Nursing School ASK ME ANYTHING!!

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Good morning, everyone.

Hello.

Welcome to the Nursing School Show. I am Matthew Christina. We are here to answer nursing school questions. Christina is here to answer nursing school questions. Welcome. Thank you guys for joining us this morning. We have quite a few questions out here that we can go ahead and go through.

Let's do it.

If ever anyone has any questions about nursing school, today is just a general ask me anything. So go ahead and pop those in the comments and we will get to the ones that will help as many people as possible. Again, we are here to help you get through nursing school, to feel confident in nursing school, to have a life. Have a life in nursing school.

What the topic would be today. And I said, well, it's got to just be general because we have had so many questions coming in to the live videos that we have documented, kept that we haven't gotten to yet. Because every time we do a live, we get more questions.

We do.

So I want to make sure I'm answering your questions.

Yes.

And apparently an hour is not long enough. We'll have to come up here like four hours. We'll be here from like nine.

Well, I think they'll just keep coming in. So these are all really, really good questions and really great things that we can help with. So, yeah, definitely go ahead and ask your questions and we will get to them. There was one that was asked, I believe, last week that I did. Like, we weren't able to get to it. So let's start off with this one. Everyone else, go ahead and post.

You do it too. You used to make fun of me for that.

Yeah, I know.

On the videos he's like, christina, why do you always do this when you want people to comment? So now look at you.

I know, I know. I do that, too. All right, so let's get started, shall we? Question number one, question numero uno. Should I continue to work part time while in nursing school or should I devote all my time to school?

Okay, so do you work in nursing school? Tell me in the comments who's working in nursing school.

Yeah, that is a really good question because I know that your teachers told you something like when you were starting, right?

Depends on the teachers you talk to.

Depends on the. Depends on teacher as well. So, yeah, go ahead and pop in the comments. Thumbs up for currently working. Thumbs up, down.

Put a number one if you are currently working, a number two if you are not. How's that? Or just tell us using real words. Use your words like Stephanie. Good morning, Stephanie. Working full time Hi, Charlotte. Yes, Working part time. Great. All right. Working part time. Okay. Working full time. Wow. Full time, part time. Nice mix. I'm working. Considering quitting, Michelle. Yeah, let's chat about it. So when I was in nursing school, we worked. I say. I always say we. For me, I worked part time, you were working.

I was working full time, but I was not in nursing school. Christina was doing all the hard work. So, yes, I was working, but I don't count because I wasn't actually in nursing school.

I was working part time and going to nursing school, and I worked part time all through nursing school until I decided to get another full time job of being pregnant. So I worked until we got pregnant and then I left then to be pregnant and go to nursing school because I felt like those two things were enough. Being pregnant in nursing school, that's enough to do at the same time. So, yeah, I worked until we got pregnant and then I was pregnant and we had our baby, what, a few weeks after nursing school. So I have my opinions. When you get into nursing school, you will most likely hear from your instructors that you can't, cannot work in nursing school. That is, you know, that is what you will hear. Typically, that's what everyone says. You shouldn't work in nursing school. You can't work in nursing school. It's impossible to work in nursing school. It's impossible to do this or that. Basically, anybody to. Anytime anybody tells me that it's impossible to do something or like, I can't do something just makes me want to do it more. Like, who's with me? You raise your hand. Someone tells you you can't do that, you're like, watch me.

We do tend to have that human nature. I'd call that human nature, that when someone says you can't do this, you're like, there's that rebellious side that's like, I'm gonna try, I'm gonna do it.

So let's do it. Let's go, friends, let's go. So I think it's totally possible to be honest with you now. The thing with that we. And I actually had instructors in nursing school who said that it's totally possible to work while in nursing school because they did it. So I know. I know many, many nursing students who are working in nursing school who, you know, it's totally fine. I worked part time in nursing school. It's totally doable. The thing is, though, is that if you don't have to work, you don't, you know, it's totally up to you. It's not that big of a deal, you know, if you don't have to work, if you don't have to make an income in nursing school, like, if your husband works, your spouse works, someone works, and you're fine without working. Like, I mean, why add the extra stress, you know? Like, might as well just go to school and focus on school full time. But if you want to work, that's great too. It basically comes down to whatever you want to do, Right. Kind of like everything else in life.

Yeah. So I think this question, along with Charlotte, you're. I'm gonna bunch this all together. How do you. How do you juggle nursing school and being pregnant? How do you juggle nursing school and your life? I think it's kind of the more general topic, right. So, yeah, there you can specify it to being pregnant, or should I work full time and part time, or should I go to Great Wolf Lodge or should I go on vacation or any. Anything. Any. Everything is just competing for your time. And your attention is really what it is. And it really comes down to, yeah, you going through scheduling. That's a big thing to scheduling your time. Finding out how much time you have left, how much time you have available, and how much attention you need for each of these tasks. So you can just. More practical. You can just kind of go through the exercise of going through your planner, writing everything out right, how much time you need, studying, et cetera, et cetera. And we all have the same amount of time in a day. That's something that is constant. We all have that same amount. It's something like 24 hours. So it's all the same for all of us. It's just, what do we want to use our time doing and then focus on doing that. I've talked about this probably last week or something about priorities and just what is your priority? What is your 1 priority? And then kind of work around that. There's also the object lesson that I think I've heard with students and things like, I don't know how the story exactly goes, but, oh, a teacher takes a giant jug, right? And he takes rocks and sand and pebbles and all that. And if you fill it up with sand first, then you won't have any places to put the big rocks, but if you go the other way around, you put in rocks, so your most important things, and then smaller pebbles and then sand and then water, etc. Etc. I don't know how that story goes. I'm sure you guys have heard that, but that. That's the way that you can structure your day is just what's the most important things? Put those in first and then go from there. So can I work full time? Can I work part time? Well, how much time do you have left after you put all those other activities in the big rocks? Yeah, the big rocks. How do you juggle nursing school and being pregnant? Those are big rocks. So those come and then what else can you fit around it? And at the end of the day, something that I think a lot of people are uncomfortable with also is you have to cut. Sometimes you have to cut giving things up. We also talk about this a lot, that life is seasons. I don't really think of it really as a 50, 50 balance all the time. It's more seasonal that, okay, I'm in this season, so I'm going to lean into this. So for this season, I need to cut out XYZ if I cannot work, if I'm being supported elsewhere. Is that something that kind of cut out for this season? So just all that thing weighing together too, right?

