Nursing School – How to Succeed

Nursing Education has become very popular both for the purposes of looking after the sick and as a professional training to be successful in non-nursing careers. The popularity of Nursing is due to many reasons but three of the main ones are:

1. It is the most trusted profession. Population surveys show that the public trust nurses more than accountants, lawyers, doctors and engineers. This is the result good nursing education both by the universities and clinical areas. Further, professional organizations representing nurses have done an excellent job of promoting nursing as a profession.
2. Employers willingly hire nurses into non-nursing careers in marketing, education, management, law and research. This is because nursing education is broad and the principles applicable almost universally – honesty, integrity, advocating for the patient, data collection, history taking, analysis, intervention planning, assessing the effectiveness of interventions etc.
3. Due to chronic shortages of Registered Nurses the financial rewards for nurses are increasing at a rate which is higher than the cost of living and at a rate which is higher than other professions with equal amount of training. Further, in some countries nurses can do two sixteen hour shift and be paid the full time equivalent in financial and fringe benefits. This frees mothers and students of other careers to pursue other interests when they have finished with their nursing commitments.

Marketability of Nursing Degrees:

As a result of Nursing Degrees being more marketable than other degrees more and more nurses are leaving nursing to take up jobs in pastures which are greener than hospitals and better paying than computing programmers. This creates the nursing shortage which is currently being experienced universally.

Hence, if you are in a Nursing School as a Nursing Student and want to successfully complete your nursing education it is important to follow some basic rules. Adhering to these rules will make your “student” days enjoyable, pleasurable, and gainful both academically and professionally.

You may want to follow these rules even if you do not plan to practice as a nurse because the principles of Nursing have many applications. This assertion is not coming from me. It is coming from observed data which shows that many nurses leave the health care field to take up other jobs.

Image: Picture of a Registered Nurse insignia.

How to succeed in A Nursing School

Decision making must be conclusive. If you have read my articles on Passing any Examination and How to Pass NCLEX you will have noted that making up one’s mind is by far the most important thing.

First, make a list of the reasons for choosing nursing as a professional training. This list must list the most honest reasons according to your feelings and emotions. Remember, it is your feelings and emotions. Not what your friends or relatives are telling you or want you to do. If the emotions and feelings are lacking then you should look at other options. If you choose nursing as a career based on wrong reasons then there is the likelihood that some lecturer / Clinical Educator / Patient / Nurse manager is going to pick up on those feelings and ask you, “do you really want to be a Nurse?” If you feel that you have made the wrong choice, quit early, be honest, and cut your losses. You will be doing a service to yourself and society.

Participation and Strategic Plans: Now that you have made up your mind to succeed and to do well in your chosen field please take the time to do some strategy planning. Most Nursing schools require you to attend some lecturers (sometimes called by vicarious names like Clinical Teaching Blocks, practical education, clinical skills training). Make sure you get to the lectures in a timely manner. Do not be absent, late or leave early. Your disinterest in the subject must not be seen or perceived by any lecturer or clinical supervisor.

Showing up late for lectures, being absent and going home early will alert the lecturers. You may be flagged and observed. I am sure you are thinking that nursing is adult education and therefore you have the right to participate or not to participate in lecturers. The truth is that Nursing is still “traditional in many ways”; attendance in lecturers is seen as compulsory. In some institutions you will be required to sign in several times during the day. One of the reasons for the “high demand” for nursing degrees is the rigor with which they are taught. So, you have a vested interest in attending these classes.

Actions

Always buy and read the recommended texts. Lecturers know more about available texts than you will ever know. They usually have been in the field for about ten to fifteen years. If you have an honest difficulty purchasing the recommended text consider using the library or borrowing from a friend. Some lecturers will consider lending you their books if you have shown yourself to be reliable and honest. I have lent books but did not get them back so I have stopped the practice.

