Nursing School ASK ME ANYTHING!

Morning. Happy Wednesday.

Good morning.

Today's a real Wednesday. When we were live on Monday, I.

Thought it was Wednesday.

Christina thought all day that it was Wednesday. But now it is Wednesday. So happy Wednesday, everyone. Welcome to the nursing school show, Christina. Hello, Matthew. We talk about nursing school things, nursing school related things, answering some questions. Christina usually answers the nursing school questions. I usually answer the non nursing school questions or random questions. Just basically anything you want to know, I am here for you. Yeah, okay. Disclaimer. Some of the answers that I give might not be all that helpful for nursing school, but here I am anyway.

Here we are.

Here we are. Today is an ask question. Me, Christina. Ask Christina anything.

Hello.

So we want to kick it back to you guys and just want to answer some nursing school related questions. What can we do to help you?

The past few weeks we've just been doing topics and I just wanted to answer your questions today. Whatever questions you got for me. We actually have a list of questions that students have asked over the past few weeks. All of on these lives. And so, you know, we document your questions. We don't miss them.

We do not miss them. We try and answer the ones that will help as many people as possible. So we do want to help you through your nursing journey. That is why we are here. So if you have any questions regarding nursing school, go ahead and put them in the chat. Put them in the chat. We will get them answered.

Hopefully.

Hopefully get them answered.

We do have a list here to go through.

Yes, yes. Yeah. So we do have some general questions and some specific ones. So it is up to you. Dealer's choice, if you will. Oh, okay.

Do it. Let's go.

All right, let's start with Audrey. Audrey, Audrey. Are you working as a nurse currently?

Yes.

Or are you just educating here? Are you working as a nurse now or just educating?

I love the question. I think that, you know, if you are, you know, we actually talked about this on Monday. My nursing specialty right now is a nurse entrepreneur. Just super. It's kind of fancy, but I don't know, it doesn't seem like super fancy to me. It's not super glamorous. That's pretty glamorous. I don't know, it's pretty fun. I think it's fun. Other people might not think it's very fun, but you know, there you go.

All right, so nursing. What did you say? Entre. Entrepreneur, entrepreneur. Specialty is a, is a nurse specialty.

Actually a nurse specialty. Like we were talking on Monday, like there's nurse informatics, nurse and nest esthetician. Not an esthetistic. That's the thing. Esthetician. I always get that name wrong. Like, there's so many different nursing specialties. We were talking about it on Monday and I just. It's pretty amazing how many avenues you can go down for nursing. It's pretty great. I think nursing is the best field because you can just. I. And I feel like I will probably just, you know, every couple of years, switch it up, do something new. Why not? Because there are so many different areas that you can work in. Like, for me, I would, I have a couple things I would love to be in a clinic. Something that's really, really on my heart is helping moms feed their babies. If you've been around for a while, you've heard me say that, being like a lactation consultant. Yeah, we'll see. Long term care hospice, you know, where you can work anywhere you want. It's pretty great. It's. It's pretty great. Let's be honest. I mean, how many of you guys love the field of nursing? Raise your hand.

I mean, isn't that why you guys are here? Isn't that why you guys are nursing students? Because you love the field of nursing? Yes, and I do want to jam on that a little bit. I have a little issue with the question.

Okay.

I. I have a little issue with the question. So I just want to read it and are you working as a nurse now or just educating? And the issue I have is with, with the.

Just that happens a lot in nursing. Yeah.

Yeah, it does.

It happens a lot.

So it's a little issue. Not, not, not a, not a big issue. I don't need to get on a, on a soapbox or something. But I'm just saying that.

All the time.

But no, just, just to understand too. And like, there, there's a lot of you guys in nursing school getting through nursing school and not even knowing what specialties you want to go into. And I'd say that there, it's all dependent on you. And there's no, just, there's no, oh, you can be this or you can just be this. It's. It's not like that. It's not like that at all. So there are specialties. There's a lot of specialties out there. Be open to the ones that you get placed in. Also don't think, oh, it's just this, or, oh, it's just that I didn't get in. And there you go, there's Christina the nurse, actually putting actual terms in there.

Because, yeah, it's Just like, you hear these all the time. Okay, how many of you guys have heard, oh, they're just a psychiatric nurse. They're just a hospice nurse. Oh, I was just placed in a. On a mental health floor. You hear that a lot. Like, psych nurses. I feel like psych nurses. I. I love psych. I feel like psych nurses get the short end of the stick, to be honest with you, because it's just psych nursing. Like, that is totally not true. You guys. Have you ever been on a psych floor? Are you for real? Like, I love psych nursing. Let's see. That has my heart too. So, yeah, absolutely. Matthew, there is no, like, just in nursing. Like, you are a nurse. You're a nurse. You're a nurse or a nurse. Whether you are an educator, whether you are a psych nurse, whether you're a hospice nurse, whether you're on a med search floor or a flight nurse or an ICU nurse or what have you. Nurse. I'm never going to get this right. Nurse, esthetician. Am I even saying that right? But we've had nursing SOS members who want to do that. Like Botox. And what. What is it? Like, what. What would that encompass? That would encompass, like, laser hair removal. I think Botox. Those are really the only two things that I can actually think of. Like, cosmetic. Cosmetic surgery.

I can see that as being for. For people to think, oh, it's. It's just cosmetic.

