com. i know you are. Thank you. All right, we got questions from Instagram. Let's keep rolling.

All right, let's keep rolling. So hopefully that. That answered or made things a little bit clearer. If not, let us know, we'll try again. Next question from members. What's the best way to decrease anxiety during arson School? So this is something that is a recurring question. We. We got it from our member, but last week we also got it a lot from. From other people on our AMAs on Mondays and Wednesdays. So definitely every time people ask this, so it's something to go over again and keep talking about. Definitely anxiety.

Do a YouTube video on it. That sounds like something that we should do. It's a whole YouTube video on anxiety. You know what? I guess. Okay, so I come on here to these live AMAs and the answer that I gave two weeks ago might not necessarily be the answer that I give today because I'm in a different place right now than I was two weeks ago. Does this make sense? Right. So here's where I am today. Here's my advice today. When you are dealing with anxiety or anything in nursing school, that is like a challenge for you that you have to overcome. The key thing is to practice and practice and practice. And overcome it. Because you can't just. Okay, two things. You can't fix something that you're not aware of. So if you're not aware that you're having anxiety, you can't fix it. Right. But once you become aware that you're having anxiety, then you can start the process, start the steps to then work through it. And that, my friend, I'm just warning you, is going to be a very, very messy process, a very, very difficult process, and a very, very long process. How long have I been in the life coaching program?

Over a year now.

I am a diamond.

Yes. Over over a year. I don't know exactly.

Bright like a. So diamond.

Yeah. It's an ongoing process and we're constantly improving and working towards being better.

So I've been in that life coaching program for a year to work on my anxiety. Still working through it, but so much better than when I was where I was 12 months ago. It is a constant process. It will be a lifelong process. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but for me, I deal with like serious, deeply rooted anxiety, like I would say verging on like psychiatric disorder anxiety, you know, like crippling anxiety. So with that, I've, you know, I've had to really get into the. If I can take a quote out of our son's Little Blue Truck book, I am deep in the muck and mire into anxiety. The Little Blue Truck, if you have preschool kids, slash just babies or teenagers, even the Little Blue Truck book. So cute.

It's a solid book. Definitely solid book.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I don't know, like I said, we've been getting this question pretty regularly about anxiety. There's another one that was closely related that I did want to bring up. It's stress. How do you deal with daily stress from work, home with kids and husband and nursing school, how to deal with stress with it all? And I'm saying it's close related because really there is a slight delineation. Right. Between stress and anxiety. And when does stress become anxiety? And do you. Do you handle it the same way? Do you handle it slightly different? Or is it like you said, just knowing yourself, learning about it, knowing what the difference is between stress and anxiety and how to deal with it all?

Stress and anxiety, I would say, are two very different things. Because anxiety, like if you have true anxiety, you know it and it tends to run your life, whereas stress, like comes and goes. Whereas anxiety, like you wake up with it, it's there throughout the day, you go to bed with it. Like, can I get an amen? Anyone? Anyone? That. That for me, like, that to me is anxiety. Like, I know when it's anxiety, it's not just stress. When I, like, wake up with it all throughout the day, go to bed with it, it does not stop. Stress is like, okay, I. You know, it's there. It comes and goes. It's there sometimes, you know, it. If something happens, if something happens, then it'll be there, but then, you know, it'll go away. Wow, that's a lot of amen. YouTube and Instagram, thank you very much. I'm not the only one. So I think that's kind of the difference there. Stress is, I feel like, more easily manageable with just general awareness of it. Like, okay, I know that if I have a care plan due tomorrow and I haven't done it yet, and I'm like pushing it to the last minute, you might be stressed about that. Whereas anxiety is like, your anxiety would have started, you know, 12 years before you started nursing school and you're thinking like, oh, man, I cannot be a nurse. I don't know what to do. There's no way I can go to nursing school. And then you get into nursing school and your brain is still telling you you're gonna fail and you're going to hurt somebody. You aren't going to pass. Obviously, the care plan was a terrible idea. Nursing school is a terrible idea, and you're the worst. Like, that is anxiety. So at least for me, like, that's anxiety. That's what goes through my mind. So that is the difference between those two. Like, stress can, like come and go. Wow, okay. I'm obviously not the only one because that's a lot of hearts that Instagram is just throwing up there. That's the difference between stress and anxiety. Stress in my experience, just comes and goes. Whereas anxiety is just like. Man, that is the best phrase I can think of. The muck and Meyer muck is messy anxiety. Because you wake up with it there throughout the day. It's just constant. Unless you're aware. Do you. You don't have anxiety?

No. Well, that's the thing is I, I have trouble kind of understanding this because yes, I have felt stress. I think everyone has felt stress. But I don't, I'm not 100 sure if I've actually felt full on anxiety. And I think from what I hear you saying, really the differentiator is stress. It's almost a level and almost how to say how, how far it gets in your mind and how Much. It actually really takes over all your thinking processes and that's why it's really a mindset thing. Stress is, it could be. I mean people talk about this, that there's actually good kind of stress and bad kind of stress, eustress and distress. Right. And so stress is really a part of life and it's part of working through. Whereas anxiety, kind of your, your brain hijacks your processes and just runs away with it.