I think we have this culture where we're supposed to and not supposed to, but, like, expected to do everything all the time. Always. Always. Right. Like, you're. The expectation is that you can go to school full time, that you can work full time, that you can homeschool your kids full time, that you can, you know, clean your house full time, make dinner full time. You know, you're doing all the things full time. That's a lot of full time, my friends. That is a lot of full time. So, you know, there's that one thing that no one wants to say, and it's like something's got to give. Sometimes something has to give. So, you know, working, going to nursing school, if something has to give, you can choose one. Depending on your job. I think you can do both if you don't have other things on top of it. If you're trying to take care, like in this season right now, if you're trying to homeschool your kids, go to school full time and work full time, my friends. That is a lot of full time. I don't know, like, if you can do it, fantastic. Pop it in your schedule. My planners filled out upstairs. There you go. Use your planner. Fill it out hour by hour. Figure out how many hours you have in a week to do the things you want to do. Put in your top priorities first, like Matthew said, and then fill in from there. So what is your top priority? If your top priority is your kids, put those in first. Put Your kids on, on your schedule first. If your top priority is nursing school, put nursing school in first. You know, and we're not saying you love nursing school more than your kids. That's not what this is about at all. This is like seasons, right? What is this? What are you going to focus on more in this season? So if it's nursing school, do that and then fill in the gaps with everything else that makes sense. So use your hour by hour schedule. Make sure that you are filling up your life with your top priorities first and then filling up everything else. To be honest, I don't know if I would go to nursing school in this season of life right now that we are in as a society. I do not know if I would be willing to work full time, go to school full time and homeschool my kids full time. I did a whole YouTube video about that. I don't think that I would, to be honest with you, if I was in nursing school right now and had to homeschool my kids at home and had to work and had to go to school, I probably would take a step back from nursing school. Personal preference.

So it really comes down to that. It is really personal. And what are your priorities? What season of life are you right now? 2020 has been a different kind of season for a lot of people out there. So you need it, you need to judge it for yourself. And what is your season? What are your priorities? Priority to get through and. Yeah, what. What needs to get or what can give if it needs to give.

And I am not saying that to sway you any which way. The reason I'm saying that in this season of life, if I were in nursing school right now, homeschooling my kids and having to work full time, that I would most likely quit nursing school. That's my personal opinion. The reason I'm telling you that is because I want you to give yourself grace to make that decision for yourself if that's the right decision for you. Because what we often do is if we don't see something or someone else doing something, then we don't think it's possible for ourselves. We don't see it. We don't think it's possible. Right? If we don't have an example of it, if nobody's talking about it, then we don't even think about it. Right? So I'm giving you the option. I'm giving you permission. You don't need my permission, but if you want my permission, you have it. If you need to take a step back from nursing school. If you need to take a step back from other things, give yourself grace through the whole process, don't beat yourself up over it. You know, don't like, regret your decisions later like we talked about last week. Like Burke Castillo says, have your own back with your decisions. She also says, like your reasons, like your reasons for whatever you're doing. You can do whatever you want in life, but make sure that you like your reason for doing it. So that's my two cents with that. I fully believe you can work full time, go to school full time. As long as those are your priorities. As long as you have clear expectations, have your priorities straight. You know, if you have a family, you've talked to your family, everyone's on board, you have your schedule laid out, you're managing your time well, you can do it. But, you know, we also have to consider the season of life we're all in right now as a world and make sure that we are, you know, talking about the current situation of like, all of us being at home, having to school our kids in a lot of places, you know, all the additional responsibilities that are not just nursing school and working. So that's my two cents for all of it.

Yeah. So what I think, I think the last point that you, you made there. Have your own back. We've talked about it at length last week. Yeah, I think that's really important. Do go 100% in on your decision and be okay with your decision and have your own back. And whatever your decision is, whether it is working, whether it is not working, whether it is to continue nursing school, whether it's not, know that as long as you've weighed everything and that is your decision, stick to it. And that's your, your choice. So. And don't. And that's fine. And that's. That's whatever you decide, it's okay.

So absolutely. Yeah, 100%. Hello, Facebook. All right, Instagram.

Lots of.

We have a lot of questions.

Comments. Questions coming through.

So typing.