Yeah. No, it's not. You're still a nurse. Like, you need your. You need nursing knowledge to do that job. So it's, you know, you're a nurse. You're a nurse, You're a nurse. I would even, you know. Yeah, I know. If you're a nurse at heart, that means you have the heart of a nurse. So no one's just a nurse. No one's like, just, you know. You know what I'm saying? Like, come on, you guys.

So I just wanted to point that out. I want to be a lactation specialist, too. And funny to say that, because I'm an esthetician as well as well. So I plan to do medical esthetician, too.

I love it.

There you go.

Am I saying that right? Esthetician. I can never get that right. And I get it confused with anesthetist. Two very different words. Two very different specialties. I love it. I love it.

All right, so we've got a lot of great. We have a lot of great questions coming in. Thank you, everyone. Hi, Barbara. Hi, Connie. Hello, Shelly. And Honey. And everyone on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Welcome to an Ask me anything. I like this question and I'm trying to get names as well, but Instagram is a little hard. So if I don't get your name, apologize. I like this one. Do you think we should learn brand name drugs? Because I noticed lately my exams are testing brand names and I bring this up because we've talked about brand names in the past.

So this was from Instagram?

Yes.

Was this from just now? I didn't see that.

Yeah, a little bit.

Who was this? I'm gonna scroll up.

Okay.

Okay. Who posted this question on Instagram? Because I have a clarifying question for you. Okay. Lore. Lore. Lore. Sad. Am I saying that right? Is your name on Instagram? Okay, so brand names of, of a medication, when you go and take your nursing school exam or the NCLEX and ATI exam, hesi, what have you, they should always include the generic name of the drug. They should always include the generic name of the medication. They might also include the brand name, but they should always include the generic name. And so if that's not happening for your school, I would ask about it because that's how it should be done for a couple of reasons. The NCLEX is going to test you on the generic name, not on the brand name. They might include the brand name, but they're going to have a generic name there. And then the other thing is that there could be tons of different brand names, but there's only one generic name. Which is why for consistency sake and making sure that we're all on the same page as health personnel, you know, the health care team, that we are using the generic name, we don't want to get confused between different medications. Make sense? Okay. Yeah. So can you tell me, Laura, sod on Instagram, can you tell me, are you, are they including both the generic and the brand, or are you just getting the brand aid brand name on your exams? If you're just getting the brand name on your exams, I would ask them about it. To my knowledge, the NCLEX has not changed and I don't think that it's going to be changing with that. Including, they might include the brand name, but you, they will always include the generic name. So that is the consistent thing that you need to know. So make sure you guys, when you're studying pharmacology, you know the generic name. You can learn the brand names. And you probably should learn the brand names as well for some of them, especially like the really common ones, Tylenol Right. Brand name Tylenol. Generic name acetaminophen. That's an example. So. But you do need to know the generic name. Yeah. His options for the question was only brand name. I would ask, I would honestly ask your instructor because that is a, that's a pretty big deal. That's a pretty big deal, especially because the NCLEX is going to test you on the generic name. They might include the brand name, but they're going to test you on the generic name. So I would, I would definitely ask for sure. Anyone else had that happen?

Yeah. I'm curious because, yeah, that is something we've, we've talked about with, with doing medications. Is that definitely you do need to know. No. Degenerate.

Always know the generic game. Yeah. Because that's the consistent thing. My guess is that your instructor might be writing the test on his own and didn't include the generic name. It just included the brand name. So maybe it was a mistake. You know, that's totally fine. Mistakes happen. Let's be graceful about it. But I would ask, I would bring it up because just, you know, specifically that I, I think that's a pretty big deal because the NCLEX is going to test you on the generic name. So. So there you go. All right.

All right, next up, next up.

Who's next?

Chandra. Chandra. Chandra. Apologize with names. I like this one. Currently. I am currently a nurse and I'm trying to encourage the new nurses since the word. We can't say the word that YouTube doesn't want us to say since 2020, let's say, how can I properly encourage them? And I just wanted to pull this out because that is a great question. And yeah, we, that's what we're, we're here for. We want to encourage new nurses, new nursing students. So I really like that question.

So, hey, you guys, honestly, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna throw it at you guys. So, nursing students, if you are paired with a nurse on the floor right now, what would you want them to say to you? What would you want them to, you know, do for, you know, not for you, but with you? Like, what do you need from your co nurse on the floor right now? As a nursing student, what do you need from them? Encouragement, motivation, like learning things. What do you need from them? Honestly, for me, if I had a student on the floor pretty much across the board, I mean, this was even pre. All of this, you know, across the board. You know, you just be nice. You know, like, we don't have to Beat up our nursing students. If you guys have been around for a while, you know that I am kind of tough sometimes. I can be tough and I can tell you like it is and that, you know, I think you could be better on these things. But I'm going to do it with love and grace and all the things, you know, because we don't come at things with a heart of. A spirit of meanness. That's not a word, but you know what I mean. You know, we have a spirit of kindness around here.

We want to be kind. I see a lot of encouragement, guidance, communication.

Patience, encouragement. Give honest feedback and encouragement, willing to.

Explain and show things. Let's see, what else. Actually, Barbara, actually be willing to teach us when we have a learning gap.

Perfect. No pettiness on Instagram. Guide me and let me do the procedure with supervision. Tell me what I can do next time to improve. Definitely not shame me or humiliate me. Yes.