Absolutely. So stress, stress is like, you can't, it, it's like, okay, I, I have this going on, I'm stressed about it, I can overcome it. Whereas anxiety tells you that you're going to die. Like anxiety tells you that this is the end of the world. This is it. Everything was a terrible idea. I'm the worst, I'm obviously going to die. That is anxiety, at least in my experience. Like that is like if I get into anxiety, oh man, it is rough going. I tell you what, like I have had so many panic attacks, like full on panic attacks on the floor, cannot move, literally, like I just paralyzed, just literally paralyzed. And so that is for me what anxiety is and what panic attacks are and the difference between anxiety and stress in my experience. Okay, hopefully that was helpful for you to know that you are not alone.

So yeah, definitely a lot of mindset work.

Jay Brit says stress is situational. Anxiety is an everyday thing.

Yeah, that's really good. I think a lot of it is mindset work. We've talked about this a lot. Is really working through what you're thinking, what your thoughts are thinking about your thoughts, all that meta thinking to really track down what is the cause of that. And I think really the source of that is what is in your control and what is out of your control and letting go what it with what is out of your control. Anxiety, I feel like is trying to control the uncontrollable.

Oh, absolutely, 100%.

So definitely you want to do that mind work, you need to do that mind work. It's very tough to do that mind work. But you do need to find that delineation on where is it something that you can control and reasonably control? And at what point do you say, you know what? I have done the best I can, the best I could. Everything beyond this point is beyond me.

But I would say not even that. Like, if we could just continue this because it's so interesting to me, especially because you don't have anxiety. I love to hear you explain it so that I know. Like, you know, it's just interesting to hear Hear it from someone who doesn't have it. So, like, you say it's trying to control the uncontrollable. And yeah, that's totally true. But also at the same time, it's like you're trying to control the uncontrollable when your brain is telling you that the thing that you're trying to control is you are going to die. Like, because literally, I think that's what it is. It's like, at least for me, like, any time I get into panic or anxiety, that is the end game that my brain is telling me, like, you are going to die. And so it's literally fight or flight. Like, it's that fight or flight reaction. I know exactly what it feels like in my body when I get it. Like, panic and anxiety is like my body completely shutting down. Like, you need to run away right now, because if you do not, like, you are, you know you're gonna die. So it's like controlling the uncontrollable when the uncontrollable is not true. So it's like. It's like the lies. It's like a total lie.

It is definitely a lie. It's a lie that you tell yourself.

Yeah, exactly. It is so fascinating because it's not even, you know, it's not even the reality. It's just like, what, you know, it's just your brain. That's all it is.

And I think that's the beauty of being human, that's the beauty of being people, is that we have that higher brain function. We have the prefrontal cortex that we can actually override. Fight or flight. Yeah, we have that ability. And that is unique to humans is the ability to overcome this. The ability to grow past our anxiety. Yes. We can argue that because the world we live in, there are additional things that cause more anxiety than normal. But in addition to that, we also have the ability to overcome that. So that's something to just be aware of, is that whatever we do have, we do have the ability to overcome that. So really, it is understanding. Again, back to mindset. It's understanding, what are those triggers? What is that feeling? What is that fight or flight feeling? Which is actually three things. It's either fight, flight, or freeze. Right. There's that third one. So really understanding what that feels like to you, so that as soon as that happens, you can override that or not even override it, but you can actually kind of intercept that thought process and say, wait a minute. What is a bear? Is a bear actually attacking me? Is A, is there something actually life threatening, like legitimately life threatening, and then you can kind of break that cycle?

Yeah, for sure.

Not saying it's easy. Not saying it's easy. And again, I'm not sure if I've actually had genuine anxiety. So you can maybe argue and disregard me and saying I don't know anything I'm talking about, and that's fine.

It's easy to do that. I totally think you do.

I think that that is, that is how I would, how, how I would break that down. So.

Yep, I totally agree.

Awesome.

I totally agree. It's tough. It's not easy.

One, one last question relating to this before we move on past anxiety and stress. Let me see if I can go up here a little bit.

Yeah, we've got a lot of comments.

Do you have the same anxiety slash stress at work as you did in school or are they different stressors? I think this is a pretty fun question.

This is such a great question. No one has ever asked me this before. You want to know the craziest thing? It's the same. That crazy. I've been out of nursing school for years, literally years, and it's the same stinking thing that is anxiety. Okay, Is that anxiety? Is that also the difference between stress and anxiety? We are really getting somewhere, friends. That is a great question because to be honest, it has no bearing on like what the situation situation is, what is going on. Anxiety for me, always the same, always the same, regardless of whatever situation I'm in. It's always there. It's always the same same thought spinning over and over again. Whether I'm in nursing school, whether I'm out of nursing school, whether it was before nursing school. Holy moly. That is. That's exactly like I don't know my entire life. It's just the same thoughts over and over and over. And so yeah, the anxiety is the same, at least in my experience, for me before nursing school, during nursing school, and now outside of nursing school, doesn't change. So that's why it's really like a thought thing, to be honest. Like, has nothing to do with what is happening in my life. It's just all in my brain. All in my brain, which makes it changeable, which is nice. And it's so fascinating that. So fascinating that it genuinely doesn't change that it's not based on whatever is happening in the world, but it's only based on what I'm thinking, not that. And with knowing that, then we can change it right now. It's not easy to change it. I've been working on changing it for. Let's see, I started so little history of my anxiety. If you guys scroll back through on my Instagram, you'll see a lot of posts on anxiety on my Instagram feed. There's one of me @The Doctor. There's one of me on Instagram @The Doctor. That's really good that you should go back through. I think it was like two, maybe three years ago now. Maybe two years. And that was really when I decided to get help because I was literally panic attack. Could not move on the floor, totally frozen. Couldn't. I just literally, like, I was convinced I was going to die. Like, I don't. And I don't even remember what was happening. I don't even remember. I think it was related to my pacemaker cardiac side. Because that's a big trigger for me. Like when I feel like my pacemaker go because I have a pacemaker too. And all the things if I feel that, like, it gives me sensations in my body that make me feel like I'm gonna die as well. It's kind of weird. So that was two years ago. And since then, like, I went. I've been to therapy a bunch. The life coaching program has been super helpful. So this is like kind of my journey with anxiety. Right. So two years I've been working on this every single day. So much better now than I was two years ago. So much better. It is a constant process.