I am typing away. Next question. We've got a couple nclex questions, so we're just gonna dive right into the nclex. How do I crack the nclex? I'm struggling so bad with nclex style questions. I noticed SATA question is very hard for me to answer. How can I answer SATA questions? So a brief overview of NCLEX questions and how to go about answering them. And then I guess specifically SATA. So I think we'll start with that.

The general test taking stuff. You have to Practice test taking skills where working with a lot of our nursing SOS members on this right now. We've had so much success in our nursing SOS membership community. You guys are rocking it. But oftentimes what we hear is that you get to an exam and you kind of freak out, right? Like, it's scary to take an exam. Even though you do really well on it, oftentimes it's still scary when you sit down to take it. So in order to kind of alleviate that, what we always recommend is that you practice practice and collect style questions before you take your exam. Like we say, my we've talked about this a lot is that whatever environment, whatever situation you're in, when you take your exam or have a skills checkoff or what have you, you want to kind of simulate that before you actually do it. So if you are just, you know, studying your content, following our study strategies, you know, using our nursing school study system to study, that's fantastic. But also something that we have in here that we, you know, that's one of the biggest tips in here is to practice and collect style questions. Make sure that you practice answering them, getting familiar with not only the content of what they're asking, but how to answer them. So that is the biggest thing, really the thing with practice questions. You are not trying to find some, you know, magical test bank out there in the world that will have all the questions that you're going to be tested on in nursing school. No, that would be cheating. We do not do that. Right. I point it out because we get that question a lot. We get that question a lot. So no, you are not trying to find a magical test bank that has all the questions that your instructors are going to ask you during your exam. Absolutely not. The point of answering NCLEX style questions as you study is to not only get used to the content, but to understand how the questions are worded and what they are looking for in the answers. You may or may not know this, but there are a ton of nursing school exam hacks that you can use to pick the correct answer, even though you don't know what exactly what that correct answer is. We list a lot of them out here in the nursing school study system and I will run through the. So it's on. If you have the nursing school study system, it's under Test taking strategies on page 38. I will run through the SATA ones because we talk about how to. So answering SATA questions is on page 39. When you answer static questions or the select all that apply questions. These are the questions that, you know, they give you, you know, whatever question. And then you have to select all of the questions that apply or select all the answers that apply to that question. So you'll see checkboxes rather than a. What do they call it? A radio.

Yeah, a radio button.

Radio button.

I don't know why they call it a radio button, but that's what they call it.

No, either. It's kind of a weird name. Yeah, radio button. Or a checkbox. You will see checkboxes on the SATA question. So it'll just be like a box. Not a circle. It's a box. So don't miss them. Don't miss it. It'll say, select all that apply. SATA. Select all that apply. That's what they'll say, select all that apply. And you are able to choose every individual answer, like every answer that applies to that question. Every correct answer on there. So. So these trick up a lot of students because it's all or nothing. You have to get all of them right or you get the entire question wrong. There's no partial credit. So when you are answering static questions or select all that apply questions, what we always recommend is that you take each answer on its individual merit. Don't combine the answers together. Take each one as individual questions. Answers. So read the question, Read the first answer. Is it true or false as related to the question? If it's, you know, if it's correct as it relates to the question, then you select that one and then move on to the second answer. Read the question, read the second answer and then do the same thing. Is it true or false as it relates to the question and select it if it's correct. Does that make sense? So you're taking them all individually and you're answering them as true or false as they relate to the question.

So for set of questions, if there's that question and then four options really in your mind, think. Think about it like four different questions. Just four different questions. And then I like what Christina said is read it over again after you go through each. Each. Yeah, each one. So they're just really four or how many choices there are. That's that many. It's that many true false questions. So read a question first, one true, false. Okay. Then read it and then go again and then again. So, yeah, this really acts like multiple questions of true. False is really all that is.

Yeah, so absolutely. Prima Bella nclex Mastery app and U World is life for nclex questions. Yeah, I really like The NCLEX Mastery app. That's what I use through nursing school. Love them. Charlotte, listen up. This advice is gold. You're awesome, Charlotte. Thank you very much. I am glad it was helpful. Yes, that took questions. Answer them as true or false. Take every single one on their individual merit and like I said, it's on page 39 in the nursing school study system. So no test taking strategies.

The high level answers to this. How. How can I crack the NCLEX Practice, practice, practice and just get into the habit of seeing those kind of questions? Because yeah, they are worded differently. There's different kinds. So lots and lots of practice. Stephanie, I'm struggling so bad with NCLEX style questions. That's fine because they're new. So just lots of practice, practice, practice will get you more used to it. So you can answer them and then. Yeah. And SATA questions is what we went through. Absolutely, really, really important. I've heard, I've heard that the NCLEX is kind of a big deal. Let me see. Ready to move on? All right. Angela, still struggling with knowing what is important when reading. She did also mention I have severe ADHD and then added something here that I've heard about, but not in context of nursing school. Actually, I keep hearing about a note taker for students in my situation. Is this true? And I'm guessing that specific to your school, whether they offer that as a.

What's that?

It's like a third person that comes in and takes notes for you. Is that correct? Oh yeah, my aunt actually at a community college. Not. Not nursing school related, but at a community college. She is a volunteer that does that for students that need it. So she comes in and takes. Takes notes for that student. So I'm not sure I did that in college. You did that in college as well. Okay.

Yeah. So is that what they consider like a note taking?

A note taker? That was my assumption. So Angela, is that what they were saying and is that what that is? And I think it's. Do all schools offer this or.