Yeah, that's tough. And I'd say coming from an outside perspective, too, but also with. With other things, and this is something I struggle with, is when you know something, you think everyone else knows it or should know it. And depending on how long you've been a nurse, how long you've been in the industry, you sometimes get away from that new nurse feeling or what it was like to be a new nurse back then. So just thinking back to that point in time and realizing that people's viewpoints are different, coming at it from different years of experience. So just understanding that and. And use that to guide what kind of answers you give.

Yeah, absolutely. There is. Oh, man, have I seen this even just recently? It's very easy for nurses. I've been a nurse for years now, and it's been. It's very easy to get disconnected from where you were in nursing school and the reality of nursing school and how it is, you know, and so as nurses, all of you out there, when you become a nurse, when you become a nurse, remember that when you have students years from now, when you have students that you're guiding, like, remember what it's like. Like, don't forget, you know, remember what it's like. And, you know, kind of take everything you learned, take the struggle of nursing school, and help speak life into any students that you have. And that's what we do here, right? And I think that's why so many students love what we do, is because we do come at it from that positive perspective, like, hey, I know it's a challenge, but guess what? You're stronger Than that you can absolutely do it. I 1000% believe in you. And that's what students want to hear. Right? Because it's true. It's true. But how many people in your life right now are speaking that into you? How many people in your life are speaking life into you? And so it's just really important, really important to hear that from people in your life. It can be really, really helpful.

I think it goes a long way just asking that question. I am a nurse. How can I help and encourage new nursing? I think that's, that's a great question to ask. And really just asking that question shows that you have the heart to want to encourage people. And I think that to, to a certain degree, all people in nursing profession feel that same way too. They might not come across that way, especially your teachers. I mean, they're there to teach you nursing and how to, how to be the best nurse that they know how to teach you to be. So also give, give your teachers, give, give nurses grace too, that it is tough time. It's always a tough time. But yeah, just look at it from their perspective as well, for the nursing students as well. So I think a little bit of give and take both ways go a long way.

Absolutely. So absolutely.

Yeah.

Love it. Being supportive is huge. Stay away from negativity. Yeah. You guys are awesome. I love it. What do we got?

All right, next one just came in. But I really like this one. And there are a lot of general questions too that will circle back around for those just joining. Welcome to the nursing school show. We're answering nursing related questions an ask me anything, if you will. So next question up. How do you deal with conflicting information between source materials? It seems like the answer for a question can be different based on what book we are using. They. They were using when they created the question.

This can happen sometimes. So funny. We were just talking about this on Monday that like, I had a, my A and P professor, she would always say, and I love it, she said medical knowledge has a half life of 20 years. So in 20 years, half of what we know now will be wrong or like proven wrong. Disproven.

I think 20 years. What were we talking about on Monday? We were talking about CPR and what I learned at CPR and the Heimlich. You definitely probably should not do.

No, like what we used to do, like in the 70s and 80s, you know, 1800s, you definitely don't want to do now. Right. Like, it's always, it's always evolving. And so depending on what edition the textbook is where their research is coming from. You absolutely can get conflicting things. But, but what I will say, like that can happen. What I will say is that that's such a small minority. Don't get caught up in the one question that has conflicting information or the one question that your instructor found in the footnote on page 1343. Read, you know, don't, don't get caught up in the one test question that you get wrong. Like, just don't get caught up in that. Like, move on. Because the overall majority is going to be consistent, like nursing knowledge. I say this. Nursing knowledge is nursing knowledge is nursing knowledge. Right. Most often than not, you look at any of the textbooks that you're reading in nursing school and they're going to be consistent. They're going to say things in different ways. And I think we'll talk about that later. Someone had a question about the Merck manual that was really great. When you look at the Merck manual and then you look at. Let me pull it out, actually, we can just jam on this. See. Okay. No, that's tbr. Where's my. Okay, well, I don't know where my Merc manual is. Okay. So this is very, very high level. This is fluid electrolytes made incredibly easy. We have like a whole bunch of the made incredibly easy series. These are very high level. But when you get into something like, well, papers is actually a good example. So this, this is medical dictionary. This will walk you through deeply what things are. Same thing with the Merck manual. The Merck manual walks things, walks you through really, really deep, deep level pathophysiology and stuff. Whereas this would be a high level overview. Is it conflicting? No, it's not conflicting. It's just one level and then a deeper level. Does that make sense? So, you know, it'll be, it'll be like different, different books will explain things in a different way. It doesn't mean that it's conflicting. It just means that, you know, maybe they're talking about two different aspects or maybe one's a higher level and one's a deeper level. Does that make sense?

Yeah, I think we, we have talked about this before too.

Where is my Merck manual?

I think it might be upstairs or something we have talked about.

I love the Merck manual.

Specifically though, if there is a conflicting answer between books or between what your professor says versus what your book says.

Yes.

What is the way to go about doing that?

Go with the book. If there is a con. If your instructor said something in class and then you read something different in the book. Go with the book. Because for this single reason, when you take your exam and they test you on a question that was conflicting based on what your instructor said in class versus what the book says, you have physical evidence in front of you in that book to back up your answer. Whereas if you just went with what the instructor said, you would really be left saying, well, I heard you say this in class. And then your instructor could come back and say, no, I didn't say that. Does that make sense? So book, go with the book because it gives you physical evidence. Physical evidence. There you go.

All right.

