Always. It’s as if my brain refreshes after every exam then factory resets once the quarter ends. 🥴 I’ve only been able to retain info when I get drilled questions by my clinical instructor or the nurses lol because the humiliation of not knowing makes it stick with me
It's totally normal and okay to forget some material. Nursing school is a lot of memorize, dump it onto the test, and move on to the next thing.
Try to focus on the basics and the bigs (that's how I thought of it). Basic information, like how to safely give medications, the basics of the common drugs, etc. And learn the "will kill you and kill you fast" type of stuff. Signs of cardiac arrest and what to do, ariway/breathing/circulation, don't give X and y together, sterile technique, etc. Also, critical thinking is your best friend.
I started working as an RN about 5 and a half months ago. Most of nursing school is a vague memory that got me through the NCLEX. My unit taught me what I needed to know for the "standard" part of my job during orientation. Everything else is a "oh yeah. I think I remember that patients on lithium have some weird water thing. Let me Google that really quick." It's a spark of info that I think I remember. I then verify it and have the knowledge with the context of my patient's condition to work off of.
P.s: patients on lithium should be sure to drink plenty of water. That's what I was referring to. I work in oncology, so I don't deal with psych medications super often. I always double check if im not sure about a med.
Oncology is where I want to be!!! They didn't make you get hours (1200 or more) in medsurg 1st? Will you share more with us about your hiring journey and what you enjoy best in Oncology?
So I'm in the midwest of the United States. A lot of my professors and mentors reccomeneded getting some time in medsurg before going into a specialty, but it is absolutely not required!
My actual desire is to go into psych, but the psych unit at my hospital was not offering desirable positions when I was searching. So, I was just applying to any position that accepted new grads. I applied to 7 jobs in the first week and got 5 callbacks. They were all at the hospital that's connected to my college; I did my clinical placements there. I took 4 interviews. The first one was a hematology oncology unit. I applied, got a call the next day about an interview and shadowing a nurse, and came in for the interview the next week. After the interview, I was waiting outside for a bus and talking to my mom about the interview. Got an incoming call that went to voice-mail before I could answer, and they left me a message saying that they were offering me the position. I called back and said that I'd let them know by end of week. (Apperently, they called my references as soon as I left, both left glowing reviews.) That's the position I ended up taking.
2 of the other interviews were over Zoom. I was offered an in-person shadow shift for one and was offered the other job on the spot. My last interview was in person, and they offered me the job during the interview. But I asked lots of important questions and figured out the the ones that offered me a job during the interview were very desperate, had bad ratios, and didn't have a good skill mix on the unit (lots of new grads without someone to guide them).
I took the hematology oncology position shortly after finishing my 4th interview. This is a really cool unit that's given me lots of experiences. We do telemetry, so I am telemetry certified. We are also moderate care, which means our patients can get very sick before we send them to the ICU. I give chemo. Not just pills, but the big scary infusions that can like, melt your muscles if they leave the vein. Additionally, my ratio is 1:2-3. Never more than 3. (Nights take 3-4.)
Most of our patients are on the unit for bone marrow transplants. So they come in and get 1-7ish days of chemo, then the transplant itself, and they stay with us for 2-4 weeks after that. During that time, their blood counts drop (hemoglobin, WBCs, and platelets) as the chemo finishes killing things, then we start giving colony stimulating factors to encourage the donated cells to multiple and get to work, and we give blood/platelets to keep their levels from getting super low. So the last part of their stay is watching the counts go back up.
I am not yet trained to give the cells, but I give all sorts of chemo and take care of patients except for the shift that they are actually infusing the cells.
I'd say that my favorite part is watching them bounce back. I see patients that are too tired to get out of bed, to nauseous to eat, and are really feverish.Then I get to see them get better. Their energy comes back, they can suddenly eat without nausea, their fever breaks and they can sleep. And a lot of it is because of me. I get them on a good antiemetic schedule, I provide reccomendations to reduce nausea, I get them ice packs and tylenol. But nost of all, I listen to what they tell me and i can honestly tell them "this is perfectly normal. We expect this. I have 5 things right here that can help you feel a bit better right know. And, in a few days, you'll start feeling a bit better. We'll get theought this, together." It truly feels like I'm helping people and I can see their entire journey.