I have no idea.

Yeah, so definitely no idea. Take a look into it. I think that it would probably be a good idea.

Yeah, that makes sense. The only. I haven't heard it in the situation of ADHD or add. I have heard it in the situation of a deaf or hard of hearing student who that is who I would take notes for in college. So yeah, I, I took notes and would, you know, give them my notes. You know, you kind of, you. How did I do? I think we like typed it out or something and then I gave it to them.

Okay.

So yeah, I was, I was an official note taker for some students in.

Oh, that's cool.

College. Yeah. But I completely forgot about that because that was actually not in nursing school, that was before nursing school.

And I just want to point out how awesome our community is in the comments as well that we just got more, more answers from nya. That sounds really, really great, Angela. It depends on your school. Most schools to my knowledge have accommodations. There should be a disability service place that you can go talk to and then just a follow up there helping out a friend. You need a diagnosis and proof of the need for accommodation from a doctor explaining why. So that's interesting. So yeah, I'd say just check with your school on the policies and procedures and go about seeing how you can do that. But that sounds like a awesome option.

Absolutely.

As far as if you need a little bit more help there, I'm not sure I know for undergrad and other schools are recording, but I'm not sure how that works in some schools with recording as well.

Yeah, if, if your nursing school allows you to record classes, record lecture, that would be amazing. A little bit different now in the online environment. Can you record, I mean record zoom class. I don't know. I mean it's a little bit different now. Your school might actually like your instructors might even actually be recording their PowerPoints or something. So you do already have the recording. Maybe save file on your computer right on that PowerPoint. But you know, I would definitely check with your school, see if you can record class.

Yeah, Angela, my school does not offer. But yes, that is what I'm looking for. So yeah, recordings or something like that. See if your teachers have a data bank of it or something that they're doing. Yeah. Brandy, my professor records zooms and uploads them for us.

Perfect.

If that's an option too, that's great. Yeah, just try thinking outside the box and seeing what, what are different ways of trying to get that information?

Yeah, for sure. Even if your school does not like. If you want a note taker, is that what we're called? Like, it's actually like a position, like a volunteer position. Is that what it's called? I'd imagine like note taker that helps take notes for you if you have a disability. Even if your school doesn't take, have that, you know, set up particularly you can absolutely get with other students in your class and do the same thing. We've talked about this a lot using Google Docs, like Google. Google Drive. Like the Google. It's like Google Doc, right? Yeah, like Google Drive or Google. Like the Google. The word word Doc on Google Google Doc. And then everyone in your small group, clinical group, study group, what have you can all go and write in their notes in that one Google Doc and you all have all the notes, which is so great.

Yeah.

So helps you not miss anything in class.

That's really good tip too is. Yeah. Just small groups and really talk to other students, your friends in class too. And you guys hear different things or different parts of things. So definitely more holistic approaches. Exactly. That kind of do study partners and things like that. So that would, that would help too. Going back to struggling. What to what is important when reading. We've. We've talked about this a lot. So you can just hit that really quick then too.

Yeah. We always recommend that you focus on studying the sections of the book that your professors talk about in class. That is the most important thing that your instructors want you to know is what they talk about in class. And they either wrote your exam or they know what's on your exam. So whatever they say, that is what we recommend. Whatever they say in class, whatever they talk about in their PowerPoints or their lectures or the study aids they give you, your study guides or what have you, that is what you are going to want to study from the textbook. Focus on studying the things that your professors talk about in class. Really as easy as that really is. We have a whole playlist on study tips. Do we have that link?

I don't on YouTube probably.

We have a whole playlist on how to.

How to study. Hey, I actually have that.

In the YouTube chat. We cannot with our setup right now. I can't post links in the Facebook or Instagram chat. Sorry guys. But if you go to YouTube, type in nursing SOS, like search nursing SOS on YouTube and then find our playlists. There's a whole. It's a full series on how to study in nursing school. By the way, if you're on YouTube, hit that like button.

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Welcome to and thanks for joining Brandy. I did not forget about you. Next up, she has her first clinical rotation tonight. Sweet, excited and scared, which I'd say is appropriate. So congrats. First clinical rotation tonight. What can you expect?

Where are you at, Brandy? Where long term care is typically the first one. That's my guess. Okay, so for clinical, when you start clinical. So this is your first clinical ever? Ever?

Exciting.

I mean, you don't know what you don't know. I remember my first clinical. That was very scary. Like we talked about last week. I would always go before, like, go the night before to know where I'm gonna park and, like, what floor I need to go to and all these things, like where I need to go. So, you know, kind of takes a little bit of stress out if you at least have, like, you can control the things that you can control, right? Acute care, make sure you know where you need to go, where you need to park, all the places. So I don't know, Brandi, how your instructor is doing it. I kind of hope that they are giving you more of a get to know the place day.

You said that you had like a little scavenger hunt.