That's what it is. Hey, I see a lot of questions about BSN aren. Sorry, Instagram.

Yeah. So let's jam on that and then I have another one. But, yeah, what is it? Someone was asking what's better, bachelor's or adn? Adn. Adn. One person said that they actually have all their prereqs done. So just kind of making that decision or deciding what to go into.

Awesome. Great. Yeah. If you. I honestly, I think it depends. I think it depends. Depends on your area. Depends on what your prereqs are like, what prereqs are required. So prereqs for an ADN program might be different than prereqs for a BSN program. If you want to work, if, you know, you want to work in hospice care and in your area, you don't need a bachelor's for that. You need an adnan, I don't see any reason why you can't get an adn. You know, you. I, I honestly, I know that there's a big debate out there that, like bsn, bsn, bsn, which is fine if you want to get your bsn, but the ADN has a place, friends, and you are a registered nurse. If you get your adn, and it's oftentimes quicker and you can start working right away, you know, So I think, honestly, I think it's personal preference. The same thing that I, you know, say with the LPN LVN route versus an RN route. It's personal preference. Where do you want to work and what is available in your area? For us, here we are in the Pacific Northwest where we live, we don't have a whole lot of LPNs around. And here, most places require a bachelor's in nursing, a bsn. So, you know, if you have an adn, your options might be limited. If you have a bachelor's, you might have more options. You know, it's just. But then LPN there's really not very many LPN jobs around here. But we had some students in California who were on. I think. When were we talking about this? Last week. Some students in California. If you're in California, or can you tell. Guys, tell me where you are? If you have a lot of LPNs, where you are, or, like, what's the most popular for you? Adn, bsn? Lpn. Like, what is in your area? It really. It depends. I have a bachelor's of science, so do I really need to go for my bsn? That is exactly what I did. So I have my associate's degree in nursing. I don't have a bsn. I have my associate's degree in nursing. I have an Adnan, but I did. Nursing was my third degree. It was my third college degree.

Yeah.

And so I had a bachelor's before I went to nursing. And so if I. Personally, for me, because I already have a bachelor's and I have an associate's degree in nursing, I am. I am. I can tell you guys I'm never doing my bachelor's. If I were to go back to school, I would do a master's or a doctorate because I. I can skip the bachelor's because I already have a bachelor's. Does that make sense? I already have a bachelor's. Another. Another field.

So you can skip that as long as you have a bachelor.

As long as you have a bachelor's degree, depending on the school you go to. So, yeah, I mean, this is all part of my. This is part of my future planning, you guys. I'm gonna do, like, all these things in my life. Yeah. Most likely I would go just for my dnp, to be honest with you. Would be the next thing that I would do because I'd just. Yep, exactly. Just like that. Exactly my thoughts. Yeah. Because oftentimes if you have a bachelor's in something else, you get. And then you can go straight for your DNP or master's in something or what have you, depending on what school you're going to. But it's all these different options. Let me scroll and see. New York State.

Connie, Iowa. LPN is more. Nursing home. Hospital wants RN or bsn.

Yes. Yeah, that's. That's tends to be how it is in this area. LPN is more in. Well, actually, I can't even say that because, like, nursing homes here, hospitals, we're pretty much all rn. There's really.

No.

There's not even an LPN school anywhere close to where we are. The closest is like. Well, I mean, say close. We have a small, very small program just north of us that. But I think they're actually getting rid of their LPN program and just moving to rn. It's actually not even an LPN program. It's an LPN to RN program. So. Yeah, I don't even know if we have an lpn.

Yeah, definitely this area. So. So that's. That's the other part of the mix, right? Lpn, adn, and then bsn. So we. We've been talking up until this point about the ADN and, And BSN in this location for LPNs. LPNs are really.

It's just.

Yeah, yeah. Encourage to. To go the rn. Yeah, go. Go to rn.

We have a lot of the bridge programs around here. LPN to RN bridge programs. Yeah, I. If I had to do it over again, I would have gone the ADN route. Then an RN to BSN bridge program. ADN gives clinical knowledge. BSN is heavy on liberal arts, writing reports, projects and research. I agree. I have seen the curriculum for BSN programs, and I'm like, to be honest, this is kind of stuff that I got when I did my bachelor's in my other field. You know, I don't know. I mean, sure, yeah. But I really loved my ADN program, to be honest with you. It was. Yeah, it was a really good program. A really good program. Texas LPN positions are available, but BSN is preferred in hospitals. Yeah. New York State mandates you to get a Bachelor's of science of BSN in 10 years. Okay, that makes sense.

There's a time limit.

Yeah, there's like this, you know, there's like this, this track. Right. So we had that starting, actually, when I did my ADN my years ago, they were just starting to transition. That. So I think, what, 2000, early 2000 or early 2000s, like they 2010, 2011, 2012, they started transitioning. Like, hey, in three years or in five years, we're going to be requiring everyone to have a bsn. So it gives you kind of that time.

And I think some people in your class already, like, right after that did the bridge.