It is.

Would you say that I'm so much better now?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I remember earlier on in our marriage. Yeah, definitely, like, definitely some. Some panic attacks.

Yeah, genuine, like, genuine panic attacks. Like, I just. I just, you know, it's. It's crazy. It was crazy to me. Yeah. And I don't think I've had a panic attack since then. Not that I can remember. Yeah, it's been.

Yeah, definitely.

So that's good therapy.

Definitely.

Yeah.

To figure out the mind stuff and then also the coaching. So what's the quick question before we move? Difference between therapy and coaching.

Difference between therapy and coaching. That's a really great question. How would I put that into words? Therapy is like working on your past. Therapy is more past focused. Whereas the life coaching program, in particular, the life coaching program, I'm in. We don't want. You can tell these. The coach about your past all you want. And she's like, I don't care. I don't need to know that. All I need to know is where you are now, where you're going. So that is what life coaching is, at least in my experience. Depends on the life coach you have, but I totally recommend the one I have. So that's the difference between therapy, because therapy is very, very much past space. When I was in therapy, I was working on stuff that had happened in my past that I think, like, caused. Like, I can clearly see if I think back to my, like, as a kid and stuff. Like, my anxiety has always been there so many points in my life. Like, I have had anxiety attacks, panic attacks, even as a child. And so that is what I was working through in therapy. Then when I joined the life coaching program, it was like, okay, now I am armed with that information. I know that stuff about me now. Where are we going and how are we going to get there? That is the blessing that life coaching has given me. So.

Awesome.

That's up.

Oh, okay.

I saw that. Okay. Yeah, you're great. Okay. Can I read this one please, Matthew?

All right, you read that one.

On the topic of what you were talking about, have you heard of cognitive behavioral therapy? Yes, cbt. It's a type of therapy tool that I've been learning about and it's been really helpful. Yes, cbt. Cognitive behavioral therapy is kind of retraining your brain and your behavior. And yes, I have tried it. What was the one? What is it called? What kind of therapy did I do two years ago? Do you remember?

I don't remember the name of it, but it was.

It was so crazy and so interesting and it was. Man, I wish I knew the name. Maybe you could look it up. Someone look it up for me. Okay, I'm going to explain it. Someone look it up for me. It's like eye movement therapy. Can you someone please Google, like, eye movement therapy. I don't know what's going to come up for you, but that's kind of what it is. It's where the therapist has you walk through certain, like, situations in your past. And you have to move your eyes back and forth over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Like, constant, like, like she was holding a wand thing, and I had to track it with my wand and I with her. Like, I had to track her wand with my eyes and I had to think about the thoughts. And it's like your brain cannot do both. Your brain cannot process eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Emdr. Thank you, Instagram. Your grace abounds. More. You are in rock star, my friends.

There you go. YouTube. Also EMDR.

EMDR. That's exactly what it is. So I had to track her wand with my eyes. And it's like your brain cannot do both. Your brain cannot process that thought and do the acting at the same time. So what happens is from the whatever traumatic experience or anxious experience, panic, whatever happened to you in your past, you become further and further and further separated from it. So I had to do this again and again and again and again and again. But now, like I think of those thoughts and I don't have it doesn't trigger anxiety for me. So fascinating. So fascinating. So emdr. Super fascinating. Look it up.

Awesome.

Pretty great. All right.

All right. For those just joining, welcome Nursing school show. This is Ask Christina anything about nursing or nursing adjacent things. Thank you guys for joining. We do try and look at the questions and we are going through some questions that some members from the membership community asked. Yep. Some quick questions. Some really quick hitters that I can actually answer. 1. Am I a nurse? No.

No.

Okay, next. Am I Filipino? Yes. So I can do those ones. See low, like easy questions like that. Go ahead, chew my way. I definitely got this.

When does the PS4 come? Four, five. Okay, so like someone asked last week, when does the PS5 come out? And you know, I am not the person to ask for that.

We so funny. Holiday season. This holiday season. Holiday season for PS5 and the next generation of Xbox.

He would know. I don't know those things.

What?