We had scavenger hunts, yes. In nursing school they would do scavenger hunts for us. So we would have to go find like, you know, where the crash cart is, where's the linen closet, and, you know, all these things. Like, you know, where's the Pixis and where is everything on the floor? Just to get used to the setup, you know, get used to where everything is. And then also we would, you know, the first day, if I remember correctly, if memory serves, we were, it was like shadowing more shadowing the nurse, you know, doing light things. Depending on what term you and Brandi, are you in, like your first term of nursing school or are you more advanced and this is just your starting clinical for this new term? Tell me. Because if it's like, if you've been in nursing school for a little while now, if you're in like your med surg rotation, you've done clinicals already, you, you know, you're. You have clinical experience already, or you at least have lecture knowledge, then your first day on the floor might be, you know, you're helping out the nurse, doing, you know, some basic things, you know, doing your assessments, you know, helping, helping with, you know, whatever they need. Depending on the floor, you're on. Brand, you said it's first semester, so you're probably most likely going to shadow a nurse and not really do a whole lot. Right. Because right now you don't really know how to assess the patient. You really know how to give meds. You don't know how to, you know, really do most of the skills that you would do in an acute care floor. So you'll get there. But now, like, don't worry too much about it because my guess is that you're just going to be attached to a nurse the whole time and they're going to show you their ropes.

I'd say super fun. We talked about this last week. Really make the most out of it. Ask questions, be really open to absorbing as much knowledge as possible. Just go out there and, yeah. Show that you are a learner and that you want to learn. You want to learn all the things. So ask, Ask questions. Get out there. Volunteer. Volunteer to be the first, the guinea pig, what have you. Just get out there.

As long as it's within your scope of practice. Brandi, if you are first semester, make sure that any. Anyone who is in fundamentals, first semester, something or other, make sure that you know your school's policy on skills and what skills you can do at clinical. So where we are, we had to check, like my school, we had to check off on our skills in the skills lab before we were able to do them at clinical. And so just make sure that you're aware of those things. What you can and cannot do at clinical. Clinical. Brandy. That's fine with me. We have to do a head to toe assignment on our patient at some point. Yeah. Head to toe assessment on your patient. Yes, I remember that. Taking me multiple days.

I remember her practicing on me. Fun times.

There you go, guinea pig. There you go, guinea pig.

Yeah.

Find somebody that you can practice on you. Yeah. When I was my first, like, very first clinical. Like I said, you just don't know. You don't know what you don't know. Don't know what you don't know.

Francesca. Yep. I did my first Foley miss and then got it right. And then got it. And then got it.

Sweet.

Sorry, I can't. Hard to read.

Hi, Francesca.

Hello. Awesome.

Sorry. Autocorrect. I know, right? Assessment. Some of those nursing terms. Yeah. So it. I remember my head to toe assessment taking me the entire day, multiple days to do on one patient. We were there for like seven hours. This is like we're talking like 10 hours to do a head to toe assessment. Because I Would go in there. I had my whole list of questions. And, you know, it's. You don't. You just don't know what questions to ask, and then you forget things. So I would, like, go to the room and write, Write things down because I couldn't remember it all, of course. And then have to go back in, ask more questions, go back out and write things down and go back, you know, back and forth and back. It is rough that first term. Friends, give yourself grace.

That's gonna be fun. That's really important. Yeah.

No big deal. We've all been there.

You're all there to learn. So learn.

I like giving my experience because I think oftentimes when we get to nursing school, it's like you just. You don't know what you don't know, and everyone expects you to know all of the things or you feel like everyone expects you to know all the things a lot.

I'd say that a lot of that might be feelings.

It's feelings. It's feeling like, oh, all my instructors want me to be able to do, you know, critically think and do all these skills and all this stuff. And like. No, let's slow our roll, friends. Slow the roll. That's a phrase, right? People still say that.

Slow your roll.

Yeah.

I liked saying that. I hope that it's still.

That's still a thing, right? I can still say that. Yeah.

Slow your roll. So, yeah, just be open and it's clinical. It's your first day, so.

Yep.

Let us know how it goes.

Yeah.

On Wednesday. Join us. Join us again on Wednesday and tell us how it went. So that'll be. That'll be fun. All right, next.

Next.

I pulled a Christina and spilled some stuff. Do we have anything over here?

Pulled it. Christina, where's our.

Oh, there you go.

That works. That works.

Thank you. Hopefully the keyboard still works.

How often do I spill coffee on myself on these Live. Ask me anything Shows a lot. It's drying and Matthew just pulled a.

Christina, maybe your questions won't have the letter B anymore. You're fine. You're okay. All right. You're okay.

It's fine. Everything's fine. No big deal.

All right, so, Sarah, welcome. You actually asked a question on Facebook and then jumped on your YouTube and asked it there too. So awesome. That's the way to do is a pre nursing question. So just throw that out there. I'm pre nursing. They suggest. They. I. Is it a capital like they or who's they? But they suggested that home health aid is better than doing Farm tech or how does it work? Like do you do pre nursing, then go straight into the nursing program or whatnot.

So who is this now?

This is Sarah. It's right there.

Hello, Sarah. So I mean you could do either or I knew nursing students who were. Okay, well, it kind of depends on what state you are in because here we don't home health aid. I guess we do kind of have, we do have those, I think. But most of what who we hire here in where we are is like nursing assistants, like certified, certified nursing assistant cnas. So home health aides can mean different things in different places. So I'm assuming it's kind of similar, maybe just not certified position. So you could do that. But I also knew nursing students who did pharmacy tech before nursing school, which is kind of cool because you know a lot of the meds going into nursing school, which is gold. So I, I mean you could do either or I would say the CNA or home health aid, depending on what your position is and what you're doing. That will get you more comfortable working with patients in more of a nursing situation than a pharmacy tech would. Again, is it, is it required? Maybe not for your school? I mean some schools do require you to have some experience. I know, you know, a lot of them actually in this area now do require a certain number of hours as something in the health industry, maybe something I don't even know entirely know how they do it. But usually I think it's like a CNA position or a tech position, like a hospital tech or something like that. But maybe pharmacy counts for that. Just check your, check your school, check your school. Make sure you're aware of the requirements for your school and you know, is one better than the other? Honestly, my personal preference, my personal like opinion almost as it's a wash because for pharmacy tech you're gonna get the meds, which are huge, huge deal. And then as a CNA or a health aide, you're going to get more of that one on one total care experience that will help you as a nurse.

