Nursing School ASK ME ANYTHING!!
Christina Rafano and Matthew answer nursing students' questions on exams, study strategies, and clinical skills. They recommend learning pharmacology by drug class and mechanism before side effects, using a two-tier textbook approach for pathophysiology, and focusing on four core areas: pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, assessment, and interventions. Their critical-thinking framework uses a nine-question cheat sheet to tackle case scenarios.
Chapters
Oh, Instagram's doing their thing again.
Oh, okay. I put a title down in YouTube. YouTube. Good morning. Good morning to welcome to the nursing school show. This is Ask Me Anything. I tried to put it in YouTube under the title that's what we do every Monday and Wednesday, but it didn't work. For the past while, it didn't work. So hopefully you guys join.
Hello.
Hello. I'm Matthew. That is Christina. We're answering nursing related questions.
Good morning.
Good morning.
So, friends, big news. This will be our last ask me anything for a little while.
For a little bit.
We have plans for you.
And like I said on YouTube, I'm not even sure if you can see our title. Is our title just like nothing?
I don't think it's like anything.
Is it anything? Anyway, it's an ask me anything.
Good morning, Instagram.
So we're here answering nursing school questions for the last time for a little while.
Yep.
So be sure to write your comments, your questions, everything down in the comments below so we can get through as many as possible.
Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Let's go.
All right, let's get started. Where do we want to start off? Okay, let's just start with a goodie. How do you study? How to study?
How do you study?
And I'm not sure this is a question we got on Monday. I'm not sure what the second part of this question is really about. When do you recommend to take the tests? So I'm not sure if.
Oh, that might be because, like, classes are online and maybe you have.
If you have online classes, do you have an ability to choose when you take a test?
I think so. Because, like, I remember from online classes. Online classes, right. You are able to, like, take it like they give you. You have to take it by this date, like they give you a deadline, but then you can take it anytime. Is that what you're asking?
Hmm. I think we'll just go with that.
I'm with that.
Yeah, I'm lost. How to study and prepare for the test and classes.
Right now, I think that you take it when you're prepared.
Good plan.
But by the deadline, make sure that you take your online exams before those online exams are due and make sure that you're prepared. So don't take it before you're prepared, obviously. So this, of course, does not apply to you. If your instructors give you a set date and time to take your exam, if they give you a set date and time, then, yes, you have to take it on that Date and time. But if they give you, like, a range that you can take your exam.
Then would you just wait until the end or is there any, any chance that, like, you'd be as prepared as you're gonna get and then you just should take it? Because if you just let it go longer, then you're just gonna worry about stress and.
Yeah, that's exactly true. So you, you want to be in that sweet spot for yourself where it's like you're prepared, but you're not, like, freaked out, anxious, and procrastinating on it just because you're freaked out and anxious. For those just joining, for those just.
Joining, we are answering the question right now. When do you take your test for nursing school? So we are under the impression that this question comes from someone with online classes, and maybe there's a date range that you can take your test. So if you have that same kind of set up, go ahead and write down in the comments, because I have not heard of that yet, but I'm curious whether that is really what they're asking for. So when to take the test? When you're ready. Definitely before it's too late to take it.
Yeah.
So definitely before it's too late, there should be a sweet spot on when you feel as prepared as you're going to be, just go ahead and take it, rather than just keeping it till the last possible moment.
Yes. And like we always say, friends, here's what you're going to want to focus on. Focus on the four four main things that they're going to test you on. Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. So when you're studying, you need to know those four main categories. Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. Now, along with that, make sure that you are reading the section of the book or studying the things that your instructors talk about in class, whether in class in person, or in class online. What have you study? The things that your instructors talk about in class in their PowerPoints and their study modules, outlines, whatever they give you, study the things that relate to what they talk about in class. And that's going to help you prepare, be more prepared for your nursing school exams that way. Boom.
Oh, thanks, Jess. You wrote it down. Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. Those are the four main categories to study for. Med surg, for fundamentals, for all the things. All the things Nursing school related to those categories.
Mental health. All the stuff.
Yes.
Yep.
So all the stuff.
Yeah.
I lost how to study and prepare. So study the things that your professors talk about in class.
Yes. And so that's kind of interesting. That's kind of an interesting issue that we can have now with online classes. Right. When you can take an exam for like a week, do you put it off? Do you take it right away? When do you take it? I think it's up to you. Like I said, when you feel prepared, but you're not procrastinating because you just don't want to take it, and you're scared and anxious and procrastinating.
Yeah.
You know, there's that sweet spot in there.
Andrea, new to your channel, and your video for finals helped me a lot. We are glad. Well, we're not talking about finals right now. We're just talking about test taking, but hooray.
Congratulations. Andrea, can you tell us on YouTube, is there a title on this video? Because we had some technical difficulties this morning.
I'm pretty sure it's there, but with YouTube.
Thank you, YouTube.
There you go.
If your professor does not teach, then what should you study? Those four main things, the pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions.
Yep. So if they do not teach, we actually have a video, a YouTube video.
About that video on it.
If your teacher does not teach. But yes. Focus on the topics that they're supposed to teach.
Studying in class.
Yes.
Yep.
Yeah.
Oh, it says nursing school. Ask me anything. Thank you, Andrea. Thank you, Alex.
Perfect. Thank you. I did appreciate it. I did something right. I did the thing.
Yeah. YouTube is giving us a little bit of technical difficulties. Facebook looks like we're going in and out, too. We're having some connectivity issues with Facebook. Sorry about that.
All right, Abby, let's. Let's jump right to your question because that goes along with the four main categories to study for. Nursing. Pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, nursing intervention. So, Abby, you're asking what's the best way. I'm actually going to flip it around, if you don't mind. What's the best way to study for pathophysiology? Because that's what we're talking about. And after that, what's the best ways to study for pharmacology?