All right. What happens if we can't do clinical for nursing? We are. We are. We may do online, but will the board of nursing waive online hours to be allowed? Okay, this is such a great question. Instagram. So there are. I've seen so many states now changing their laws to allow nursing schools to have clinical hours that are just online, not at a clinical site. So that is what we're seeing. We're seeing this trend toward online classes. Obviously your nursing schools are working with the states. I honestly don't think it's going to be a problem. But huge caveat. You must make sure that you are in an accredited, accredited program. You must make sure that your nursing school is accredited by the board of Nursing. Must, that is. I got another email yesterday from a student who is restarting her nursing program because her school was not accredited and they shut down or like she couldn't take her boards or whatever. You have to go to an accredited nursing program in order to pass your nclex, to take your nclex to sit for your NCLEX and become a licensed registered nurse. So if you were in an accredited nursing program. I wouldn't worry about that. Your clinicals are most likely going to move online, but I would work with your school. Make sure you're asking the right questions, exactly like you asked. Make sure that the clinical hours that you are taking now are going to count for your licensure, for you to graduate. But I honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about that because I know I've just seen like so many states already making those laws. Like specifically, we're in Washington. We did it. California, I saw did it. I'm assuming just everywhere else. Because, I mean, you can't just graduate nursing students and not have them be able to sit for their boards, you know? Yeah, like that just won't work. And let's be real. We need nurses right now.

Awesome.

Go YouTube.

YouTube. A couple questions about entry exams. Entry entry tests. Entry programs for nursing. I think the. The one that actually has more detail to it is actually from YouTube. Do you recommend the ATI teas exam that costs up to $200. It says for studying for the nursing school entrance exam.

The nursing school entrance exam. Okay, so here's the thing with nursing school entrance exams. There are multiple. There's the pacs, there's the T's, there's the hesi. Pretty sure there's even an ATI entrance exam. Can someone tell me clarify. I don't think I've actually ever heard of it before, but I'd imagine that there is one because there's a HESI one. There's a bunch of different entrance exams. I did not have to take an entrance exam. I would. If you have to take an entrance exam, make sure that you are purchasing the program. Purchasing the study program for whatever test you have to take. So if you have to take. Okay, yeah, the T's. The T's. Is that ati? Yeah, ATI teas. If you have to take the ATI teas, don't go and take a study program for the HESI entrance exam. You could. It might be similar, but I would definitely not like. You want to. You want the study program for the particular test you have to take. Right. So atits. If you go to Instagram, go and check out Kate over at Pre Nursing Smarter and she will help you with the teas. Kate over at Pre Nursing Smarter. She's awesome. More besties. So there you go. We mastermind together. She's awesome. Check her out if you need help with the tease test. But how did you get straight A's with that anxiety? Sorry, I stole a YouTube question from you.

Okay.

How did you get straight A's with that anxiety? It's a really good question. I got it done. I just got it done. I mean, I've had anxiety my entire life and so I know how to work through. Through it. Like, I know how not work through it. That's something that I've learned over the past couple years is like how to actually manage it. Well, the thing that I did in nursing school was I did it anyway, even though I was having severe anxiety. And that is what I had trained myself to do my entire life. Man, did I train for nursing school my whole life. So anxiety and nursing school, even though I had crippling anxiety in nursing school. And I. For sure, I mean, for sure it was bad, you guys, but you, you do it anyway. I did it anyway because that's what I was used to doing. So, yeah, there you go.

Any Instagram guys?

Yeah. Fundamentals advice. I want to make sure that we're answering the questions that are going to help the most people. So fundamentals on that. Make sure that you go back to our YouTube video that was posted last week on what to study before nursing school. Like, do it, do it now, go to YouTube, type in nursing SOS what to study before nursing school, or just go to Google nursing SOS what to study before nursing school. It will pop up. I will tell you what to study before nursing school, how to study for fundamentals. That will help you a bunch. Perfect. But like, how to study for fundamentals is really the same way that we teach everything else. Make sure that you are focusing on the physiology, signs and symptoms. Nursing assessment and nursing interventions. Those are the four key concepts for nursing that you have to know about. Then anything else beyond that, anything that's like memorization, rote memorization that you just plain have to remember. Whiteboards and flashcards, my friend, that is all whiteboards and flashcards again and again and again. Watching your cardio video right now on YouTube. The cardiac videos. Good, I'm glad those videos are helping. This week is finals week for my first semester in nursing school. Advice on how to keep calm and trust the work and studying I've been putting into it. Finals week. So finals are super interesting. I like to gain confidence in finals by studying and knowing that I can remember what I have studied. And so I have a very particular study process for finals. If you go to YouTube, there's a whole step by step process for studying for finals that will help you feel more confident. Because when you're done with that step process Step by step process, you will know everything. It's as easy as that. So go to YouTube, type in Nursing SOS Final Exams or Nursing SOS Finals. Or go to Google, type in Nursing SOS Finals. It'll pop up there for you. So there you go. There you go. Instagram. What do we got? What do we got? YouTube.

What is an easy way to learn generic. Your generic and your brand of medications? Medication. Generic medications.

Don't learn the trade names, don't learn the brand names, learn the generic names. So here's the thing, you guys with pharmacology on the nclex and on your nursing school exams, they will always give you the generic name. Every medication only has one generic name. They will give you the generic name, but they won't always give you the trade name or the brand name. So make sure that you are remembering the generic names. Now we do have. Hey, Matthew, do we have the medication cheat sheet?

Yes, I believe we do.