Yeah, they did, right? Yeah, they went. Because if you went to school, the school that we went to for associates, they had a direct track into the university, and then, you know, you could just do it. I did not do that because for all the reasons I mentioned before, I'm not doing that. New York State is a lot of ADN programs, but my instructor says to be hired, most places need to see you enrolled In a bsn right out if adn. Yes, yes. A lot of hospitals around here as well. That is the same thing. You need to be enrolled in a BSN program. And that. That would be pretty. Well, that's a pretty accurate BSN description from Paula. So many projects. Yep. I learned that way, which is great. But I also love clinicals. Yep. Yeah, you go, girl. You inspire me with all those degrees. It's also my dream to also further my education after graduating nursing school. Yep. Yeah, I really, I mean, I am, you guys know, I'm like a lifelong learner. Yeah, I love teaching. It's really my thing. Learning and teaching. That's my jam. That's my jam.

On that note, let's. This is my segue, by the way. Let's segue into learning and just studying in general. So we have a couple questions. Just tackling fundamentals in general. And I want to start out with this and then we can go into more, more, more tips, tricks on studying. But when tackling a subject like fundamentals, would you suggest going over the objectives instead of reading the whole chapter? So that's someone that asked today. We've previously gotten this question a lot. Also, is it best studying learning objectives in the book or the mpos on the syllabus or do they line up to be about the same? There you go. So kind of that. So what do you study? What do you read? And then. Yeah, specifically fundamentals. So we can jam on that for a while.

Do not focus on the objectives in the textbook. That's not gonna help you focus on the objectives in the syllabus or the modules or PowerPoints. Whatever your instructor gives you, whatever they give you is what they believe is the most important things for you to know, which is most likely going to show up in your exams. Your instructors will most often than not either write your exam themselves or they will know what's on it, or they will have a general idea of what's on it. With that, they're going to teach you in class the things that they believe are the most important things for you to know, which is what's on your exam. Either they wrote your exam, they know what's on it, they have a tangential idea what you're going to be tested on. So that's why we say that focus on the things that your professors, instructors talk about in class. And if you are going with learning objectives, I would very much caution you against reading every all the objectives in the front section of the chapters of the book because that is not going to be a good guidance for you. As in, please don't do that. Because I really don't believe you're going to pass your exam that way. Please don't do that. Please don't do that.

It's one of the key things that we. We talk about and comes out a lot is what do we read or what do we study?

Right. What do we read? What do we study? Because they're gonna. Right. Okay. Raise your hand if you've had a nursing instructor give you a syllabus that has every single chapter of the textbook assigned to you over the term, or.

That they say that you do need to read everything in the book before class, before you've even started the class. Just read everything. Read the whole world and get ready. Anyone? Anyone that said that?

Read the whole world. Yes, Read the whole world. That's what nursing school is. Right. Your instructors are going to tell you to read every single thing of every single thing, and it's just not possible. Right. So that's why we need to prioritize. We need to prioritize. So raise your hand. I've got. Hands up. I know, friends.

Our instructor does a flipped class where we read the chapters before class, then they teach on them. And the exam usually isn't written until a few days before the exam questions from a test bank.

If it's from a test bank, it's written and they know what's on the test bank. That's like I said, they have a general idea of what's going to be on there. Even if it's from a test bank, they have a general idea of what's on.

Going.

Gonna be on there. Yep. They make us go by our state test plan. What is your state test plan, Barbara? I'm curious.

And then what those words. What if your teacher uses the objectives from the book?

Yeah. So go with what your instructor says.

Yeah.

Go with the objectives. If your instructor uses the objectives from the book, then go with those objectives. But don't just go off it from the book just because it's in the book.

Mm.

That's not. Yeah. It's not what you want to do. So when you get your, you know, when you get your textbooks, when you get your syllabus, what you're going to study in the book is what the syllabus covers, what your instructors talk about in class. That's it. It's really that easy, friends? It's really that easy. I know. It can be not only stressful, that can be like anxiety provoking. Right. If you get this syllabus that's like 15, 000 pages long you have in the world, right? Like Matthew says, like they're having you go back to like philosophy from the 1500s. It feels like you don't have to read every single thing in the world. You don't have to read every single thing in your nursing textbooks. You don't. Better yet, I would even go as far as to say is you can't. You could, but you would not have enough time to learn it and critically think about it. And when was the last time your instructor tested you on facts from the textbook? Never. Right? They're going to test you on your critical thinking skills and your ability to apply the information from the textbook to a patient situation or a case scenario question. And if you are spending all of your time just reading for the sake of reading, you are not going to pass your exam. You because you have to understand the core parts of those textbooks and then apply it and critically think about it and understand it so that you can apply that knowledge on your nursing school exam. So if you guys are struggling with how to do this, we have a free critical thinking cheat sheet that walks you through nine key critical thinking questions to walk through as you study. It's so good. Please, please download it. Nursing school of success.com critical thinking. And if you have get my Care plan book. This is another good one. My Christina, you have a lot of books.

She didn't read them by the way.

I didn't read all of them, which is why I'm here to tell you what works in nursing school. Because I know, friends, I know if you have the nursing school study system. This is our nursing school study system. Nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward slash study system. Oh wonder. Page 15 through. I think it's 21. I walk you through critical thinking. We have a DRC critical thinking model that walks you through how to critically think in nursing school. So easy. Step by step. You know me, I teach you everything. Step by step. I walk you through how to take notes in class, how to critically think, how to. This is your 100% step by step guide to studying in nursing school. The nursing school study system.

So that is yeah, our step by step guide. The same step by step guide that we use in our membership community, just in a kind of written format, more DIY version for you to use. We do have it available for PDF.

PDF download.

PDF download. A digital download. So I can pop that in the comments of YouTube as well if you would like to take a look at that.