Got it. Okay, so first thing I want to say, we have a whole YouTube video for. For you on what to do when your instructors do not teach, and it's on YouTube. Type in nursing SOS what to do.
If you're Teachers don't teach or something.
Professors don't teach or Instructors don't teach something like that. Maybe Andrea, Alex, on YouTube. Can someone, like, go to our YouTube channel and find that video and tell us what it's called? It's. It's something like what to do if your instructors doesn't. Don't teach. What to study when your instructors don't teach.
Also, before we do that, people on Facebook. Sorry, that it is kind of cutting in and out. Go ahead and join us either on Instagram or on YouTube if you want to continue. Those seem to be going a. Okay, yeah.
Facebook keeps going in and out.
Yeah. So we'll keep you guys on, but if you're having a little bit of trouble, you can always pop on the other channels, other ways of following us, watching us. That'll be great.
So that video is on YouTube. Go, just go to YouTube, type in nursing SOS, what to do if your instructor doesn't teach. It'll be up there for you. So that was Ilano's. Hello. That's to answer your question. Now, that's going to answer your question a lot of things, but let me run through a brief overview with you here. What do you do if your instructors do not teach? And how do you remember pathophysiology and pharmacology? So pathophysiology specifically, I love. Because you can break it down step by step, and you have to understand the pathophysiology before you can understand anything else and be able to really critically think about it. Okay. So pathophysiology is really the foundation of what you need to know. Pathophysiology and physiology, what happened? Like, what's normal is physiology and then what is abnormal. That's the pathophysiology. So what is going wrong in the body? Right? And then from there you can understand the signs and symptoms, the nursing assessment and the nursing interventions for those things. Right? So, but it all starts with the pathophysiology. So when you are reading or learning about pathophysiology, I want you to constantly be thinking to yourself, okay, what comes first? Like, what happens first? What is normal and then what happens? Is there a trigger that you know if it's like a cardiac disorder? Okay. There's a trigger that causes the heart to do X, Y and Z. And then what happens? And then what happens? And then what happens? So you can break pathophysiology down step by step. So who is a nursing SOS member here? Raise your hand.
I know someone. Alicia is on the membership. Thank you so much for the shout out. That's awesome.
Okay, nursing SOS members, this is for you. Raise your hand if you're a nursing member, if you want everybody else to know. So pathophysiology, when you log into the membership community, when you log in, what you're going to see is, you know, all the courses there for you. When you click on any of the med surg courses or a lot. In our fundamentals courses and stuff like that, we have loads of pathophysiology videos for you. Loads. So when you go into a pathophysiology video, you probably already know this. We break pathophysiology down for you step by step. We tell you what happens, you know, first, second, third. Like, here is how the pathophysiology flows. This is an amazing way. I have never seen anyone else teach pathophysiology the way we do. We do it the best and clearly say that because it helps you remember it. We break it down for you step by step. Like what is actually happening in the body, right? With pathophysiology, when things go wrong. So log into your dashboard there, find any of the pathophysio videos that you're confused on and watch it. We'll break it down for you step by step. Alicia, you say I agree. Yes, I agree too. They're so helpful. Yes. Jess, you're awesome. Welcome to all our members that are.
Yes, hello to all our members. Thank you for joining.
So that is patho. It's gonna break. I. I really want you to be able to break it down step by step. Now. Also, what I want to mention about pathophysiology. Do we have any books over there?
No, you have all my books. They're over there. Way over there.
Okay. Can you hold this, please?
All right, so there's this guy.
Thank you. Okay, so there are two resources that I highly recommend that you get in nursing school or like have. And this goes for members who are non nursing SOS members. If you're a nursing SOS member, ignore me right now. Okay, this is for students who are not in our membership community. Okay. I want you to have two different textbooks. One of them, high level overview of pathophysiology, which would be something like this Pathophysiology made incredibly easy. So this book is going to give you a high level overview of what is happening with pathophysiology. Right? Like what is happening in the body. Very high level. Like generally what is going on. So this is a good place to start. Like, it's going to give you a general idea of what is happening now, also in nursing school though, you're going to want a deep dive, which I really like the Merck manual for. So this is my favorite. This is my favorite for a deep dive is the Merck manual. This is the 19th edition. I don't know, they might have a new one. This is the Merck manual. It's also online. So the Merck manual is going to go into chemical level, cellular level, enzyme level, protein level. I said chemicals already. So it's going to, it's like a deep dive pathophysiology. So here's your high level overview. And then it's going to say, okay, here's what's going on with like chemicals and the cells, you know, at the cellular level. Whereas this is not really going to go that deep into patho. Does that make sense? So this is a good place to start to get a high level overview of what's going on. Then you can use a resource like the Merck manual for a deep dive understanding. Like, for example, if you have a research paper to write and you have to really like, really list out in this research paper what is going on with the disorder, you're going to want a book like the Merck manual that really describes it in detail what is going on so you can write that paper, right? So two resources for you. Now I said that only goes for if you're not a nursing member. If you are a nursing member, my friend, you know this, we do this for you. So we give you, you know, with our videos, we give you both a high level overview and the deep dive into what is going on. So, so like I said before, we break pathophysiology down for you step by step inside the nursing SOS membership community. So I know a lot of you guys are in the membership community. Jesse said you love my nursing sos Membership has helped you so much. I'm glad, so happy about that, Jess. That really makes my heart sing. So if you guys want to join, you can go to nursing school of success.com join and all the information is there for you now. So that was pathophysiology. Let's chat about pharmacology. Okay, pharmacology, Here we go. Did you have anything you wanted to say?
Not necessarily about that, but Charlene just, just asked. Can you tell me an easy way to study pharmacology, Drugs, what have you. So, yeah, this is what we're going to go through right now. If you want the easy way to study drugs, join the membership community. Course not those cal.