Yeah. If you go to, well, Instagram, if you go to YouTube. Right now we're on live on YouTube. Matthew. Perfect. Medication classes. We have a whole cheat sheet that walks you through some really good. What is it, like a remembering hack, memorization hack. Really good way to learn your medications faster based on the ending of the medication. Because a lot of medications in like a drug class have the same ending. For example, beta blockers have olall. Anything that ends in olall, you know, is a beta blocker as easy as that. So that cheat sheet will totally walk you through that. Check it out. YouTube. What else you got?

YouTube, I guess related to that. Any tricks to studying and learning patho?

Studying and learning patho or pharmacology?

Oh, pathology.

Switch to patho. Pathophysiology, anatomy and physiology. And pathophysiology is a lot of just dry, I would say, honestly, just drawing it out. Like if you are memorizing pathophysiology, I would really genuinely get a whiteboard or just plain old notebook and get some colors and draw things out. That's super helpful. I remember having like my big whiteboards in A and P and I would just like draw my pictures and stuff and make it pretty. Where is Francesca? Here. She has the best pictures. Have you seen? Oh man, she sends me the best pictures. She's awesome. So like, seriously, some of you guys are like artists. I am not that way. I cannot draw for anything.

I like to think that I can.

But you're really good at it. I am not very good at drawing at all by any stretch of the imagination. However, Drawing it out still helps me learn it. So pathophysiology. Also, if you are struggling learning pathophysiology, I really recommend breaking it up into simple, step by step processes, which is exactly what we do. Segue inside the nursing SOS membership community. So if you do not feel like you can learn all of the stuff that you're trying to learn for nursing school, that's okay. Let me teach it to you. Boom. Shameless.

Plug related question someone was asking. They don't start their program until January.

Okay.

Should they join now and how.

No, don't join now. If you are starting your program in January, you will want to join two to three months before you start your program, which would be. Well, I guess not now, but I guess like. Okay, okay, let me change that. Next time enrollment opens, you will want to join because you can't join right now because it's closed. So next time enrollment opens, you'll probably want to join. That sound good?

All right. Yeah, let's go ahead and put that guy here. You can go ahead and join the waitlist so you know when it opens up. Here we go.

Yep.

Awesome.

Yep. Annette, those sheets didn't help me. I need the fundamentals course. Fundamentals course inside the membership community. Is that what you mean? We have a fundamentals course inside the nursing SSLS membership community. I hope that's helpful. The two things we do not have set inside the nursing ESSENCE membership community quite yet is pediatrics and mental health. So if you are in pediatrics, do not join. If you are in mental health, I would say mental health can go both ways because mental health is. Yes, a lot of disorders. Psychiatric disorders, which we do not have yet. We do not have, like a mental health psychiatric nursing course. However, we have. We don't really get questions on that. We don't get questions on how to remember bipolar disorder. We get questions on the psychiatric medications, which we are going to have. So I actually just. You guys all day yesterday, I recorded a bunch of the medications for our medication database for inside the membership community. So they're coming for you. The psychiatric meds are coming for you, like, within the next few weeks. Like, they're. We're dangerously close. So there you go. That will help you a bunch. So if you're in mental health, that could go both ways. Like, if you really need help with your psychiatric disorders, probably don't join. But if you need help with the meds, man, is it gonna help you.

There's awesome.

Barbara says yay. Yes. Yay. Okay, so like yesterday, I Was up early all day doing medications. I think I was up until 1am last night. 1am medications coming for you. Nursing SS members coming at you.

Yeah, so very exciting. If you are interested in joining though, like we said, membership is closed right now. Go ahead and go to the link that I just provided. NurseSchoolSuccess.com join on YouTube, not Instagram. Yeah, sorry, sorry, Instagram. And you can join the wait list and next time it opens, you guys will be notified.

Yep. If you're on the wait list, you will be notified. First, can I ask a question from Instagram, please ask a question how to deal with not passing a semester. So make sure that you don't make it mean that you're a failure. If you do not pass nursing school past the semester, it does not mean that you will not become a nurse. Go to YouTube again or Google, type in nursing sos.

Fail, probably fail, fail works.

Fail works. Nursing sos fail. Nursing sos fail an exam, something like that. Like some kind of keyword of like fail nursing school. Nursing sos. But make sure you put Nursing SOS so that you find our video. Nursing SOS fail or Nursing SOS fail nursing school. Because I have a fantastic video on what to do when you fail an exam, which can go toward, like, what to do when you fail nursing school. So the advice still stands. Sonia says. Love this conversation. All right, go on YouTube. What you got for me? Okay. Situation background assessment recommendation.

Can you please explain SBAR principle of assessing a patient.

Of assessing a patient.

Or yeah, please explain SBAR principle for assessing a pt, which I assume is patient, but non nurse talking here.