Yeah. So just make sure you guys that you're not reading the book for the sake of reading the book. There's a waste of time. You're not going to be tested on those things. Make sure that you are spending time actually applying the information. And that's what that critical thinking cheat sheet does. Nursing schoolofsuccess.com Critical thinking that cheat sheet is totally free if you have the nursing school study system. This walks you through those key critical thinking questions as well as the DRC critical thinking model.

So if you're a member in our community, that PDF is available for you in the membership community for free. So go ahead and check that out as well. One other thing that is in there but we can jam on a little bit. A lot of people were asking about questions and testing and they're having a hard time working on nclex, like questions one person was going through fundamentals, had an exam, can't choose the right answer and they didn't do so well. So how to answer nursing school questions during exams, I guess is the question.

So I'm not going to go over all of them, but there are some very specific test taking strategies and hacks that you can use to pick the best answer on your nursing school exams. And some people don't believe me and I don't understand why because it works, my friends, it works. So in the nursing school study system on page 38, I've got 38 through 41, there's a whole lots of stuff, lots of test taking strategies for you that you're going to want to check out. But let's just, I'll just hit a couple of key ones. You have to make sure that you know what the question is really asking you for. Don't assume, don't make assumptions when you read the case scenario in your nursing school exam. It's going to be long, it's going to be a paragraph, maybe paragraph or two. Read the whole thing to make sure that you actually are answering the question that they're asking you. Because they're going to give you a ton of information that doesn't matter. They're going to give you a ton of distract things that will try to distract you. Just a bunch of things that are going to try to throw you off. Don't listen to it. Like read the question, the full question, the whole question, the whole question, and then figure out what they're actually asking you and then even read it again if you need to. But just make sure you're actually answering the question that they're asking. It sounds so simple, but yet. But yet so tough. It's so simple, but it's not easy. So that's on page 38. And then let's see. Which else do I want to do? Oh. Select all that apply questions, the SATA questions. Answer them as true or false questions. Each individual answer. Answer it as a true or false question as it relates to the question. So read the question, look at the first answer. Is it true or false as it relates, and choose it appropriately. And then go down the list. Read the. Read the question, Read the next answer. True or false. Read the question, Read the next answer. Take them on their own merit.

You know, act like it's multiple questions instead of one question. And then, yeah, just be sure not to use one answer to. To affect what you think of the other. Other possibilities. So that's why Christina say, read the question, then choose and then read the question again to kind of reset yourself.

There could be two identical answers, and if they're both correct, you can choose both of them. Take them all the answers on their own merit. Take them all on their own merit.

So that's SATA on their unique snowflakeness.

Their unique snowflakes. They're all unique snowflakes. Prioritize, prioritization questions. When you get a test question that says, what's your first action? What's your initial action? What's your priority nursing action? Any of those, like, phrases, bells in your brain? This is a priority nursing school question. Prioritize ABCs. Airway, breathing, circulation. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Where are they at? The nursing process. Those are the three principles. I'm not going to go over those because we have done it ad nauseam. Did I say that phrase right?

Ad nauseam. You did.

Look at me, guys. Look at me, you guys. I got a phrase, right? Ad nauseam. Sweet.

Again and again.

I actually feel like I, you know, today's gonna be a good day.

Is today a good day?

Yeah, today's a good day.

All right.

I got it right. ABCs. Maslow's. Oh, yeah. The nursing process. Psych. Anything. Mental health is pretty much gonna go at the end.

Yeah.

Yep, that's it.

Great.

The nursing school study system.

Sorry, ig, we cannot put that in there. I can only type on my keyboard, which goes to YouTube. So check it out on YouTube. Nursingschoolofsuccess.com study system. We'll get you there if you want to take a look.

There you go.

Awesome.

Truth. Better to understand than to just Memorize and regurgitate information. Thank you, Paula. Oh, your critical thinking videos have helped me so much. I'm so glad. That's good. Like that word. Erin, you're the best. Aaron, you're always the best. Thank you.

Thank you all for joining and all these questions that are coming in. For those just joining, we are doing the nursing school show. Christina.

Hello.

Matthew. Future nurses. I'm present. Christina, but late. Welcome.

Hello.

You're always welcome. So we are currently answering nursing school questions.

Yes, Barbara. The study system inside the nursing SS membership community is under the Watch this first course.

I put it there just to confuse everyone.

Yeah, we should move it.

I don't know where to put it.

So it should go in the study course or in bonuses.

Yeah, I just figured that. Well, whatever, we'll figure it out.

Members out there somewhere. No one looks books. Which happens to be the course called watch this first.

I thought that people would look at that and say I should watch that first, but they don't. Apparently I was mistaken. So it is in the watch this first course. Go ahead and check it out.

But the study system is totally free for members. If you can find it, it's in the watch.

That's the price you pay. You need to look for it.

We are not trying to hide it from you. We will move it into somewhere that makes a little more sense. So sorry about that, friends. I just think that's super funny. I love making fun of you. I think it's so funny. He's the best.

Next question, how to stay motivated. Motivation, I think comes up a fair bit too. So the, the general overall scope, we've had it a couple of times from multiple platforms is how do I stay motivated? And Juliana actually is a. It's not really motivated related, but I want to throw that in there as well. I start nursing school in January. How do you cope with stress? I'm so scared I'll gain weight throughout nursing school.