Course we Have a whole medication database. Sorry.
We also have a dose cal course.
But inside the membership community.
The easy way to study drugs medication database. Yep, in our membership, but this is the overview as well.
Okay, can you screenshot this, please? Screenshot, everyone? Screenshot. You want this book? Okay, Latest edition. Not these editions, not these editions, but like the newest edition of the Davis drug. Okay, good. You need a drug guide. So for pharmacology, what you're going to want to do is focus on studying the mechanism of action of the class. The pharmacologic class, Therapeutic class could work. I prefer the pharmacologic. So the mechanism of action is what's what. How does the drug act in the body? How does the medication act in the body? So we need to know that before we can move on to learning the side effects. The what we're going to assess for how we're going to give it all those things we need to understand what is it doing in the body? What is the mechanism of action? So this is called the mechanism of action. Moa. You might see it.
Moa.
Moa. Mechanism of action. So understand the mechanism of action of the medication. And an easy way to do this is to learn them by medication class. Like I said, pharmacologic class. So medications will be grouped into different classes. So pharmacologic class, which means that all the meds in that class act the same way or similar in the body. They all have the same or similar mechanism of action. Therefore, because they act the same way in the body, they have the same mechanism of action. Generally, the nursing assessment will be pretty similar. Generally, the side effects will be similar. A lot of the things about the medications inside one drug class will be very similar. So this is a wonderful, fabulous thing because they're. Instead of learning like a dozen, like 12 medications individually, you can just learn what you need to know for that class, the pharmacologic class of medications, and then you automatically know that information for all 12 of the medications that go into that drug class. Does that make sense? So good. So make sure that you are studying pharmacology based on the drug class. Are we all on board? All on board with that? Okay, now can. Can we. Can we get those two books? Because we forgot to do a screenshot with those. So get ready to screenshot my friends. Okay. Get your phone ready to push whatever buttons you need to.
This was back for pathophysiology.
This was for patho. These are the two books you're gonna want for path. Okay. Screenshot. Screenshot it. Yeah. Oh, you gotta come this way for Instagram.
Instagram. Sorry. Okay.
There you go.
Okay.
Yay, screenshot. Share with your friends. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, like, you screenshot, share it with your friends and tell them, hey, this random girl on YouTube told us to get these books. And I think she's right is what you should message them.
Exactly. Use those words. Exactly.
This random girl on YouTube told me to get these things. So we should. Yes. Oh, and while we're on that, just while we're screenshotting, are you ready to screenshot more? This one care plan book. And if you want a deep dive into care plans, we have a YouTube video about it. And we also talked about it on our AMA on Monday. So this book writes your care plans for you. Good. Really? Screenshot. Screenshot it. Okay, I'm good with my screenshots.
All right. Hopefully that helps. Abby, Charlene. So those were brief overviews of pathophysiology and pharmacology for you guys. Moving on. If you guys have not noticed, we are answering nursing school questions. By the way, that's why we're called the Nursing school show and why we're an Ask me.
That's why we're here.
So that is why we are here. If you have not yet on YouTube, hit subscribe. Hit the bell. Hit the things.
All the things. Oh, hey, we. We did mention this, though, at the beginning.
Oh, yes.
Of the live. If you missed it, it's okay. I'm gonna repeat it right now. This will be our last ask me anything show.
For a little bit.
For a little bit.
I'm not sure. Well, we have other things on the horizon that we're gonna be doing. There are more YouTube videos that are coming out. So that's why I'm saying hit the subscribe. Hit the bell. Because we are jumping back into the other YouTube videos as well. So definitely hit subscribe so you do not miss out on.
We have loved being here with you guys. I think it's been like seven months. Seven months that we've been doing this since what, July?
Yeah, probably September.
October, November.
Hey, let me look real quick. This is actually episode 57.
February. So, yeah, like six, seven months. Whoa.
This is episode 57 of roughly twice a week.
So fun. So we are going to hit pause on the live AMAs because, friends, we have a lot of amazing things coming for you. Stay tuned. So with that, go to YouTube, hit the subscribe button and click the notification bell. Hit subscribe. Click the notification bell. Because, friends, you don't want to miss it. There you go, okay.
And be sure to ask your question now. Then ask your nursing school question right now.
Let's do it.
Okay, Moving on.
Emily.
How to move on. All right, sorry. How to move on from failing an exam.
Oh, this is what we get a lot.
I think we have a YouTube video on that as well.
We do go to YouTube. Type in nursing SOS is this way, apparently. What to do? What to do somewhere. Go to YouTube. What to do if you fail an exam. So type in nursing SOS what to do if you fail an exam.
I think actually if you. If you type in nursing SOS fail, it will get you there, which is kind of funny.
And Alex, you told us, you told us if you don't know what. I didn't have the video title, but you said, here's the video. I'll go to nursing SOS.
My professor doesn't teach.
Yeah, Nursing sos. My professor doesn't teach us anything. Here's the previous question. My professor doesn't teach.
Okay.
Okay. That was for the other question. Thank you, Alex. I really appreciate it.
So actually, before we do the failing an exam, Austin just said that it was too blurry to make up those books. So just really quickly what those books are again. There's a Nursing Diagnosis handbook.
There is Nursing Diagnosis Handbook, Pathophysiology Made Incredibly Easy, Merck Manual. Manual.
And Davis's Drug Guide.
Davis.
So There you go.
4.
All right, all right.
We have books galore over here, my friends.
What do you do if you fail an exam? And how do you move on from failing an exam?