Participate in classroom discussions and try to answer lecturer’s questions. These will give a feeling of where you stand relative to the class. No one ever says that they know the answers to all questions, not even the lecturer. However, we all know the students who know more than us and we also know of all students who know less than us. Lastly, we all know where we stand relative to our class but we do not like to say it.

Strategy

One reading of a chapter is not usually sufficient because our memory is not good. Repeat reading, note taking, high lighting and tying newly learned material to what you already know is very useful. When making notes, make sure that the notes are not too long so that they become useless from an applied aspect. Notes should be in point form and re-read your notes many times. You will know that you understand the material if you can convey the jest of the chapter to a friend, a family member or talk it aloud. Be careful though, do not get drunk, sit on the roadside and start repeating the contents of a chapter. You may be mistaken for someone who is actively hallucinating or preaching etc.

Study Groups

It also a good idea to form study groups. When participating in study groups prepare your topic well. When you are presenting the other members should be listening actively and asking for clarification on issues which are not clear. Now-a-days many students study externally and therefore the formation of study groups is a difficult process. However, it is not impossible.

Most universities provide learn line sites which allow students to communicate between themselves and between lecturers. Be aware, about university policies and procedures. Once you have pasted a message you will have to live with the consequences or it. Many administrators / lecturers will not allow you to delete a message which has been posted. Others may be more flexible.

Study groups of students are usually able to share knowledge, know how and resources. Resources include good books, methods on how to memorize important lectures and to exchange notes.

Dos and Don’ts

There are many things which you should not do when you are in a nursing school. I will only talk about behaviors which are related to nursing schools. It is clearly expected that you will not break any of societie’s laws. All Nursing Students are expected to broken no criminal or civil laws. If you have a criminal record, please notify the Nursing School before you apply to become a Registered Nurse.

Other things which you should avoid doing as a nursing student include breaking normal behavioral rules. These include sleeping (or dozing) during lectures, talking during lectures, and making excessive use of your mobile phone. Most students are able to comply with this requirement without any difficulty. Yes, it is minor inconvenience. Yes, it is worth it for the purposes of getting useful education with skills which are very transferable. I am sure you will want to comply with these.

Remember to switch off pagers, mobile phones and other communication devices. These can interfere with your progress, the flow of the lecture and disrupt the focus of the entire class. Some institutions impose a fine and others have rules banning mobile phones and pagers. Follow these rules.

Excuses for absences are as a rule not accepted. However, most Universities allow absences with medical certificates. So if you are absent, be prepared to submit your sickness certificate. The death and funeral of close relatives (sometimes close friends) may be accepted. However, this does not entitle you to skip the work that was thought during that period. The lecturer will tell you that he/she will coach you individually. If he/she tells you this then it is up to you to make the time up.

You must also make up clinical time during which you were sick or absent from clinical (hospital) work. When making up sick time, it is best to arrange with the clinical area where you are placed. However, keep other parties informed. Notify your lecturer, notify the clinical supervisor and above all notify the placement office.

Medication calculations are very important. This is because students cannot be allowed to make a mistake with medications in the clinical area. Be prepared to buy a book on medical calculations and to master those calculations. Any score of less than 100 % will alert the teaching staff to your weaknesses. The rigidity for this rule is coming from industry. Society is getting more and more litigious and Universities and Hospitals are responding to societies’ needs.

Be prepared to follow the dress code of your cooperating institutions. Universities will require you use their Nursing Uniform or the Clinical Areas’ Uniform. It is up to you to find out which rules apply to your area. Another simple rule is cover boobs, bottoms and bellies. Footwear must be suitable for participation in laboratory work. Generally, closed in shoes are required. In some clinical situations you will be required to wear protective eye goggles.

