Hi guys! Welcome back to the blog! I wanted to jump on here and share with you my current tips on balancing all of my classes this semester! Below are my top tips I’ve been using to plan!
1. Plan on Sundays: I love to start the next week by planning on Monday. By this I mean writing out every assignment, paper, test, etc for the week to come! 2. Color Coding: A new thing I’ve been doing is color coding! Now I know a lot of people do this by class, however for me I tend to highlight my most important assignments for the week. By most important I mean those that will take me the most time. For instance, this week I have a Literature paper due for my last elective class of undergrad (whoop whoop) and an exam in another class of mine. These types of assignments I’d highlight to make sure I remember to allow myself some extra time to focus on that. 3. Trick Yourself: You’re probably reading this point being like ??? But let me explain. Two of my classes tend to have all assignments due on the Monday or Sunday’s of weeks. What I do (only if my week is SUPER busy) is “trick” myself into thinking a certain assignment is due a couple days early that way I unintentionally let myself get ahead and don’t cram on Sundays. Some of you may have enough will power to get stuff done early but sometimes I push it off when I see blank boxes Thursday-Saturday. 4. Input in your phone: If you’re like me, sometimes assignments can slip your mind if they’re not online and are just mentioned randomly in class. I like to either make a note or make an event in my calendar app to remind me to either write it down in my planner or just remind me in case I forget to write it down...lol! It works though! These are my current tips ive been using for a while. It’s nothing fancy but it gets the job done and keeps me on track! What are your planning tips you have to live by?
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The semesters coming to and end and I’ve completed my first clinical rotation: med surg/chronic care. Going into the whole clinical setting on the first day I was SUPER nervous. I mean everything we learned in the textbooks, in sim lab, or in fundamentals suddenly has to be implemented and drawn together to help care for a person. A real person! After a few weeks I started to find my groove a bit more. I was becoming more comfortable talking to healthcare professionals and approaching them with concerns about patients. I became more comfortable asking questions and trying to problem solve with my nurse. And most importantly I became comfortable within myself to take care of my patient. Below are some of my top tips I learned about how to gain clinical confidence as well as things to be remembered...
1. Everyone is in the same boat. Everyone is nervous and curious as to what will be thrown their way that day. Just remember you are a student and you’re here to learn. 2. Have confidence in what you’ve learnt. We’ve spent years learning skills in class so now it’s time to use them. 3. Don’t be over confident and unsure. If you’re uncertain about something speak up. Ask your nurse, your instructor, or even your peers. It’s never wrong to get a second opinion. 4. Remember that you’re there to help patients. I had to make sure I put aside my own insecurities in order to properly communicate with my patients confidently. 5. Go into your patients room confidently and speak clearly. Nobody wants a nervous nurse. 6. It gets better! Throughout your weeks it will become more natural. Talking to patients will be less daunting. Performing skills with your Instructor and giving shots won’t freak you out anymore. 7. Be confident when talking to healthcare professionals. It’s all about professional intercollaboration. Nobody could function without one and other. Make sure to be respectful, use the SBAR to provide information, and ask questions if needed. 8. It’s ok to be nervous! If you weren’t nervous you wouldn’t be willing to learn and become a better nurse. Clinical confidence is something I gained throughout my weeks. And to be quite honest, I’m sure I will continue to gain more confidence. Nobody’s perfect. Just remember to try your best, be willing to learn, and go in confident! You’ve studied so hard it’s time to let your hard work pay off! Nursing school is intense. You’ve got tons of classes being thrown at you every which way a semester and it just simply seems like there’s never enough time in the day to do them all. But I’m here to share with you my secrets on how I time manage them all! Time Blocking is your friend! Each morning I wake up, I try to make a mental note of what’s going on in my day. For example, what assignments are due today, are their any exams tomorrow, and what errands/personal things do I have going on today. For me, a typical Monday is the perfect example of a time blocked day... (see below)