Okay. So it, so you know, benefits both ways. Is one better than the other? Maybe it depends on what you're more comfortable with or not as comfortable with. And then do the one that you're not as comfortable with. So you get comfortable with it before you get to do more of it in nursing school. So yeah, yeah, I'd say that, yeah.

In, in like the most common thing to do is the cna. That's the most common thing to do or CNA or like Health aid or, like, where you're, you know, helping patients with total care. Basically, that's the most common thing. We don't often hear pharmacy techs then go into nursing school because normally, like, pharmacy texts from. Would go to, like, pharmacy school. Yeah, pharmacy school. But not always. So just make sure that you check with your school. Like I said, we had students in our nursing program when I went to nursing school who were pharmacy techs, and then they rocked pharmacology. Like, man, do they know their meds. So, I mean, really, I. I think it's great. I think that would be great. Cool. Honestly, I think it's up to you. Check with your school and see what requirements they require.

Yeah.

See what requirements?

Charlotte threw up a question. What shoes do you recommend? Ones that fit on your feet.

What shoes do I recommend?

Ones that fit all.

So I use. I should actually have them down here. I think I had a. We had a link to them in the Amazon shop. At some point. Maybe they're still.

I'm not sure if we do any.

They are Alegria Paloma, I believe, is what they are called the.

Is that the actual, like, style?

That's the shoe.

Yeah.

Alegria is the brand. Paloma is the, like, style. Something whatnot. Yeah. Charlotte, for clinicals, they are white. They're white.

She also have a black pair, but I don't think you use those for clinical.

I did not use them.

You just walked around with those because you like them so much.

I really like those shoes. And so I did buy them. And I have black ones and I have white ones for clinical. Yeah, the white ones for clinical. Because, you know, all nursing schools require that. Who knows why? But they are all white. White socks.

So. Yeah, I'll agree. You.

You went Allegria Paloma.

Yeah. Oh, you definitely studied up on the different kinds that you would. You were looking into.

I tried a lot of different. I tried like, you know, what do you try? Like, New Balance and like, Rebound Dance. Go Ride. Dance goes the clogs. The thing about Dans goes that I didn't like was that your foot kind of pops out.

Yeah.

The Alegria Paloma ones have a strap on the top, which is pretty great.

What about.

I liked it.

What about crocs? Crocs?

I. I don't think. Charlotte, you're talking about the traditional Crocs with the holes in it.

That doesn't sound safe.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Charlotte, you're not talking about those. But just for everyone else, just to clarify, when you are in Nursing in nursing with wholesome, please know. Yeah, yeah. Make sure that. That your toes are fully. That your feet are, like, fully covered, please. And that you're not gonna get whatever soaking through your shoes.

Yeah.

You do not want that. No. All right. Is that the shoe question?

Yeah, that was. That was the shoe question.

Allegria. Paloma shoes. I think it's called Paloma. I don't know. Someone look it up and tell me. Alegria. I. Oh, Paloma.

Yeah. So that's the one that fit you, I think, in general. Yeah, definitely. Shoes are important for nurses, nursing students. You guys are on your feet a lot. So I would suggest. Yeah. Trying out different kinds if. If you. If there's a shoe store out there that you can go on and actually try them on so that you can actually figure it out which one would work best for you. Yep. Everyone's feet is different. Are different. Is different.

Everyone's feet is different. Everyone's feet are different. Yes.

Yeah.

So try them out. Go to a shoe store if you can find one that's open. Now try things.

Awesome.

There you go. What do we got, my friends?

Exams.

What do we got?

Prima Bella.

Hello.

Question. How do. How to study for ATI proctored exams while studying for course exams.

Prima Bella. I was thinking about you this weekend. I hope you're doing well. You guys know that I think about you do. I'm like, I hope they're doing good.

I hope they're doing all right.

I hope they're doing good. Hope to see them on Monday. All right. How to study for ATI proctored exams while studying for the course exam.

So I'm guessing that it's that. Wow, that is kind of the key sticking point there.

This can be tough because if your school uses ati, you will oftentimes have those lecture exams that your instructors write or another instructor wrote or something like that, and then you have your ATI ones. The thing about it is, though, is that you will be surprised at how close the content relates. Like what we always say, nursing is nursing is nursing. Nursing school content is nursing school content is nursing school content. Like, what you learn on, you know, our nursing SOS membership community is going to be very similar to what you learn in nursing school, which is very similar to what you learn, you know, in your ATI book or what have you. Like, it's all, you know, nursing content is nursing content is nursing content. It's not like the pathophysiology of heart failure is different. It shouldn't be from one source to Another. Right. So it's all it's going to be. I. I want you to think of it as you are studying for your ATI exam, as you are studying for your lecture exams. So as you're taking your lecture exams through the term, just remember that you're also helping to be, Helping yourself be more successful on your ATI exam. Because the more content you learn, the better you're going to do on that ATI exam. Does that make sense, my friend? I will note though, that on the ATI exam, those questions, the ATI questions, I've heard my school uses hesi, but ati, similar. Challenging. Very, very challenging. So make sure that you take the practice test, even though there's a lot of questions. I know, I know, friends, I've heard it. You don't even know how many times. Christina. I don't want to do the practice question questions. I just want to study other things. I'm like, no, do the practice questions. If you have access to an online ATI module, online resources at all practice questions, do them. Do them. Do that. I cannot say it anymore. So I think I'm allowed to say this just because I'm not an instructor. I'm not an official instructor at a school. I'm not affiliated with any university out there in the world, which I think gives me a little more leeway to say things, yeah, sure, go for it.