So PT is right? PT can be physical therapy. It's capital PT for physical therapy. If it's pt, lowercase, typically it means patient. You guys, can we just have a moment? Don't use acronyms, man. You're just. That's not. Don't use acronyms. I have a whole video on that too. Go to YouTube, Google Nursing SOS documentation tips or Nursing SOS documentation. That's gonna help you out. So. So, yeah, SBAR situation background assessment recommendation. Situation Background assessment recommendation. So that is not how to assess a patient. That is how you communicate with the healthcare team about your patient. So say when you call the doctor, you have to give them like the situation, like, what is going on high. You know, like what is happening. Background, pertinent background information on that patient that relates to the current situation. Then you dive into your nursing assessment. What did you assess for? Well, actually, no, that's not true because that's kind of what the background. I'm getting. My Sophie's confused. So the assessment is actually, what do you think it is? What do you think the issue is? And then recommendation. What do you want them to do? What do you want them to do for you? They can't read your mind, so make sure that you tell them what you want. So, situation, what's going on with the patient? Background. What is the assessment? Be pertinent background information for that current situation. Don't give the doctor, like, erroneous info. And then assessment. What do you think the problem is? What do you think is going on? And then recommendation, what do you want?

And then some people throw an eye up in front of that, just for kicks and giggles, the I sbar.

I sbar introduction. So introduce yourself. Yep. Introduce yourself.

I can see that. Yeah.

I s bar. Introduce yourself. All right. Oh, thank you guys for helping each other out on Instagram. And I saw that a little bit on YouTube. You guys are seriously the best. Okay, so here's the thing. I was just thinking about this the other day. Like, I don't know about other nursing, like, communities, like, nursing school communities. I know there's a lot of Facebook groups for nursing students and a lot of, like, a lot of other, you know, Facebook groups, forums, what have you, for nursing school. I tell you what, though, like, we jump on these AMAs, and if you look inside our nursing SOS membership, community, Facebook group, like, the private Facebook group for members. There is no negativity. Like, zero. It's amazing.

Thanks, guys.

It's amazing.

It's really great.

Like. Like, we just get on here, and you guys are fantastic. You know, you were like, nursing students, like, yeah, okay. We got, like, everyone's got their problems for sure. But the thing is, is that we don't. We don't, like, let those problems be problems. We help each other up and we support here at Mope and be Negative Nancy's. It's so great.

I like it.

I like it. I really do it. It's so great.

Kind of. I've seen this floating around today and other days, too, but just a little bit related to that. It happens to all of us. What happens when you lose your motivation for the day?

I drink more coffee.

What do you do when you lose your motivation for the day?

Literally, that's my answer. I drink coffee.

Okay.

I drink more coffee. That is my go to. Oh, man. You know, it goes back to our conversation from last week, right? You don't need motivation. You just need to get it Done. Come on. Motivation is so overrated, you guys. Come on. If you wait to be motivated, you're never gonna do anything.

If you build it, it will come. If you build it, they will come. Right. Field. Field of dreams.

Field of dreams.

There you go. So if you don't have it, do it anyway. It will come back.

Yeah.

Motivation comes and goes. It's fleeting like other things, but just plow your way through it and it will come back.

Yep. So do it anyway.

Do it anyway.

Anyway. So, okay, let's see. Instagram. Why are you so helpful? What do you get out of it?

I don't know.

What do I get out of it? I don't know. Why am I so helpful? I don't know. That's the best question I've gotten in like a year. Christina, why are you so helpful?

I don't know.

Honestly, it just goes back to the scripture that we've. That I say every time. Whatever you do, work with all your. Your heart as working for the Lord and not. Man, that's Shirley over at home and arrows.

It's really fun watching our 3 year old sing it.

It's great. So teach your kids that. Seriously. So good. So whatever you do, guys, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not men. That's why we do what we do. To be honest with you. It's just. That's just how we do it.

That goes back to the motivation, too. Just.

Just do it for God. Like, if you're doing it for yourself or if you're doing it for, like, external. Like, whatever. Like, that's not. That's not. It's just genuinely not going to get you anywhere. Right? Like, you are going to burn out. Like, if you are in nursing school for. I don't know, what, what do you, like, not like, not negative reasons, but like, like external reasons. I don't know. That's not really a good.

Not really external. But yeah, but just say what it is. If you're doing it for selfish reasons, you're doing it for the wrong reason.

Selfish. That's the word. Selfish reasons. You're doing it for the wrong reasons. Let me just tell you guys that. Oh, man. Yeah. So whatever you do in life, nursing school, being a nurse, hey, if you're on this AMA and you're like, I'm not in nursing school, but I think these people are pretty funny and cool. Thank you, by the way. And you're like, hey, I can take that. You can still take this advice. If you're just like, passing through on YouTube and Instagram. So there you go. Put that in your pocket. Take it to the bank. That's good advice.

I like that saying better than the other one about putting something in the pipe and smoking it.

But that's all right. Don't do that.

Don't do that.

Put that in your pocket. You can take that to the bank.

I like that a lot better. That is a better overall.

I love that question. Why are you so helpful? I just love.

We're also glad that you do find that helpful.

I'm glad that you do find it helpful.

I'm glad you do find Christine helpful.

I feel like.

I'm sure you don't find me helpful, but that's all right.

I think he's great. I find you so helpful.

It's all right.

Oh, you're going to run. Ugh. Yes. I'm so excited for those psyched school starts today. Congratulations. Shouldn't you be in class right now? Okay, so if your school starts today.

Excited for starting studying about the psychedelics, not taking the psych meds. Correct.

Yeah. Well, you know, you know, some of us with the anxieties, you know, school starts today. So today's the 10th. We had a bunch of our members that said that their school starts next week, which would be the 17th. So for all you guys, there you go. Welcome to Nursing School 2020 OPS. By the way, tomorrow's YouTube video. Tomorrow, right?