Assertiveness is an important trait to have to be successful. Be careful on this one. Being too assertive can be seen to be aggressive. Being aggressive is not acceptable. This line is not difficult to draw if English is your mother tongue. However, if English is not your mother tongue then it is (generally speaking) is more difficult to understand when and where to stop. It is an expectation of Nursing Lecturers and Nursing Universities that you will submit progress reports every two weeks. Sometimes this will become difficult because you will have multiple preceptors and some preceptors will not know their role(s) well.

Dealing with preceptors is a difficult issue. Many preceptors do not have any formal training and are often asked to this extra responsibility without extra pay. Some feel that the extra responsibility is compensated for by the student because the student may be able to do some tasks with minimal supervision for the preceptor.

Be perceptive. (Be proactive) Call your lecturer early if you perceive that there will be a difficulty. Sometimes the way you are received or the way the clinical area perceives you is going to seal your fate. I agree that this is not a fair comment. Some of the most difficult problems have been when a student is literally ignored, and no feed back is given until the last day of an assessment. Then the student is not told that his/her performance was not up to expectations but is told that they will be given the report when it is completed. Then the student who has completed is documented to have had unsatisfactory performance. This is highly unsatisfactory on the part of the clinical area. It is usually due to the fact that clinical preceptors do not have an understanding of their role(s).

Preceptors are expected to take the student under their wing, coach, motivate and teach them procedures and practices as they are done in that institution. This sort of incident is more likely to occur if you are a minority, an extrovert, too young, too old or have English is your second language.

No institution allows bullying in the workplace. If you feel you are being bullied then you must let the bully know how you are feeling. You must let the person know exactly what he/she is doing that makes you feel bullied. Hopefully, it will not come back to haunt you. After you have let the bully know what she is doing, it is a good idea to let your lecturer and supervisor know of the ground reality. So, if the bully tries to give you a bad “evaluation” then the underlying reason will already be known to the “assessors”.

Role of Preceptors

Last but not least, many preceptors will say, “just ask anything which you do not understand”. Do not take this as god sent truth. The truth is that if you ask too many questions you will be perceived to be “not sure” of anything and everything. The opposite of this is when you do not ask any questions. If you do not ask questions then too the final report can be weighted against you. You will be perceived to “never asks questions”. So the balance is to ask some smart questions which leave a favorable impression. One of my colleagues said, “sometimes you have to kiss ____ “. I feel this a little unkind but the reality is close to it because many clinical nurses are not current in their practice but students have usually learned the latest interventions and techniques.

Accept Feedback Gracefully

If you do this your preceptor will be motivated to help you. If you criticize the feedback then you may be judged to be “defensive”. Always aim for a win win situation. Remember, in the win win situation all parties win. Many golden learning opportunities are lost due to attitudinal problems.

Give negative and positive feedback appropriately. It is better to say, “I felt uncomfortable when you did the wound care without giving the pain medication to the patient”. Never say, “You did the wound care without giving the pain medication to the patient”.

Clinical Competencies

Most universities require you to submit progress reports every two weeks. This is to help you to pass. Upon reading your preceptor’s comments the University’s Clinical Supervisor will give you some feedback. Hopefully it will be positive. If it is negative look at the suggestion (s) for improvement (s). Follow the recommendations diligently. You must be judged to be competent in the clinical area before you can move to the next level. Most universities do not like to fail you. Even if they do they will allow you to re-enroll and go through the unit again. The university gets your money twice.

Attendance Record

Universities and Clinical areas require you to keep a log of your participation in clinical care. This will show the exact hours you have completed in the clinical area. The number of hours you complete in each area will depend your level and year of training. If you do not complete the required number of hours you may not be eligible for registration.

If you have had a positive experience, felt supported and staff played a positive role in your education then a small box of chocolates is indicated. It is not an expectation but lets the staff know that they have done a good job. Hopefully they will repeat the behavior. Remember the cardinal law of behavior modification: Positive reinforcement reinforces a behavior. Punishment alienates! So practice reinforcing positive behaviors.

Good Luck and Best Wishes in nursing or any other career you choose. My thoughts will always be with you.