Just throw it out there, see what happens.

Yeah, if someone's gonna fire me, it's gonna be that guy. So ati, here's something that I have heard from students. Don't tell anybody, because I don't know if I'm supposed to say that, but ATI practice questions. What I have heard from students is that the practice test that you do online, a lot of the questions show up on your exam. I don't know why, but I have heard that from students.

And it's the same test bank.

I know. Well, that's the thing. ATI is a test bank. And so what I'm thinking is that if you go online to do your practice questions, they're using the same test bank because you taking your nursing school test. So I've heard. This is just rumors. Just what I heard. Like, no guarantee that's gonna happen to you. But in the same way, make sure you do the practice questions.

So I'd say I'll tack on to that. Make sure to do the practice questions. Lots of practice questions, to get used to it and to go through test bank and get comfortable with that information, whether or not it actually appears or not. That's kind of beside the point. You still want to do the test questions?

Absolutely.

Side note to that side note, if you do see a question on actual ATI that looks like the one in the practice, make sure to still follow all our steps. Read the whole question. Because not nursing, but in my certification, they have test questions too. And they did put very, very, very similar questions in the actual certification. But it's the opposite answer.

Yeah.

So it's the exact same, except one. One thing is off the same exact choices. It looks exactly the same, but because of one word, it's now the opposite.

So. Or slightly different.

Slightly different. So regardless of what you do, be sure to still follow the test taking tips. Read the entire question, et cetera, et cetera.

Yeah.

So.

And we are not saying, friends, that like we always say, like, the point of practicing NCLEX questions is not to find some magical test bank out there that your instructor draws questions from. That would be cheating. We don't do that here. The thing about ATI is that you're supposed to do the practice question. Like when you are in an ATI program, like your instructors are telling you, you need to do the practice questions. Right. Like, do the practice questions and then you go take your test.

Yeah.

So that is not cheating ati, you have like your online modules and stuff like do the practice questions. Because you're supposed to do the practice questions. It just happenstance that sometimes some of those may show up on your examination, is what I've heard. But like Matthew said, be very careful.

Yep.

Read the full question because they might try to trick you up. This is golden. You guys are amazing. Thank you for all you do. Thank you. Prima Bella. I hope you had a good weekend. Like I said, I was thinking about you over the weekend. I hope you're doing good, friend. All right, what's next?

All right, next one. I have a question. I don't have a question. I'm reading that. I have a question. What do you do if you felt like you were that you feel like you're struggling or falling behind in nursing class? And I wanted to touch on this because it was just asked not too long ago, but I think one of the keywords there is the feeling. So I have a question. What do you do if you feel like you're struggling or falling behind in nursing class? Because we talk about this a lot on our channel is feelings and mindset work and all of that. And really that feeling could be two things. It could be true or false.

Yeah.

Right. So it really, that feeling could be true, in which case you'll want to find out the underlying cause of that feeling and fix that, or study or do what you must. But it might also just be completely false. And that's just stress or anxiety or whatnot. Just playing mind tricks. And really you're doing great and there's nothing to do.

Yeah.

So want to jam on that a little bit? What would you do if you feel like you're struggling or falling behind in a nursing class?

Totally what Matthew just said, if you are feeling like you are falling behind or struggling in a nursing class, you really have to, really have to take stock on that and make sure that you've got your thoughts under control. Because here's what happens. This is nausea. Here's what happens. Nausea. Oftentimes life, if we get overwhelmed or stressed or anxious, oftentimes we are not focused, we're not efficient, we're not productive. And in nursing school you have to be all three of those things, right? Focused, efficient, productive. To study in nursing school, to pass your exams, to keep moving forward. But when we feel like we are not going to pass or we're going to fail, or we feel like we can't do anything right, or, you know, we're overwhelmed or we're burned out or all of those things, then if that's how we feel, are you going to be productive, focused and efficient? No. Not as much as you would have been if you were, you know, clear headed and not stressed, not anxious. All of those things, right? So it's really, really important in nursing school that we keep the faith, keep the belief that we can still pass. Keep the faith, keep the belief that you can pass the next exam, that you can pass the term, that you can become an amazing nurse, keep that faith. Because if you lose that and you genuinely don't believe that you can pass, then that's where you're going to go through that cycle of self sabotage where you don't believe you can pass, you don't study for your next exam, so you fail your next exam, then you don't believe you can pass, so you don't study for your next exam, then you fail your next exam, right? Because if you don't study, you're just going to fail your next exam. Don't study. Failure exams. Don't study. Failure exam. But if you believe that you can pass and you keep moving forward, keep pushing yourself, keep stepping outside your comfort zone, keep putting in the work, keep studying, stay focused, keep going and don't quit on yourself. And you have a much better chance of passing your exam and therefore passing the term and passing nursing school. Right. You see how that works? It's very tricky.