Tomorrow.

Okay. Tomorrow's YouTube video is all about what has changed in nursing school. And I walk you through how to overcome the changes that have happened. So if you are. It doesn't matter who you are. Doesn't matter who you are. If you are starting nursing school in the fall, if you have already been through a term in nursing school, this video is for you. You need to know about the changes that nursing school is going through right now and what to expect and how to get through it. And that is what I'm going to walk you through tomorrow in the video. Tomorrow. Oh, no, my phone is about to d. Bye.

We'll be fine.

We'll be fine. It'll be great.

This is an interesting one.

I like interesting ones.

Yes. Have you used uworld before? Can you recommend that to a new graduate?

I. I have not, so I cannot. No, I've heard that it's good. Uworld. Now, what's the actual brand to that? Is that Kaplan? That sounds right. Kaplan. Kaplan U World. Is that right, friend? Someone tell me.

I don't know.

Pretty sure it's. Yeah, it's uworld. And I've heard of it lot. I mean, a lot of people love it, and I'm pretty sure it's Kaplan. But I could totally be wrong. Totally be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time I'm wrong about a lot of things. So, Kaplan uworld or just you, like, just Google uworld? You'll figure it out. It's. It's there. It's a. Like a study. It's a study. Like an nclex, from my understanding. It's like a. An nclex prep. I don't think it is specifically for nursing school. I don't know. I've never done it. Sounds fun, though. I hope it helps you. Was that the question? Did I answer the question?

Yeah, that was the question. Yeah, someone, I believe, actually emailed that in, so.

Oh, okay, fine.

Have you used viewworld before? We don't have any other background other than that. If you. You have more background, go ahead and email us again or comment or do your thing. So.

Oh, I start on the 18th. Congratulations, friends. All right. You guys are so helpful to each other. I love it. Best nursing school community ever. Caffeine will help. You guys are the best.

Caffeine will help. It does wonders.

It does. It really does. How do you comprehend the textbook material when you read so you can understand. Understand it. You have to make sure that you are focused. Have to make sure that you're focused. So when you read a textbook, you cannot just read it and not be thinking about it. Does that make sense? Like you don't want to be the person that's reading and reading and reading the same sentence for an hour. That's not helpful for you. What I would rather you do is go take a nap and then come back and read that sentence and actually understand it rather than wasting time reading the same thing over and over and over again when obviously you're tired, obviously you're exhausted, go take a nap, come back refreshed, let's do nursing school.

Man, I. Yeah, I remember that. And just even textbooks or even books that I like reading, I like, I like reading. And sometimes I read when I'm tired. And man, that really bugs me when, like, you read a whole page, don't remember anything yet you read it again. Wait a minute. Okay, I know that person. It's. I need to read it again. And like, you're doing that five times through and you're not retaining that. So no, at that point in time, it's time to go to bed.

It's just a waste of time to go to bed.

Pro tip.

I love pro tips.

Not. Not actually a pro tip. Don't do this. But pro tip, if you want to try, you can put the book on your head while you're sleeping. And osmosis may help kind of get that in your head.

Don't you just wish that was the case?

Yes, yes, I'm convinced that that does not work.

But is that how you got through college?

I attempted to do that on multiple occasions. Did not work.

Yeah.

So it's definitely. If you're. Yeah. You just want to be well rested. You want to put yourself in a situation where you can actually concentrate. So whatever that is for you, concentrate, make sure that you're well rested. Something else that's actually really, really interesting.

Madeline says caffeine.

Caffeine. Tangent on that though. And I'll circle back around with another story time.

But story time with Matthew time.

Yes. Hashtag that you can recall. How to say this, you can recall information better if your brain is in the exact same state. State it was when you learned it.

Oh yeah, I've heard that.

So I've heard that you want to make sure that your brain is always in a good state when taking in information because that is the best way that it can recall information.

I've also heard.

Okay, you go ahead and so that's why back in college days, there's plenty of reasons why not to do this, but one of the reasons why you don't actually drink while studying, because your brain is in an altered state and you will not remember it unless you don't.

Don't do that.

Don't do that.

Don't do that.

So you do not do that. You want to.

I think you make sense.

And that's the same thing actually with caffeine. If you're always in a caffeinated state, in order to recall that information, you need to be in a caffeinated state again.

Yeah. It's so interesting.

So it is interesting. So take, take with that as you will. But just.

I've just remember that I've also heard the same point. I've also heard that if you study in like your exam room, wherever you are going to take the exam, you will recall things better when you take the exam because you're used to being in that space. So fascinating. Right?

So, so just little, little things that.

How did you get. How to get through? I love how people call it fundies, fundamentals. Fundies. How do you get through fundies without clinicals? I'd imagine that you're going to have Some sort of clinicals, whether it be online or some kind of hybrid. If you don't have clinicals, that's fine. You just learn the lecture content and then you apply it at a later time. That's all. That was from Instagram. Okay, YouTube, what you got for me? Let's go YouTube.

Let's go YouTube. Hold on a sec. Please hold.

Please hold.

We talked about this a little bit, and you can just recap that. But how to pass mental health, psych.

