TOP 3 STUDY TIPS for Nursing Students

In this video, I am walking you through my top study tips for nursing school. I'm going to give you my best tips to know what, how and when to study in nursing school. I'm going to walk you through these tips step by step so that you can start to make nursing school a whole lot easier. Hey, real quick. I completely forgot to mention this in the video when I first recorded it, but I didn't want you to miss this. The Nursing SOS Membership community is open for enrollment this week only. I am so excited to have you inside. So this is your step by step guide through nursing school. So if you are feeling confused or overwhelmed right now in school, do not worry my friend. I am here to hold your hand through it all. The ups and the downs, the highs and the lows. I am here for you. So I put a link to all the details down below in the description for you to check out all the details and find out more about it. I cannot wait to learn to hold your hand through nursing school. I'll see you inside. Now let's get back to the video. Now hit that subscribe button and click the notification bell and let's do this. Hey there friend. My name is Christina Rafano and I am the creator of the Nursing School show welcome where we help you get better grades and have more free time in nursing school. Yes, it is possible. So we are going to walk through my top Tips for Nursing students to really help you totally rock nursing school. You ready? So if you're in nursing school now, or if you are just starting nursing school, do not miss this video. These tapes are going to make studying way easier for you. Seriously. And they're going to help make your studying more efficient so that you can spend less time studying in nursing school and actually have a life. Now, I hear this all the time from nursing students. How do I have time to study when my instructor wants me to read the entire textbook? Read the textbook, read the textbook, read the textbook. It's all we hear, right? So here's my first tip. Ready? Listen up. Tip number one. Focus on studying the things that your instructors talk about in class. That's why taking notes is so important in class. Because you are going to take those notes and then focus on studying those topics that you learned about in class. So don't read the whole textbook. So making sure to place an emphasis on your studying on those key points that your instructor talked about in class and then taking good notes to go along with those topics, that's going to be really important for you so here's where this tip becomes super valuable. This applies to reading the textbook too. So don't waste your time reading every single page. Focus on the pages that are covered in class. So think about it. Your instructor is going to teach you the most important topics, right? The things that they're most likely to test you on and to show up on your exams. That is why taking notes is so important. Because you are going to take those notes and focus on studying those topics that you learned about in class. Now, here's where a lot of nursing students really get stuck. Most nursing students go into nursing school thinking then that they'll read every page of the textbook, all the, all the chapters and everything, and do all the assigned reading before their exam and that that will be enough to pass. If that's you, don't worry. I thought the same thing when I started nursing school. My hand is raised super high. But unfortunately, that is a recipe for disaster, my friend. Because here's what's going to happen. You are going to spend all of your time learning a little bit about a whole lot of things, but you won't learn enough about the things that you will actually be tested on if you read the whole textbook. Sure, you're going to have a general idea of all the topics, but you're not going to know enough about them to really be able to critically think through it all and then apply that information and critically think. Think about it on your exams. And if you've taken any nursing school exam before, you know it's all about how well you critically think. So why would you waste your time reading for the sake of reading, just for the sake of reading when you could be using that time to then actually understand it. Pract your critical thinking about it, right? So that brings us right into tip number two. Focus on critical thinking. Now, of course, nursing school exams are always going to test you on how well you critically think and think like a nurse, right? I mean, how many times have you heard that phrase, right? But what does critical thinking actually mean? So you know me and you know that I wouldn't leave you hanging to figure it all out yourself. No, no, no. This is not what I do. So of course, a free critical thinking cheat sheet that walks you through step by step, exactly how to critically think in nursing school. You're going to love it. It will be game changing for you. Click the link down in the description. I'll put the link down there for you to check it all out. Because you really need to know how to critically think for Your classes. All right, so let's break down exactly what critical thinking is. So to start, the biggest part to critical thinking is really connecting the dots between everything that you are lear learning about. Connecting the dots so that when you're at your nursing school clinicals or when you're writing your nursing school care plan or maybe a paper on your patient, you understand the disease processes and the disorders that your patient is facing. And then you're really able to tie them together. You're able to connect the dots with things like what you'll need to assess