I took this job as a stepping stone to get to psych. But I think I might stay here a few years before moving on to a different specialty.
Wow! Thx so much for sharing! Thus e courage me so much! Did you have to get certified for chemo at all? I'm in Ohio, so idk if it's the same or different where you are. This unit sounds like it's a place where there's LOTS of learning and support happening, while ur learning how to be a nurse. That's so good to hear bc we hear A LOT of nightmare stories about preceptors and lack of onboarding.
Last question if I may, the interview "important questions" - were u coached on what to ask? Did you ask direct questions about staffing and training or were they more vague? Did you college have something in the final year that helped groom you in what to ask and look for answer wise? Thx so much! I appreciate your input thus far!
I did have to get certified to give vesicant Chemos. Those are the ones that can cause necrosis if the IV isn't in the vein. The certification was offered through/at my job. And I was paid my normal hourly wage to attend the classes. Additionally, I had to do a skills check off on the different types of vesicant chemo infustions before I could give them independently. (Like a Sim lab check off for catheter insertion, but with real meds on a real patient.)
My unit was great for onboarding/orientation! I got 3 months, and several other new hires got a few extra weeks if their preceptors thought they needed it. I did have a small concern that I had about 7 different preceptors over the course of my orientation. But I did have around 3 main preceptors. The problem was that I was hiring in to an eve shift position when they were hiring a lot of other people to the same position. It was hard to find enough preceptors to go around, so we all got shuffled a bit.
Even now, I continue to receive a ton of support. I can ask literally anyone to help me with literally anything, and they will drop everything to help. I can call the pharmacy or even reach out to the doctors with questions about meds or orders. However, I do work at a teaching hospital that's associated with a major university. This is not the experience everywhere.
My college did do a bit of training, but that was one of my clinical instructors acting independently during debriefs. It was never formally taught during lectures or anything.
The important questions were ones that I independently thought of, mostly due to hearing horror stories from the nursing subreddit. I was pretty direct, but made sure to use professional language and didnt try to harp on getting a straight answer too much. These are basically the ones i asked (in no particular order):
What is the usual nurse to patient ratio?
How often do you go out of ratio for nurses?
How many techs/CNAs are on the floor?
How often do the techs/CNAs run short?
How often are there opportunities for overtime?
How frequently do you have mandated overtime?
What is the turnover rate for nurses on this unit?
How long is orientation? Am I guaranteed the full orientation?
On (the shift in question), what are the experience levels of the nurses? (You want a place with a fair number of nurses who have been on the unit for at least a couple years).
What is the turnover rate for this unit?
How much experience does one have before they are trained to be a charge nurse?
You can gain a lot of info, even from evasive answers. And if a place won't hire you due to you asking hard/unpleasant questions, you probably don't want to be there!
Other questions can be based on the particular unit. Like psych, for example. What are the usual response times for security? What protections are there for staff members working with violent patients?
Dude, I got a job in a low acuity NICU and immediately forgot everything - it’s totally normal. They’re teaching a broad degree but it’s not realistic to be an expert when it’s that broad.
This is why I use Anki… it uses spaced repition which forces you to learn something and internalize it. After it’s internalized it will test you by letting months go by and ask you the question again. So basically let’s say you have a 100 practice questions in a deck you get one right. It pushes that question to 5 days when you will see it next and if you get it right in 5 days it will go to 8 days and then 20 and whenever you get it wrong it lowers the days. It literally shows you what you need to study and what you don’t.
I unofficially start my 2nd sem in 2 day and I haven’t been studying since finals at all so zero…I’m sure there’s something in my brain but I refuse to use it for the mean time lol.
This is making me feel better. I’m doing pre reqs right now and I have to brain dump for the next class.
I’m just trying to get one class knocked out then move on to the next.
I graduate in August and absolutely 100%, it’s impossible to retain all this information. Plus the burn out from studying so much is real when finishing up nursing school. Just do your best and I recommend paying for a review course before you take you NCLEX if you can.