7:30am - Commute to campus 8:30-10:20am- First class 10:30-12:30pm - Study time! 12:30-2pm- Lunch and relaxation time with my friends 2-5pm- Second class 5:30pm - Commute home 6:30pm - Dinner with family and relaxation time (sometimes ill stay on campus to study) I find that time blocking really helps me get the most out of my day. Although things come up and change the pattern of the day, I like to have some general idea of what I’m doing that day. Plan Ahead. This is something I do every Saturday! I always have a look at what is going on this week exam and assignment wise! I like to do my best to feel ahead of the game as much as I can. I tend to write out everything coming up for the week in my planner as well as making a to do list! At the beginning of semesters I’ll also have a look at the syllabus schedules to see how each class is formatted. For example, most of my classes this semester have a scheduled day that similar assignments are due on (for instance: interactive modules are due on Sundays). This way I can gauge what days will be busier for me during the semester so I can get things done before hand to feel less stressed. To Do Lists are my bffs. Sometimes I prefer these over my planner! I really like to use to do lists when I’m feeling over stressed. The last week was quite hectic in my cohort so using the to do lists saved me! When I sat down to study I wrote down everything I wanted to accomplish before I left the library that night. Each time I completed something I’d tick it off as done! It’s so rewarding to knock items off a to do list! It really gives me that extra motivation to study. I remember when I started nursing school almost three years ago... I was so excited and nervous for what was to come. But let’s be honest, the stress and the workload slaps you in the face hard. It’s not a major for everyone. But I’m here to share with you some of my tips that helped me survive those first couple of years!
Make Friends First of all, you need friends by your side for almost everything in nursing school. Someone to cry on when you fail an exam, someone to have fun with on the weekends when you’re trying to forget about the stress of a million assignments, and someone to partner up with on assignments! In my program, my friends and I all work together. A huge part of nursing in the workplace is collaboration with others! I personally believe this is true in nursing school as well. Studying together is a huge part of what helped me through those first two years! Find a Hobby For me, this step is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I know it seems like there is zero time to have a life but I promise you it’s essential you prioritize and devote some time to having fun/doing a hobby the same you would for studying. I time block time to do something for myself everyday. For me, my biggest hobby is writing for you guys! I’ll go out and shoot Instagram content with my boyfriend or write up a post! It’s all about time management and doing something you love and makes you happy will refresh you when you feel burnt out. Time Manage Block off times in your day to keep yourself organized! For me when I wake up, I’ll make a mental plan of what my day is going to be like. What do I have to get done today? What assignments are due? And what fun thing am I going to do for myself today? Make sure to prioritize not only your school work and studying but yourself as well! I’m currently sitting down in this coffee shop listening to the sounds of coffee beans being ground and reading your messages. A lot of you are telling me about how you recently failed a test and aren’t sure if that’s ok. Well I’m here to tell you that it is perfectly NORMAL.
On Instagram, us nursing bloggers try to paint our lives as perfection. A perfect filter, perfect artsy coffee shop, and perfect grades. It’s normal for my fellow nursing bloggers and students to try to seem like they have it all together. But the truth is we don’t. I don’t. Nobody is perfect and we’re all human. I promised myself when I started this blog I’d be real and authentic because I really want you to be able to relate to me. As nice of a filter I may use on my instagram, I still have my own failures and you deserve to see that. Failing is a normal part of life. If we didn’t fail, we’d never learn. We’d never have to work harder and get to feel that sense of accomplishment when we prevailed. We’d simply be wonderful at everything. And that sounds completely awful to me. Failing helps me grow as a person. It helps show me that when I try so hard at something that I’m capable of things I didn’t know I could do. And the biggest one for me is nursing school. I’ve failed countless tests in nursing school. Some I stayed up all night studying for and worked for weeks at. And sometimes it just didn’t click for me. My rule of thumb I started to tell myself when I start to get down about failing a test is that I’m only human. That it doesn’t make me any less of a person or a future nurse. I make sure I see where my errors were or meet with my professor to discuss how I can improve. And once doing that and having a good long cry, I’ll work that extra bit harder. It is normal to not be perfect all the time. Long story short, next time you fail in life whether it be in nursing school or not, let it challenge you in a positive way. Have a good cry, scream, or whatever let’s out those emotions. And then, gather yourself and put your effort into prevailing past that failure and growing yourself. A test doesn’t define you. Don’t let it have that power. |