for, what nursing interventions that should be done to help them out, the medications that you might need to give if they're prescribed for them, and then what patient education that you might need to do for them, and then really thinking ahead for what your patient may need in the coming minutes or hours. So really critical thinking in nursing school goes beyond just learning about a disorder like heart failure or COPD or stroke or all of these other med surgical disorders. What it really means is that you'll need to understand, understand all of that stuff, sure. But critical thinking in nursing takes it one step further. You need to apply all of that knowledge to your patient. You need to be able to figure out really how that disorder relates to the other health issues or disorders that they have. You need to decide what you need to assess for or figure out what nursing interventions should or shouldn't be done for that patient. And then you need to be able to implement all of that. So when you're taking your nursing school exams, be sure that you're always really connecting the dots between all of those concepts and that you are learning and you're thinking through the four main ways that we always, always recommend that you focus your studying on. You ready? We're going to go through this pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, and nursing interventions. You need to understand the disease process of your patient and then understand how that disease process is causing those signs and symptoms that they are experiencing. Then you need to know what to assess for and know what nursing interventions that you should expect to do for them. So connecting the dots for all of those things, putting it all together, this will then help you with the second part of critical thinking, which is planning, planning ahead so that you can provide the best nursing care for your patients. So planning ahead means pretty much like it sounds. You are always planning or thinking ahead to the next thing. You are always thinking about what your next move is as a nurse. So if you are going into a patient's room, what Are you going to bring what are you going to do when you're there? Do they need water or an extra gown? Is their meal tray ready? Perhaps? Can you bring that to them? What supplies might you need? What are you going to do when you're in the room with them? Are you going to maybe do a head to toe assessment or focused assessment or give meds or are you going to flush their IV or check their drains? So that is planning ahead. You always need to be really one step ahead of the game and know what you're going to do next. So now you have a better understanding about what critical thinking is in nursing school and how you can apply it in what you are studying by then focusing on those four main categories. Right? Okay. Remember pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment and nursing interventions. Make sure you know all of those four things and are focusing on studying those four things. If you're a nursing SOS member, be sure to log into your dashboard and then find the course that goes along with what you are studying right now in class. And then watch those videos if you need them. If you need more help with those topics, all of those resources are laid out for you step by step. We focus on these things, focus on those four main categories and we help you critically think through it all. So I'll walk you through the critical thinking for everything that you need to know in nursing school and I lay it out for you in those videos inside the Nursing SOS membership community. It's going to make this whole process of studying so much easier for you. So be sure to log in and check that out. And if you aren't a nursing SOS member yet, but you want access to all of those videos where I walk you through the critical thinking for everything you have to know in nursing school and be sure to sign up. So the link is down below in the description for you to check it out. So now that we have those two solid tips to help you while you are studying in nursing school, let's jump into the third tip now. Tip number three now this is going to seem pretty basic and straightforward, but hear me out. Stick with me. This one is super important. Okay, you ready? Tip number three Study efficiently with clear priorities. Now again, this may seem like an obvious tip, but it is so important to be intentional with your time, especially when it comes to nursing school and studying a nursing school. You can't expect yourself to study well in school when you are not eating well or when you're having a hard time sleeping at home and Then constantly being overwhelmed and stressed out. So you can't expect yourself to study well under those conditions, right? So this tip to help you pass nursing school and still have a life, you need to learn how to stay 100% focused when you study and set clear priorities for yourself. It is so easy to fall into the trap of worrying and stressing about all of the tasks that have to get done not only in your everyday life outside of nursing school, but to throw nursing school really into the mix. It takes a lot. But hear me out friend. Making sure that your priorities are aligned with your goals and that your study time is as efficient as possible, it's going to help you so so much. Remember, you are in control of how this nursing school journey goes for you. God has a plan for you and you can make this happen. So let's go back to the basics and really make sure that you are studying as efficiently as possible with clear priorities in place. So I have three things that you can do to help. Be more intentional