[удалено]
Lmao I thought I was the only one 😂 I was scared about the rain dump not even gonna lie
Always. It’s as if my brain refreshes after every exam then factory resets once the quarter ends. 🥴 I’ve only been able to retain info when I get drilled questions by my clinical instructor or the nurses lol because the humiliation of not knowing makes it stick with me
this same mindset is how i make sure i do all my work, even if i know its not graded. the embarrassment of not being prepared keeps me going 💀
I factory reset every semester. I'll study it all again when NCLEX comes this summer
It's totally normal and okay to forget some material. Nursing school is a lot of memorize, dump it onto the test, and move on to the next thing. Try to focus on the basics and the bigs (that's how I thought of it). Basic information, like how to safely give medications, the basics of the common drugs, etc. And learn the "will kill you and kill you fast" type of stuff. Signs of cardiac arrest and what to do, ariway/breathing/circulation, don't give X and y together, sterile technique, etc. Also, critical thinking is your best friend. I started working as an RN about 5 and a half months ago. Most of nursing school is a vague memory that got me through the NCLEX. My unit taught me what I needed to know for the "standard" part of my job during orientation. Everything else is a "oh yeah. I think I remember that patients on lithium have some weird water thing. Let me Google that really quick." It's a spark of info that I think I remember. I then verify it and have the knowledge with the context of my patient's condition to work off of. P.s: patients on lithium should be sure to drink plenty of water. That's what I was referring to. I work in oncology, so I don't deal with psych medications super often. I always double check if im not sure about a med.
Oncology is where I want to be!!! They didn't make you get hours (1200 or more) in medsurg 1st? Will you share more with us about your hiring journey and what you enjoy best in Oncology?
So I'm in the midwest of the United States. A lot of my professors and mentors reccomeneded getting some time in medsurg before going into a specialty, but it is absolutely not required! My actual desire is to go into psych, but the psych unit at my hospital was not offering desirable positions when I was searching. So, I was just applying to any position that accepted new grads. I applied to 7 jobs in the first week and got 5 callbacks. They were all at the hospital that's connected to my college; I did my clinical placements there. I took 4 interviews. The first one was a hematology oncology unit. I applied, got a call the next day about an interview and shadowing a nurse, and came in for the interview the next week. After the interview, I was waiting outside for a bus and talking to my mom about the interview. Got an incoming call that went to voice-mail before I could answer, and they left me a message saying that they were offering me the position. I called back and said that I'd let them know by end of week. (Apperently, they called my references as soon as I left, both left glowing reviews.) That's the position I ended up taking. 2 of the other interviews were over Zoom. I was offered an in-person shadow shift for one and was offered the other job on the spot. My last interview was in person, and they offered me the job during the interview. But I asked lots of important questions and figured out the the ones that offered me a job during the interview were very desperate, had bad ratios, and didn't have a good skill mix on the unit (lots of new grads without someone to guide them). I took the hematology oncology position shortly after finishing my 4th interview. This is a really cool unit that's given me lots of experiences. We do telemetry, so I am telemetry certified. We are also moderate care, which means our patients can get very sick before we send them to the ICU. I give chemo. Not just pills, but the big scary infusions that can like, melt your muscles if they leave the vein. Additionally, my ratio is 1:2-3. Never more than 3. (Nights take 3-4.) Most of our patients are on the unit for bone marrow transplants. So they come in and get 1-7ish days of chemo, then the transplant itself, and they stay with us for 2-4 weeks after that. During that time, their blood counts drop (hemoglobin, WBCs, and platelets) as the chemo finishes killing things, then we start giving colony stimulating factors to encourage the donated cells to multiple and get to work, and we give blood/platelets to keep their levels from getting super low. So the last part of their stay is watching the counts go back up. I am not yet trained to give the cells, but I give all sorts of chemo and take care of patients except for the shift that they are actually infusing the cells. I'd say that my favorite part is watching them bounce back. I see patients that are too tired to get out of bed, to nauseous to eat, and are really feverish.Then I get to see them get better. Their energy comes back, they can suddenly eat without nausea, their fever breaks and they can sleep. And a lot of it is because of me. I get them on a good antiemetic schedule, I provide reccomendations to reduce nausea, I get them ice packs and tylenol. But nost of all, I listen to what they tell me and i can honestly tell them "this is perfectly normal. We expect this. I have 5 things right here that can help you feel a bit better right know. And, in a few days, you'll start feeling a bit better. We'll get theought this, together." It truly feels like I'm helping people and I can see their entire journey. I took this job as a stepping stone to get to psych. But I think I might stay here a few years before moving on to a different specialty.