Okay, the thing that we always say is that here's the problem. When you fail an exam or don't do as well as you had wanted to on an exam, it is very easy to get stuck in a rut and not be motivated to study for the next exam. Now, this is a big problem, my friends, because obviously if you don't study for your next exam, it's like self sabotage. You're sabotaging your own success. If you're not studying for your next examination, your chances of doing well on your next exam are less. Right. We want to make sure that even though we didn't do well before, we want to make sure that we keep going no matter what. Cool. That's really the biggest thing. It's the biggest mindset trap that we see nursing students fall into. It's like you're scared, you're anxious, you didn't do well before. You don't think you're going to do well next time. Don't fall for it. Just because you didn't do well before doesn't mean that you're not going to do well on your next exam. Here's another thing, too. I think that we oftentimes listen to the rumor mill too much in nursing school. So if you're coming up on an exam that everyone says is, like, the worst, it's so hard, it's impossible. No one ever passes all those things, you know? Right. We've hear. We've heard all those things. Right. It's impossible. Don't listen to it. Because your. Your strengths might be someone else's weaknesses, and your weaknesses are someone else's strengths. You are different than everyone else in your class. Right. So even if someone says that the next exam is going to be so, so hard, take it with a grain of salt because it might be super easy for you. You might do really well on it, you know?
So there you go, Brandy. I failed my first exam quiz, had my moment, and then got back at it. Pass my pass exam two with a B, and quiz two with a B, and now I'm passing Med Surge one. So that is exactly it. It's getting back on the horse and knowing that, okay, I failed my exam, but that does not mean that I need to fail all my other exams and I need to get back to it. Yes, exactly what you did. So, yes, definitely Don't. Don't let it hold you back. Definitely see if there's things that you can learn from. And the biggest thing is how to. How to study. How to study for finals or how to study for exams. And we talked briefly about how to do that. Yeah. But, yes, definitely learn from your mistakes, but definitely do not get that negativity in your head and let it drag you down.
Absolutely. I think that's really the biggest. The biggest barrier. Now, some other practical strategies to do is to, of course, meet with your instructor after your exam. So meet with your instructor after your exam, go over your test with them. Make sure you know what questions you got wrong, why you got them wrong. Go over your study methods with them. Like, you know, walk. Walk your instructor through. Okay, here's how I'm studying. What. What do you see that I'm doing well, and what do you see that I can improve on as far as studying goes? A great question that I really like encouraging you to ask and really like asking is, if you were taking this class, like, ask this of your instructor. If you were taking your class, how would you study? So, like, ask that to your instructor. If Your instructor was taking their own class. How would they study? So what. What would they recommend? I definitely, definitely ask that. And make sure that you go over your exam with them afterwards. If they allow it.
Yep. Yep. Very good, Angela's. I'm taking. I'm taking my first patho test today. Yay.
Super nervous. You'll be fine.
Yeah.
And just like we said, I mean, even if it doesn't go so well or how you wanted it to go, just go over your exam with them. It's fine. It's not the end of the world. Like Brandy said, you failed your first exam quiz. It's not the end of the world. Right. You said, I had my moment that got back to it and passed Exam 2 with a B and the Quiz 2 with a B. Now I'm passing Med Surge 1. So, Angela. Angels, Angels, listen to Brandy. I mean, this happens all the time, nursing students. If you don't do well on an exam, you just keep moving on. Right. But don't get caught in this rut of, oh, it's impossible. I can't do it, so I'm not going to study. And then you fail your next exam because you didn't study. Right. So just like Brandy did. Try, try, try, try, try, try again. Try, try again. I was trying to avoid that.
Okay.
Angel. Hello. So. Yes, Listen, brainy. Thank you.
Quick question from Kelma, y'. All. Did nclex.
Yes, I did.
No, not a nurse. Not a nurse. Right here. Nurse over there. So listen to her more than me. So there you go, Eric saying, oh, no. Give a hint at what's coming.
Lots of things.
Lots of things. And then I have. Oh, okay. So, Tammy, I had a question for you. You said I started on miscellaneous nursing notes today. Any tips? What are. What are mis. What are miscellaneous?
I mean, that could be a lot of things.
So what. What I think of when I hear misleading miscellaneous nursing notes is like that drawer in your kitchen where, like, everything just goes and just gets lost and forever. You never look at it.
The kitchen junk drawer.
Yeah. The miscellaneous drawer.
Yeah.
Is what I think of. So I'm curious. What. What do you mean by miscellaneous nursing notes? Because miscellaneous as a category is a very easy way for things to just get lost.
Yeah. SIM charts. Yeah, I was confused about that, too, Jamie. I mean, miscellaneous. Are you talking about electronic, like ehr. Charting? Are you talking about narrative charting? Are you talking about soap. Soapy. Soapier. Charting. SIM charts. So I still need more information.
I. I found it interesting topic. So be sure to, like, give us a Little bit more information so we can jam on that. I think that'll be good.
Who asked what's coming? Eric. Eric asked what's coming. So we have videos coming on YouTube on charting. If you're in the nursing SOS membership community, we have videos on charting already. They're in the fundamentals course. So if you log into your nursing SOS membership community dashboard, click on Fundamentals, the fundamentals course. We have charting and documentation videos there for you. So I love when I work with patients, we have students with us. And I was going through documentation and I was like reading in the patient's chart and the documentation was pristine. It was so good. I was like this nurse, like, whoever wrote this was fabulous. And it was a student nurse and I thought it was so cute, because I don't.
I mean, because you guys follow all the rules.
You follow all the rules.
So Tammy says, yes, electron electric charting, which is better than some of the other charting, which is like giant stacks of paper. So, yeah, electric charting. Okay, interesting.