Oh, yeah, how to pass mental health and psych. Let's see. Mental health and psych is a lot of medications like we talked about. So if you are a nursing association member, we're posting up those medications in the database. Medicaid, we have a full medication database that we are currently releasing for you. I recorded a bunch of them yesterday. It's amazing. So don't learn your meds on your own. Don't learn meds on your own. Let me teach them to you. It'll be way easier for you. So that is a big part of it is for psychiatric nursing. A lot of them, a lot of medications. So everything else, all the disorders, you know, all the disorders that you have to learn, definitely flashcards and whiteboards. Because what I really, really like is like, whiteboards, especially because you can write out compare and contrast charts to them. Like, make sure that you can actually see the information there. Compare and contrast it really easily. Because a lot of the mental health psychiatric disorders, a lot of them are similar in a lot of ways. And then a lot of them are very, very different. So they're like, similar in a lot of ways, but have some very distinct differences that you have to catch. And so I think that putting it on a whiteboard and doing that compare contrast can really, really help. So that is what I always recommend for mental health. Boom. Boom. Okay, that makes sense. I love you, Instagram. You guys are the best. Thank you for all the hearts and all the smiles and all the everything. Help me, please.

That's not a question.

That's not a question.

That's not a question.

But okay, I hope that was helpful for you, Instagram. Yep. All right, SATA questions. Okay.

Could you do. Well, this one says, could you do a video on it. But just how. What are some strategies for test taking? Strategies for SATA questions. There we go.

Test taking strategies for STATA questions. So SATA means select all that apply.

That goes back to your acronyms. Not using acronyms or does everyone know SATA?

Everyone knows SATA, and it's not really A documentation thing. The only thing with the abbreviations and acronyms is like when it's in legal documentation at the clinical facility, it can be a legal issue. So go back to YouTube. YouTube or Google Nursing SOS documentation tips and I will tell you why. So static questions, select all that apply is what those mean. Which means I don't know. Did you have any of these in school? In college? You're not a nurse?

I don't know. I think we have. But most of the time it is just straight up multiple choice.

Yeah. So like Satcha questions, you have to select all, literally all that apply and there's no partial credit. You have to get them all correct. Or. Or you get none of it. Right. Super bummer. Take it or leave it. So with that, the best strategy that I have is that you answer each answer, read the question, look at the first answer and answer it as a true or false. Barbara, you are right on my friend. Answered as a true, false. And then you go answer by answer down the line. Read the question, read the first answer, is that true or false related to the question, Then select it if you know whatever it is, true or false. And then next answer, next answer, next answer. So that is how you answer. Select all that apply questions. That is the best thing to do. And then also here's where nursing students get stuck with static questions is that you have to not take them in combination to each other. They are all individual, they are all separate, they do not relate to each other. So you could have like, I don't know, this is, this is very high level. But you could have like a static question that's like, you know what, what are vital signs? And then like one will be like heart rate, one will be heart rate and blood pressure, one will be respiratory rate. And they're, they're like all correct, but like heart rate, what did I say? Heart rate was a separate one. And then heart rate and blood pressure was together. You would select all of those, you see what I'm saying? So they don't, they're not in tandem. So whereas like multiple choice, you would probably select like the one with heart rate, blood pressure. Because that has like the most in there. Right? They're all, they're all vital signs. But you see what I'm saying, like take them all individual of each other, don't take them in combination. Even if it's like the same answer twice. You can select them both. I think that was more clear. You can select them both.

Yep. Yeah. So I don't think.

Yeah, yeah. Baby, I think that that is. You're the best.

I'm not sure if it's only nursing school, but yeah, I don't think I. I did do any of those.

I've heard social work does that too. I've heard that social work does that. Has that.

Or. Actually, I have. I have had a couple where we do have those questions, but we do get partial credits. I'm all about that partial credit. And so I just selected all of them. Didn't matter. You selected all of them so.

Well, that's the test taking strategy. That's a hack. Yeah, but that does not work in nursing school because you have to get it right by Instagram. Instagram, Sorry, you can only run for an hour. See you later.

All right.

Hello, YouTube.

There goes Instagram.

Instagram. We can only be on for like an hour at a time and then it shuts us off. Hey, by the way, who has reels? I just got it yesterday. I'm so excited.

Whatever. That is. All that.

I'm so excited for Instagram.

All that Tick Tocky business.

I was not on Tick Tock. I. I didn't get on the TikTok train. But now Instagram reels sounds pretty snazzy. So I'm. I think I'm gonna get on that one. Okay. Oh, I can't scroll anymore.

You can't scroll? You're done.

Okay, friends, make sure you download the nursing school study checklist. So I walk you through, step by step, how to study in nursing school. I will post up the video for Wednesday live on YouTube like the Wednesday Live. I will post it up earlier so you can submit your questions on YouTube. So before the Wednesday. So if you have questions for our Wednesday AMA, 9:00am this upcoming Wednesday, 9:00am Pacific Standard Time, same time as now, post up your questions in the chat or in the comments and then we will try to answer as many as possible. Now, we got a lot of questions to go through in these hours, but.

Yeah, we try and hit up the ones that will help as many people as we can. So thanks for joining and we'll see you guys on Wednesday.

Wednesday, 9aM Pacific.

Sounds good.

Take care, friends.

See you guys.

Bye bye. Bye, bye, bye bye.