with your priorities and make sure that you are studying efficiently. Okay, ready? Number one, Take breaks. So nursing school is a marathon, right? Not a sprint. If you try to go 150% for a full semester, you will eventually become burned out and you will need a longer recovery time due to that exhaustion, illness if you get sick or lack of motivation. So now take this from personal experience, my hand is raised. Those recovery periods happen at the worst possible time, right? So I had a crazy cold during a huge exam. Set a schedule. Now I always recommend an hour by hour schedule so you can plan out your time and then know exactly what you are supposed to be doing and when you are supposed to to be doing it. Now my advice for the amount of time that you will want to plan for studying is two hours for every hour that you are in lecture and then one hour for every hour of lab or skills lab. So if you are in your fundamentals lecture for three hours a week, you should budget to study about six hours of study time for that particular course per week. Now this is what I suggest to get started. That way you have enough time and you can really adjust it as needed. It can take some time to get used to it to planning out your time this way. But once you get into the routine of it, it will make managing your time so so much easier. Remember to building in that rest and downtime so your body isn't running at full speed ahead all semester. This is so important. Consider taking a longer nap, going to the dog park or making church a Priority. Go with whatever you find relaxing and make it a priority. Now number two, put your phone in another room while you study. This is huge. Now I know you are thinking, Christina, I don't need to have my phone in another room. I will just turn it on silent and leave it with me. No, friend, no. Don't do it. Trust me, even having your phone around it will decrease your productivity and and then split your focus. You're going to be waiting for those text messages to come in. Your goal is to study more effectively for less time. So you need to stay 100% focused on the task in front of you. I know how tempting it could be to just keep your phone with you and tell yourself that you're not going to check it or Check Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or whatever. But friend, do not give yourself that option and keep the phone in another room while you are studying. Set that limit and stick to it. You will be shocked at how much more efficient your studying becomes with this simple adjustment. Just put your phone in another room. Now tip number three to help you maintain clear priorities and then continue to study effectively and efficiently, this is another one that you are going to think is so simple, but truly it will change just about everything for you. Keep a water bottle with you at all times and make sure to drink it. Seriously, drink your water. You will be going from lecture class to clinical to study sessions to skills lab and then back again all day long, all day, every day. You need to stay healthy and you need to stay hydrated and it starts with water. So taking care of yourself will help you be the most efficient and present when you are studying. You cannot afford to get sick, so drink your water. And not to mention getting used to having your water with you and actually drinking it will be a great practice for when you are a nurse out there in the real world when you're already in the habit of sneaking and drinking water all day long in those quick little seconds, quick few seconds in between tasks or in between patients, it will be that much easier for you. Trust me on this one. Keep your water with you and drink it. So even though it can be easy to put your needs on the back burner, do not do this during nursing school. Make yourself a priority with your courses balanced in so you can show up and do your best when it comes to studying and taking your exams and at your clinicals. Now, of course, there's three ways that I can help you more through nursing school. Number one, be sure to download this critical thinking cheat sheet that we talked about earlier that I have for you that walks you through how to critically think in nursing school. Do not forget to download that. It's going to change everything for you. Number two Be sure to check out our nursing School boxes. You are going to love them. They are fantastic. They are packed with resources to help you be more efficient while you're studying, be more successful in nursing school and learn things faster. And of course if you want me to hold your hand throughout your nursing school journey, do not miss out on joining the nursing SOS membership community. You know I am 1000% here for you. I'm here to walk you through nursing school step by step. It is filled with nursing lectures that will help you understand everything faster so you will be more confident for your exams and more prepared for your exams. The links to all of those things are down below in the description for you to check it out. And if you like this video, be sure to hit that like button. Leave a comment below to let me know you loved it. Share this video with a friend who also needs help with studying more efficiently in nursing school. Sharing is caring of course. And then of course subscribe to this channel and click that notification bell so you never miss a video. I really appreciate your support and click on one of these videos right over here so you can keep rocking nursing school. And as always my friend, go become the nurse that God created created only you to be. And I'll catch you next time on the Nursing School show. Take care. Bye bye.