Well, electronic electronic charting also can mean very different things. Like you're inputting into boxes, like little box like battle signs, right? Or writing a narrative note. So basically, okay, so let's just jam on. It's called narrative charting. So narrative charting, you want to get as much information as possible. I really like doing like direct quotes from patients. Getting like actual direct quotes quotes, making sure that you just have as much information as possible. And I, I also try to think like, okay, so when the next nurse, you know, sees this patient, when the doctor sees, like, what do they need to know? What questions are they going to ask? What can I ask the patient now? So all of those things, you know, what, what would be the most helpful for the next nurse? What would be the most helpful for the doctor? Those things is really what I like to think about and also a big thing that I do because I'm just not as organized as I wish I was when I am with patients. I like to write it down first. Like on your brain sheet or something. Write it down on your brain sheet and then go to the computer or paper, chart, whatever you use, and write it in concisely. Nice and concise. I know some nurses can, like do it at the same time and make it all look nice. I am not one of those right now. You know, I am not one of those. So I like to write it out first on like my brain sheet and then copy it again onto the computer or else it'll just be a jumbled mess. There's my tips I'm so confused. Not even sure how to explain it to you. Okay, what does it look like on your SIM charting? Yeah, you said it's a narrative note, so what does that. What does it look like? What do you have to do now? Now I'm super curious because I'm. What I'm thinking, Tammy, is that when you go to do your SIM online, like you have a case scenario or something that you have to walk through, and then you have, like, you have to take care of your patient online, a simulation, and then you have to document on them. Is that what's happening, Tammy? That is what I'm thinking. Clarify that for me. Yep. So those are my tips on narrative charting. Really the biggest thing is what I said. Like, just making sure that, you know that you're collecting all the information as possible. Direct quotes is really helpful. And then just. Yeah, I. I just think to myself, okay, the next nurse, you know, what are they going to need to know and what is the doctor going to ask?
You know, I think those are really good, important things to really capture is what. What will be helpful for the next people coming along. Coming along, the nurse or the doctor. So. And then, yeah, direct quotes are really good so that they can refer back to exactly what was said.
So, yeah, absolutely. Direct quotes as much as possible.
Right off the top of my head, I was thinking probably something like pain. Right. It would be good to direct quote how the patient is feeling about those pains and all that things, since it.
Is a little bit harder the opqrst.
Yep. Harder to objectively mark those things. So direct quotes would be good.
Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, there you go. Narrative charting. And like I said earlier, this is specifically for Eric. We have videos on nursing documentation coming up on our YouTube channel very soon. So if you go to YouTube, hit the subscribe button and click the notification bell. Okay. And then inside the nursing SOS membership community, we have several videos on charting and documentation already for you. So there you go.
Yay.
Okay.
Charlene's asking. Going back to going over your test with your teacher. If you're. If teacher. If your teacher doesn't want to go over the test, what should you do if you want to know the right answer?
That's a really good. That's a really good question. If you want to know the right answer. I would, you know, obviously, if you want to know the right answer, most likely you kind of remember what that question was. And so, you know, you can just ask them generally, like, hey, this question. I thought it was this answer. Can you tell Me, you know, if it was something else and why, if they're not going to go over it with you, I'm assuming, if you want, like, you know what I'm saying, if you want to know what the right answer is. I'm imagining that you remember kind of generally what the question is and what the answers were. So that's what I would do, is just ask them straight out, like, hey, there was this question that I got wrong, but I want to know what the correct answer is. Like, here's what generally what the question said, and I was just wondering why it was this and not this. You see what I'm saying? That's what I would do. And then also what's really, really, really, really important. Even if they don't go over the exam with you or if it's, you know, against the school's policy to do that, that's fine. A lot of schools don't allow you to do that, and that's fine. What I still want you to do is sit with them online, you know, meet with them online, you know, in person if you can, and go over your study, how you study, your strategy, your study strategy, walk them through how you study and how you studied for that exam. Like we said before, ask them straight out, hey, if you were studying for your class, how would you study? You know, figure out what you know, ask them what you think, what they think you should be doing differently, what you're doing well, but what you could, you know, do better as far as studying goes, because that's going to give you some really, really good information straight from the source, right? They made your nursing school exams, or they at least know what's on them. So it's going to be really important to get their feedback.
I think a big thing is how you present yourself or how you present these questions or when talking to them, how you couch these questions as well. So don't be discouraged with the answers that they give you. If they're curt or whatever and say, well, you should know how to study or whatever, that's fine. That's fine. We still want you to go and then ask, because if you don't, then you definitely won't get an answer. If you're going to ask, then there's a chance that they'll give you better insight that will help you study better, take your test better. So we definitely want you to ask anyway, regardless of what the answer is. And then also how you, how you ask those questions. So one thing that is good is to show them as Much as possible, that you are trying to learn, that you're putting your best foot forward and that you're putting an effort in, and you're just not asking for answers from them. So you want to put together the effort of saying, hey, on this exam, there's a question that was like this. If you can't answer this exact question, it was kind of like this. And I went through this. This method of finding the answer. Can you. Can you help me? Where did I go wrong? So at least they know that. Oh, okay. They're just not asking for the answer. They're actually going through the process, and they want to know how they can better themselves. So you definitely want to come at it from that angle. Show that you are learning, showing that you are prepared to learn and change how you're studying or how you're doing things if it doesn't work out. So a lot of it comes from how you're talking to them, too. So just go in with an open mind and expecting to learn, and then give them as much evidence as possible that you are learning.
Absolutely. They want to know that you care. Your instructors want to know that you care. Right. So communicate that as much as possible. Sweet.
Very good. Cool. All right. I'm not sure if we have much information about this, but Andrea is from South America and was asking how to apply for a job here.
Oh, my. I have no idea.
Any information on that?
I don't know. I think right now, especially with everything going on in the world, there's like, cr. I mean, everything has changed. Right. I. I keep getting emails, you know, because I'm a nurse here from, like, other states needing nurses. So, you know, there's all these. There's basically the legal stuff of working and how you can work and where to work is changed a lot this year. And I think a lot of it's more loose, you know, because we're in that emergency state, like, not state, but emergency state as a world, many nurses in a lot of places. So it's a lot easier to, you know, get a job in certain areas, depending on where you're going, because there's just a lot of need. And now the, like, practice requirements in a lot of places, at least where we're at, are a lot more lenient. So I don't know. Things to consider, Andrea.