It is very tricky. And yeah, a lot of that goes into whether it will be a virtuous cycle or a destructive cycle. Ooh, I know, right? Those are. Those are big terms. I just want to throw them in, but. Because they sounded really cool. But yeah. Whether you're caught up in a good mindset or really a bad mindset. So I think the first step too is. Yeah.

That.

Where is. If you can really dig into that feeling, where is that feeling coming from? What is the evidence that you are getting that feeling from? Did you do badly on exam or this is an experience that we were talking about last week. Did you take an exam? You thought you did fine, but then you started talking to your classmates and now you're getting all psyched up because at that point that's beyond your control. So really you want to see where that feeling is coming from and whether it is true or not and what you need to do. Is it coming from that you weren't able to study as much as you thought you needed to? Well, let's see what happens when Tess comes back or whatnot. So just dig into those. Those feelings and. And err on the side of grace, giving yourself grace and err on the side of that more positive cycle rather than getting into a loop of feeling bad.

So don't beat yourself up. Yeah, don't beat yourself up over it.

Yeah.

Just do your best, study your best, keep going. That gets me every time.

What did someone say? I think it was last week or a couple weeks ago. Their motto is just keep swimming.

Just keep swimming.

Great.

Yes, absolutely. So just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. That should be our nursing school motto. We should put that on.

Just keep swimming.

You should put that on a T shirt. Nursing school school motto. Just keep swimming. But it's so true. You know, it's so true. Nausea. I'm glad that that helped.

Let's circle back around on this question from earlier because touches on it a little bit. So what do you guys do to stay motivated to be full on. On about nursing? And then what about when other interests compete? And we talked about this a little bit about life being seasonal and what season are you in? So everyone in nursing school, your season is nursing school. Or at least that's a big part of it this time around. So the follow up question is. Yeah. How do you guys stay motivated about being full on, about Nursing and what do you do about your other interests?

And it's also about making sure that you know why you're doing it and that you, you know, that it's temporary, that it's not. Nursing school is not going to last forever, Right? This is not your life for the next 80 years. It's not. Nursing school is not permanent. This is just a season, like Matthew said. Then you get to go and work and do different things. You know, nursing school is just a season, for instance, for us. You guys know we take every Saturday off. So our cycle is kind of like six days, seventh day, take it off every week. It's kind of nice to be honest with you, because it's like, okay, I can do anything for six days, seventh day, nothing. That's family day.

So it's interesting because, yeah, this comment says, stay motivated about being full on about nursing. And really it comes down to those definitions. So when you were in nursing school, you were full on nursing school, but we still had our cycle of six days. You're going to be full on, and then one day we're going to take it off. And you need to find that cycle, whatever that cycle is with you, and build in that rest time. It really is important, however long that is or when that is or whatnot, that will leave that up to you. But really, there's been a lot of research just even about sleeping, right? Oh, I'm not going to sleep. I'll just study all night. Well, we know now that that just doesn't work. You need rest, Your brain needs rest to recuperate. And we find that out with, with our cycle of six days and then seventh day of just, you know what we're going to do? Family time. So how do you guys stay motivated about being full on about nursing school? Be full about nurse, be full on about nursing school, be in that season, but also build in those things we mentioned, we started off this, this conversation about planner, plan out your day, plan out all your times, organize everything and see where all this stuff falls and whether things need to be cut to make room for rest if needed.

Absolutely.

Even so, how do you stay motivated? And the other big thing. Yeah. What's your why? Why are you doing it? Why are you doing it? Be. Be fully committed to that why and be committed to yourself. And we mentioned this before, having your own back. So having your own back, that this is what your decision is. This is what I'm doing. So I'm going to be 100% in doing it when I need to be Absolutely. When other interests compete. Well, it's all about time. It's all about time. What we mentioned earlier. So build in all those other interests. We're not saying. We're here to make you feel confident and have a life too. So be more efficient in studying and doing things so you have the time to build in other interests that you want to do.

Right.

That's completely. That's totally fine. Just because you're in nursing school doesn't mean you can't have a life. And that all you need to do 100 of the time is no sleeping, no other things, no family, nothing. Just nursing.

That.

That just.

Yeah, doesn't work. That doesn't work.

That does not work.

You have to sleep. You have to take care of yourself. You have to see your family. You know, gotta do those things. So we work nursing school into other, like we said, priorities, right?

Yeah.

Sleeping is a big one.

Sleeping is fun.

Yeah, There you go.

Reading books, whatnot. Whatever you can do to rest your brain sometimes it's needed.

So sweet. All right, my friends, we'll see you on Wednesday. If you want a free critical thinking cheat sheet, go to nursingschoolofsuccess.com forward/critical thinking. I wanted to mention that earlier, but I have forgot we have a whole. It's a free T sheet for you through nursing school that walks you through how to critically think. Check that out. Matthew just posted the link on the YouTube chat. But if you go to nursing schoolofsuccess.com forward/critical thinking, you can get it there. Alrighty, we will see you on.

On Wednesday at 9 Pacific Noon Eastern. Brandi, join us then tell us how your clinical is.

Yeah. Sweet. I'm so stoked. All right, see you guys later.

Take care.

Bye. Bye.

Bye.