Doesn't have to be. Does not have to be a reality. That is fully your choice. It's fully your choice, my friends.

How to stay motivated and how to deal with stress and how to.

Okay, not. I love this. You guys know if you email us, I'm never going to say your name on here unless you give me permission to. But we just got an email yesterday today, one of the two. I just read it this morning, so it was pretty good. Someone emailed in asking if they're doing something wrong because they don't feel stressed in nursing school. They're like, Christina, I feel Like, I miss. Like, what am I missing? I'm missing something, obviously, because I feel fine, and everyone else is freaking out. I'm like, yes, thank you. No, you're fine. Like, you're fine. It doesn't mean you're missing anything. It just means that you have your brain under control, right? Here's the thing. Here's the thing, my friends. Whether or not you are in nursing school, whether or not you are in your prereqs, whether or not you are a nurse, you still have a brain. And your brain is still going to tell you, you are not good enough. You cannot do it. It's not worth it. It's impossible. The whole list of things, right? Let's do a thought experiment. Just real quick. Let's do a thought experiment. Go back with me five years. Where were you five years? Can you tell me? Where were you at in your life five years? Were you thinking about nursing school? Were you in your prereqs? Maybe three years or two years? Two years ago. Three years ago. Five years ago. And I can guarantee you, you told yourself life would be better when I'm in nursing school. Did you tell yourself that five years ago I would feel better? I'm gonna feel better when I'm in nursing school. Life will be better when I get accepted into nursing school. Life will be better when I start nursing school. Life will be better when I graduate nursing school. Life will be better when I pass the nclex. How often do we tell ourselves this, guys? How often do we tell ourselves this? And is it ever better? No. No, it's not. Because you still have a brain, right? And your brain is still going to tell you, not good enough. You're not worth it. It's impossible. You can't do it. It's too hard. All the things. All the things all the time. But think back five years ago. Think back 10 years ago. If you were always telling yourself, it's gonna be better, when it's gonna be better, when it's gonna be better, when you are never going to be happy. It is never going to be better. Right? Okay. That's all I got.

So, Gia, that's all I got. Just to follow up on that, one more question. I'm 39 years old. Am I too old to go back to school? Same thing it is in your mind.

No.

And so if you put a stake in the ground on if I reach this goal or if I get past this, then I'll be. Or if I. If only I can reach this, then I'll be You'll find that that goalpost is always moving. It's always changing. So you need to reframe your brain. Something we talk about a lot is changing the mindset. Looking at your mindset, looking inside and seeing, okay, what is this mindset? And how can I alter it a little bit so that it serves me? Because those thoughts are not serving you. So how can it serve me?

Absolutely. How can you be happy here? How can you be happy in nursing school? And so, going back to the question you were asking, how do I get prepared for January? I don't want to be stressed and I don't want to gain weight. And what I'm going to tell you, my friend, right now, those two things, being stressed and gaining weight, are 100% your choice. 100% your choice. No one wants to hear that. No one wants to hear that they're in charge of their emotions, right? No one wants to hear that they're in charge of how much weight they gain. No one wants to hear that, right? Yeah, no one wants to hear that we're in charge of our feelings. But you are. You are in charge of your feelings. You get to decide which is the most. That's the best thing in the world because it's up to you, right? It's up to you how you think, how you feel, and what actions you take based on those things, right? It's up to you in your life, which all go for it. You don't have to be stressed in nursing school. You don't have to gain weight in nursing school if you don't want to. It's up to you. Thoughts, anybody?

Yeah, definitely. So it is up to you. Reframe your brain, manage your emotions, manage your feelings. You can control that. Kind of bringing it a little bit down to, to practical levels. This goes back to the motivation. How do I stay motivated or how do I deal with. With stress. And there. There's a couple practical things that you can definitely do. One thing that we hear a lot or that we say a lot is what is your why? Root yourself in your why. That's especially good for motivation. That especially good with stress. What is my why? Why am I doing this? Why am I going through nursing school? By putting that mindset on instead of, when I get here, I will be happy, or when I get here, I will succeed. Instead of doing that, just think of yourself, why am I doing this? What is. What is something higher than that stress or that motivation to push you forward? What is my why? Right? So. So that will definitely help Quote from Rory Vaden that I toss around a lot. It's hard to be nervous when your heart is on service. And you guys are all in nursing school. So I know that you guys are all service minded. You have a heart to serve other people and you want to do that as a nurse. And I get it. So use that motivation, use that thought process, use that feeling, that mindset to realize, okay, my heart is on service. I need to serve people. The stress, stress will go away, Your nervousness will subside because it's not up to you. It is not because of you. It is not for you at that point in time. It's for something bigger. It's for your family, it's for your community. What have you. What is your why backing up to just motivation in general. Right? Motivation in general. Motivation is a muscle. It takes practice. It just takes practice. It takes willpower, but it's also tied into your feelings and your emotions. And we just got done talking that you're in charge of your feelings. So you can wake up one day, you can say, you know what? I just want to stay in bed. I don't feel like getting up. And you can, it's ultimately your choice. You can always choose to just stay in bed all day. But is that really serving you? Is that really serving your why? So use that why? And just practice. Practice your motivation. And sometimes you don't feel like studying, Sometimes you don't feel, sometimes you don't feel motivated. But at the end of the day, that doesn't really matter.

Yep.