Yeah, things to consider. I don't think that we. We have any good information regarding that, especially if you're coming from outside the country and coming in. So just. Yeah. Find some other resources, I guess. I don't even know where to point you to. So hopefully you can find more information. That would be. That'll be good.
Yep, absolutely.
Okay, let me see here. Alex. Alex has a random question.
Okay.
I like random questions. All right, Random questions. A system I. That I never really been able to wrap my head around was the lymphatic system. With the other systems, I could see how it connects to each other. Can you give an overview? So I'm not sure about an overview.
But of the lymphatic system, so. And how it connects. This would be. So this would actually be. Can we write this down, babe, please? Because this would actually be a fantastic YouTube video.
Alex, here, let's highlight you. I'll highlight the question.
There is a lot to this, particularly with the lymphatic system and the cardiac system, because things will move kind of in and out. And specifically lymphatic system, cardiac system and like with fluid and electrolyte balance. My. I mean, this is a big question. There's a lot that goes into this. There's a lot going through my brain right now. What I would very much. The first thing that I want to want to point out is that with fluids and electrolytes and the lymphatic system, you need to understand that salt water follows sodium. So where sodium goes, their water goes. Okay, Alex, this might not be exactly what you were wanting, a high level overview. I'm getting kind of in the nitty gritty details. But please remember this because it's very, very important for your nursing school exams. Water follows sodium. Okay. Water also follows protein. Okay. So you know, you have. So when we talk about like lymphatic system, edema in the lymphatic system and things like that, where there is protein, there, the water will be, which will cause edema. Where sodium is, their water will be, that will cause edema. So that is more of the nitty gritty as far as high level overview. I would love to do a YouTube video about it. I'm not going to do it here because I like to give you like, like I said before, like steps. And I don't have steps in my brain right now for how it all connects. So I don't think that would be very helpful for you. But I think that would be such a great YouTube video. So I really appreciate that tip. But that is what I'm going to give you now. Please remember that for your nursing school exam. Especially when fluid, electrolytes, circulatory system and lymphatic system, water follows sodium. Water also follows Protein.
Awesome.
Okay, that makes sense. That does help. Okay, good. I'm glad.
All right, be sure to hit subscribe and hit the bell because Christina likes taking these questions that she really likes. And we're making a schedule of upcoming YouTube videos.
So. Great question. Lymphatic system. Also, you know, when you get into, like, oncology, hematology, all of those things, it's going to play a role. But, yeah, it's kind of an interesting system because you don't see. Alex, what term are you in? Nursing school. Because you actually don't talk about the lymphatic system until later in nursing school. So I'm curious. Or maybe you're in anatomy and physiology. Tommy.
All right, great. For those just joining, welcome to Nursing School show.
By the way, Ask Me Anything.
Ask Me Anything. The last AMA for a while. So be sure to hit subscribe and hit the bell because we are coming out with YouTube videos and we do not want you to miss it.
Nope. Hey, can I talk about something?
And Christina is going to talk about something. Alex, it's your first year of the second semester.
Okay, that makes sense.
First year, second semester.
Yeah, that makes sense. You'll get more into the lymphatic system and circulatory system as you progress. So, honestly, I'm actually not even sure if what I told you would be helpful for you, but you said it was helpful, so that's good to know. Okay, I want to jam on critical thinking. So, Alex, this is for you and everyone else who's just starting nursing school and confused about critical thinking in the nursing school study system. Page 17. So if you have the nursing school study system, you may follow along. If you do not, that's totally fine. Go to nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward/study system, and you can download it. It's a digital download. So on page 17, I walk you through nine key critical thinking questions to ask as you study. So, friends, we get to nursing school, and it's like everyone out there, your instructors, upperclassmen, everyone kind of expects you to know how to critically think and think like a nurse. When you get accepted in a nursing school, that is not reality or how it works. It's not like you walk out to your mailbox, get that acceptance letter, and all of a sudden, wouldn't that be cool, though, if, like, you. You go out to your mailbox and it was like glitter in this envelope, and you just pour it over yourself, and all of a sudden you have the critical thinking skills? That would be amazing.
That's A very visual.
It's like glitter. It's not like that happens. That does not happen. Who had that experience? Nobody. But it would be pretty cool if you just like showered yourself in glitter from, you know, your acceptance letter and all of a sudden you were able to think like that.
Make things easier. That would make things easier.
It really would. So that does not happen. That is not reality. People are laughing at me. I think it's a great example. That is not how things happen in real life. Right. So we need to practice is what that means. We need to get into nursing school, try and fail and try and fail and try and fail and try and fail and try and fail over and over and over again. Right? So when you, as you go along, as you learn more in lecture class, as you get more clinical experience, as you're able to tie all these things together and connect the dots, you will get better at critical thinking and thinking like a nurse. Now, a way that we do that is here on page 17 of the Nursing school study system. As you study, there are nine key critical thinking questions to ask yourself as you study. Okay. I also have these listed on a critical thinking cheat sheet for you too. So if you don't have the study system, that's fine. I walk you through a general overview of it inside the cheat sheet. So go to nursingschoolofsuccess.com critical thinking thinking. I think we have the link too.
Oh, sure.
And the thing that we can put in YouTube. So if you go to nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward/critical thinking. Yep. Oh, I was right. Nursing School of success.com forward/critical thinking. Yay. So that will be a free cheat sheet for you on how to critically think in nursing school. Okay. So nine key critical tiki questions to ask. So as you are studying, before you get to your examination, like as you're studying, go to that cheat sheet or the study system and walk through those critical thinking questions. And it's really going to help you connect the dots between everything you are studying. So that's what I wanted to say about that. Yeah, it's just really important because we want to make sure that when we get to our exam, you're not just, you haven't just memorized the information in like rote memory. Right. That's not what they're going to test you on. So when you go to your nursing school exam, they're going to give you a case scenario question and they're going to give you, you know what these answers. Like, what would your Initial action. Be like, they're going to give you a patient situation and they're going to ask you what is your, what would be your first action? Or what's your first priority? Or something like that. And you're going to have to really critically think through those answers. And so I really want to make sure that you are not memorizing things from a textbook and spending time just memorizing random facts and stuff like that, because that's not going to help you when you get to your exam. What I would rather you do is, you know, focus your study time studying the textbooks, learning the information, and then spending time applying the information that you're learning so that you are much more prepared for your nursing school exam. Because when was the last time they tested you on random facts from the textbook? Never. Like A and P, right? That's what they do in A and P. They check. They test you in A and P and microbiology and your regular biology class, like, those are just random facts. But in your core nursing classes, when you get to fundamentals, when you get to med surg, when you get to critical care, pediatrics, ob, mental health, it's all going to be case scenario questions. You know, how do we prioritize patients? What sign side effects would you expect to see with this, you know, medication? Or what signs and symptoms would you expect to see with this patient? And here's all their info. It's going to ask you these critical thinking questions and have you walk through, you know, in your brain, how, how well are you able to connect the dots between everything that you're learning? So that is why it is so important to be able to critically think and spend time focusing your study time on critical thinking. So like I said, nursing schoolofsuccess.com study system. This is on page 17. You can go to nursing schoolofsuccess.com/forward/critical thinking for a high level review of that. There you go.
Very good. Related to that. Not a nurse asking a question then. And it's related to. Billy, your question too. 4th semester student struggling to understand hemodynamic monitoring. So in what way do you critically think about hemodynamic monitoring?
Oh, yeah, how do you critically think about it? That is something that I would need a refresher on first to start out with because not an ICU nurse didn't want to be how to critically think about that. It's just, it's really the same thing you would walk through. Billy, did you get this yet, the critical thinking cheat sheet? Because these questions Will very, very, very much apply to hemodynamic monitoring.
Yeah. So four semester students trying to, trying to understand hemodynamic monitoring. So understand it through the critical thinking lens. There really are two routes. You could rote memorize everything you can about hemodynamic monitoring, but it won't really help you with any other topics. Whereas if you go the critical thinking route that we were just talking about, then you can have this framework that you can take and try and understand human dynamic monitoring through it. And then that framework will also help with other topics as well.
Yeah. And you have to, I mean with that you really have to understand what is happening with the patient and why are they on hemodynamic monitoring. What can you like. So I'm just walking through these critical thinking questions that we have listed there. So go Billy, you said you don't have it yet. Go to nursing School of success.com forward/critical thinking and see what you would do is you would be like, okay, what interventions can you do with or without the doctor? A doctor order so important with things like this. You know, what, what things would you need to be watching out for if something goes wrong? What are you going to do, you know, with any interventions that you have to do with critical care med surg fundamentals? You know what, what things? It's just walking through these critical thinking questions that we asked you on the cheat sheet. You know, what things can you do with or without a doctor's orders? What nursing assessments would you need to do before, during and after? Right. What interventions would you need to do before, during and after? What things would you expect to see presented in the patient? Their signs and symptoms, before, during and after? Okay, so it's just all of those things that you'll be able to connect the dots a lot better with something like that and everything, everything that you are learning. Yep.
All right, Kaylee, Kaylee and I need to scroll up a little bit because everyone was laughing at you with your glitter comment.
I know, that was funny.
Let's see. All right, Kayleigh, I'm starting my first semester on Friday. How did you organize your syllabi and planner? I'm already overwhelmed and don't want to miss anything. Any secrets? Any secrets?
My best kept secret. That's not a secret because we talk about it all the time. Is planning your schedule hour by hour. Okay, so planning your day hour by hour. Like what are you doing at 8:00am? What are you doing at 10:00am? You know, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, the afternoon, the evening, overnight. What are you doing? When are you doing it? It's so important to know not only what you are doing, my friends, but when are you doing it. We've all had the experience when we write down a full to do list of stuff and then we just get overwhelmed. Right? Like Haley, you were just saying like you're overwhelmed, your stress, you don't know what to do because you don't know when you're going to do those things. Right. You're just staring at a huge long to do list that is not very helpful for you.
Right?
So if you are overwhelmed with all the things you have to do, even if you're not overwhelmed, put it on your calendar, put it on your schedule, on your planner, hour by hour. So not only do you know what you have to do, but you know exactly when you are going to do it. So you've already planned for those things. See how that works?
That's why it's called a plan.
That's why it's called a planner.
Get it?
Because we actually plan things out on it.
So yes, definitely write it out hour by hour. It may take some time. People were asking, oh well this is, is this just busy work to just plan everything out? No, it's not. It's a really good way to understand all the things you have to do and where you're going to put it in your day. Some people do it and find that they have a lot more time than they thought they did. We see that a lot. A little less. So people find out that they don't have enough time when they fill that all out. And then once you do that, then you have to decide what to cut at that point in time. Now I think the follow up to that is don't beat yourself up if you don't know the right timing. You're just starting out. So take a best guess. And this is a work in progress. You're going to be adjusting your times once you know how to how you study and how long it will take. So let it be a kind of moving target for you to always be adjusting. Don't beat yourself up. If you put down an hour to study something and it took longer than that, just adjust and move on.
Yep, absolutely. Kaylee says thank you. I never thought of hourly.
And while you're at it, since you're just getting started with nursing school, be sure to put in your planner to study for dose calc.
Dose calc.
Because that's the very first thing that you need to really focus on and study.