What matters is what you have to do and what you choose to do. So use that. Use motivation. Motivations. Kind of this, this, this thing that, oh, I need to be motivated. I need to be passionate about something before I do something. No, you're in charge of your feelings. You might not feel something one day. You push through it anyway, knowing that your overall why, the. That will propel you and eventually you'll feel that way again. So act as if. And then it will come back. Act as if. And the more you do it, the more you practice, the better it will get. The easier it will get. Your willpower will grow, your motivation will grow. But it takes practice. And it's up to you.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not men. That's what we do. We work for God. That's what we do. We control our thoughts, we control our emotions, and we control our actions. You can't control other people. You can't control how nursing School is going to be classes, being online in class, things changing. Other nursing instructors, what they say to you, you cannot control any of that, but you can control yourself. You can control your thoughts, thoughts, you can control your emotions and your feelings and you can control your actions. That is within your control. So control what you can leave everything else up to God, but control yourself, right? So you do not need to be stressed in nursing school. You do not need to be anxious in nursing school. You don't. It's up to you, right? I worked so hard on my anxiety in nursing school and I. I mean through nursing school, you guys serious? Honestly, I started nursing school. I mean, if you have dealt with anxiety, true anxiety, like literally flat on the floor, cannot move, paralyzed, panic attack, anxiety is what I've lived with my whole life, long as I can remember. And that is something that I've worked every single day because I took ownership of that. This is my battle to fight in myself. And I know that I can overcome it. I know that I can overcome it if I work on it and control my thoughts and control my feelings and emotions. It all stems from how I'm thinking, right? So it's just that you were in control. Take your power back, take your ownership. If someone else, if you're giving your emotional life, if you're giving your instructor your control over your emotions, if you're giving your nursing school control over your emotions, your exam control over your emotions, then you have no control, right? That is such a weak place to be. That is not where you want to be, right? That's not where you want to be. You want to be in control of what you can control, which is your thoughts and your feelings and your actions. I know everyone's saying amen. Amen.

You're right.

Staying healthy all the way. Emotionally and physically. Thank you. Yes, I'm a male nurse. Love your videos. Love from India. Hello. Yeah, absolutely, for sure. Amen. Yes, I know.

Everyone's saying Christine has definitely worked on that a lot. And yes, she was very different when she first started nursing school.

Very when we first got married. Like how different am I now, man? It's crazy. I am not the same person at all than I was.

And that's why she's here. That's why, why we're here is so that we can guide you through. She did everything that you guys are talking about in nursing school when you started nursing school. She was a futurist. She wanted to do everything by the book. And what does that mean? Trying to read everything in the book. Trying to do everything that everyone's told her to do, and that's just overwhelming. And she. She got caught up in this anxiety and stress and things, and then just stepping back. And there is a better way. There are things that I can control. There are things that I can do better, more efficiently. And that's why we're here, is to pass on that information so you don't have to do it. The last thing that I wanted to tie this all together with is that is. It's a journey. It's an ongoing journey. It's a continuous journey. This isn't something that, like, you just wake up one day and say, you know what? I'm just. I'm going to decide to always be motivated, or I'm going to decide that even if I'm not motivated, I'm going to do it no matter what, and that's it. And checkbox. And I'll never have to think about again. That's not true. It's an ongoing journey. So everything we're saying here is an ongoing journey. And it's a journey that sometimes you do really good at, but sometimes you wake up in bed and you think, I am not motivated. I cannot get up. And you give into that, and that's okay, too. As long as you recognize that you are growing past that. As long as you realize you keep trying and you get up. That's something we talk about a lot with nursing school. You keep. You get up, you keep trying, and you keep going. Even if you fail, you know you're trying and you're moving forward. So you move forward, you keep moving. It is a journey. Nursing school is a journey. This motivation, dealing with stress, it's all a journey. So don't. Don't feel bad if you fail. And then you get into this negative spiral about just thinking about stress and stressed about trying not to be stressed. Right. No, that. That doesn't help you. So just realize that it is a journey. We're all in this together. And it's something that you. You just have to strive to be better at. Just be better at it than you were yesterday.

Got lots of hearts for that and likes Nice. So all of that. Friends, I want to jam on this. Just real quick. Is it really possible to control things if your mentor or supervisor is not support. Supportive? Yes. And again, nobody wants to hear that. But if you are giving your emotional life over to somebody else, you are going to be sorely disappointed every day of your life. It's the reality. No one else is in charge of your feelings, except you. You are in charge of how you feel, you are in charge of how you think, and you are in charge of how you act. Nobody else, right? So no matter what an instructor says, no matter what a mentor says, you can choose to do whatever you want. You can choose to think whatever you want, you can choose to feel however you want, regardless of what anyone else does. Regardless of what anyone else says, Right? If I had a penny for all the time, someone said, oh, you shouldn't start nursing. Sos. That's a dumb idea, Christina. Yet here we are. You know, if I had listened to all the haters.

Thank you, all the haters.

Thank you, all the haters. You know, we wouldn't be here. Friends, take control. Take control of your life. Okay, we're gonna end it on that Instagram.

We're taking off because we have five seconds left for Instagram.

We might jam on this a little more next time. See you guys later.

And see you guys later. See you on Monday.

Yep. 9:00am 9:00am Ask me anything. Well, it'll be me.

Anything topics. Nursing school related. All right, thank you all for joining.

Bye.

Bye.

Finish.