Absolutely. Dose calc. So dose Calc. Just a little plug here. Go to YouTube, type in nursing SOS, dose calc, and those videos are going to pop up for you. We walk you through dose Calc, step by step. To be so, so good. So good. All right, all right.
Abby was asking. I'm in my first semester or first year, second semester. Is it normal to do anatomy and physiology in one semester? So it kind of depends on your program. Alex actually already chimed in and said that he took anatomy and physiology over two semesters, but I took kinesology beforehand, and most people do take it over two semesters.
That's what mine was. Two semesters. Yeah. Or three. Three quarters. It was like a year. Like, you know, two semesters or three quarters. It's kind of the same thing. Is it normal to do anatomy and physiology in one semester? I. Okay, I guess I'm confused on what are you asking, Abby? Are you asking if anatomy and physiology are taught together or if you take anatomy and then you take physiology? So anatomy and physiology are typically taught together, but then you have, like, anatomy and physiology 1, anatomy and physiology 2, anatomy and physiology 3, anatomy and physiology 4. Don't know how your school does it, but they are taught together. Typically. It's not like you take an anatomy class and then you take a physiology class. They're taught together, but I don't know, like, how many terms of anatomy and physiology your school does or your nursing school requires. Cheney, you said I did mine in one, so, yeah, Anatomy and the Anatomy and physiology together. One term.
No, just a whole class in one semester. Four months.
Just the whole class in one semester. Four months. Oh, four months. That's a long time. That's a long time.
Semesters instead of quarters.
Semester. Is that four months? January, February, March, April. Yeah, that's the semester. Okay. Yeah.
So you were in quarters.
I was in quarters. So mine was like two quarters. So 20 weeks is like five months. So, yeah, I guess. Yeah, sure.
So it does depend on nursing programs and different things. So is it. What was. What is exactly normal? Is it normal? I'm not sure if normal's a very normal word nowadays. So just defining what normal, if that's what it is. And that's what it is. And that's cool, too.
Yep.
So that's fine. Take for instance, Courtney actually has a kind of. Not really a related question, but kind of got accepted into a program without my prereqs. Done. Meaning I will be taking prereq simultaneously. So I'm taking A&P1 and foundations of Nursing. Right. Now, my exam this Friday. What's your advice moving forward for the rest of the semester and with how to balance both and excel. So balancing both your prereqs and getting accepted into.
Yeah, the hourly bi. Hourly schedule. Alex just said. For me, anatomy was separate from physiology. I have never heard of such a thing. See, how does that work?
There is no normal.
Apparently that's a thing. I have literally never heard of that before in my life. And how does that even work? Because you would. I feel like you would need to learn it together.
So you just learn the parts and then.
That's interesting. Yeah, you learn the parts and then you learn how the parts work. Work together. Okay. Is that how it works? Apparently.
Sure.
Okay, friends.
My thank you everyone for the fabulous questions.
I'm east coast Canada.
Well, there's your problem. Sorry, Just kidding. Sorry. Couldn't.
I didn't know you were in Canada. So that's just probably how you guys do it up there, huh? It's different down here. I don't know. I haven't and I know that. Hey, see?
So there you go. It's normal Canada.
Welcome, friends.
Thank you everyone for joining.
Yeah, I have not heard it now the more you know, that might be better. Okay. I love how Canada has west coast and east coast too. That is so fun. That's nice. We're west coast here.
We are west coast, but the U.S. canada. You guys are a nice hat. So.
So we're like neighbors. That is so fun. Sweet. I guess I'm not the coast, but I live in the middle. Okay, sweet. All right, my friends.
All right. Well, thank you guys for joining our ask. Ask us. Ask me anythings. Like Christina said at the beginning and kind of in the middle. This is our last one for a little bit.
Yeah, this is our last live AMA for a while. But here's the thing, friends. We have a lot of YouTube videos coming up for you. And also I'm on Instagram. Definitely come over to Instagram.
Nursing SOS and definitely come over to YouTube and hit subscribe. Hit the bell. We are coming out with the things videos.
Lots of videos coming for you. We have a big, big schedule through like I think November. It's awesome. So come on over to YouTube, subscribe. Hit the bell and we will see you there. And then Instagram. Come hang out with me on instagram Nursing SOS okay, thank everyone. Bye, friends.
Take care. I'm gonna wave because that's what we do now.
Wave goodbye.
Where's the end button? Oh, that's interesting. YouTube, you have no end button.
YouTube is just gonna keep going forever and ever and ever. So is Facebook.
So is Facebook.
I can't.
Oh, okay, there's Facebook has ended.
Goodbye, YouTube.
YouTube. Hello. YouTube does not want us to end. Our lives actually ended on.
On YouTube. Because it might actually.
I don't think so.
YouTube.
Can you guys still hear me and see me smiling?
Yeah, we're still here.
Oh, okay. That's kind of feedback. Let's not do that. Okay.
Let's not do that.
Okay.
Oh. So, Christina, hyper and hyper will always be included in pathophysiology. Let me just answer this question.
Okay. While we're trying to close out the live video doing this, this.
Alex is like, yes, I can see you. Okay, Michelle. So Christina, hyper and hypo will always be included in pathophysiology.
Baby doll.
Hyper.
You're currently on zoom in my online clinical. You should probably focus on your clinical.
Just say hyper and hypo is typically like fluids and electrolytes. Right. So hyper. Hyper. I'm assuming that's what you're meaning. And then you would need to know the pathophysiology for both. Cool. Those are different. Yeah, you need to know the pathophysiology for like, hyperkalemia and hypokalemia. Okay. And then hyponatremia. Hypernatremia. Good. Andrea, please answer my question. I thought we answered it. Andrea, about coming.
Okay, I'm going to try and reload. If we drop off, then. Hello and good.