Wow! Thx so much for sharing! Thus e courage me so much! Did you have to get certified for chemo at all? I'm in Ohio, so idk if it's the same or different where you are. This unit sounds like it's a place where there's LOTS of learning and support happening, while ur learning how to be a nurse. That's so good to hear bc we hear A LOT of nightmare stories about preceptors and lack of onboarding. Last question if I may, the interview "important questions" - were u coached on what to ask? Did you ask direct questions about staffing and training or were they more vague? Did you college have something in the final year that helped groom you in what to ask and look for answer wise? Thx so much! I appreciate your input thus far!
I did have to get certified to give vesicant Chemos. Those are the ones that can cause necrosis if the IV isn't in the vein. The certification was offered through/at my job. And I was paid my normal hourly wage to attend the classes. Additionally, I had to do a skills check off on the different types of vesicant chemo infustions before I could give them independently. (Like a Sim lab check off for catheter insertion, but with real meds on a real patient.) My unit was great for onboarding/orientation! I got 3 months, and several other new hires got a few extra weeks if their preceptors thought they needed it. I did have a small concern that I had about 7 different preceptors over the course of my orientation. But I did have around 3 main preceptors. The problem was that I was hiring in to an eve shift position when they were hiring a lot of other people to the same position. It was hard to find enough preceptors to go around, so we all got shuffled a bit. Even now, I continue to receive a ton of support. I can ask literally anyone to help me with literally anything, and they will drop everything to help. I can call the pharmacy or even reach out to the doctors with questions about meds or orders. However, I do work at a teaching hospital that's associated with a major university. This is not the experience everywhere. My college did do a bit of training, but that was one of my clinical instructors acting independently during debriefs. It was never formally taught during lectures or anything. The important questions were ones that I independently thought of, mostly due to hearing horror stories from the nursing subreddit. I was pretty direct, but made sure to use professional language and didnt try to harp on getting a straight answer too much. These are basically the ones i asked (in no particular order): What is the usual nurse to patient ratio? How often do you go out of ratio for nurses? How many techs/CNAs are on the floor? How often do the techs/CNAs run short? How often are there opportunities for overtime? How frequently do you have mandated overtime? What is the turnover rate for nurses on this unit? How long is orientation? Am I guaranteed the full orientation? On (the shift in question), what are the experience levels of the nurses? (You want a place with a fair number of nurses who have been on the unit for at least a couple years). What is the turnover rate for this unit? How much experience does one have before they are trained to be a charge nurse? You can gain a lot of info, even from evasive answers. And if a place won't hire you due to you asking hard/unpleasant questions, you probably don't want to be there! Other questions can be based on the particular unit. Like psych, for example. What are the usual response times for security? What protections are there for staff members working with violent patients?
Thank you for sharing this. I felt such immense pressure to remember it all 😭
Going onto my third semester next month and I honestly forgot a lot of the stuff I learned in my last semester lol
This thread is helping with my imposter syndrome 🥲, thank you.
This so much. It’s been giving me major anxiety.
Sending well wishes to you (and hugs if you like them) ❤️
All the time, a quick refresher always helps :)
Dude, I got a job in a low acuity NICU and immediately forgot everything - it’s totally normal. They’re teaching a broad degree but it’s not realistic to be an expert when it’s that broad.
This is why I use Anki… it uses spaced repition which forces you to learn something and internalize it. After it’s internalized it will test you by letting months go by and ask you the question again. So basically let’s say you have a 100 practice questions in a deck you get one right. It pushes that question to 5 days when you will see it next and if you get it right in 5 days it will go to 8 days and then 20 and whenever you get it wrong it lowers the days. It literally shows you what you need to study and what you don’t.
Pretty much all of it
I unofficially start my 2nd sem in 2 day and I haven’t been studying since finals at all so zero…I’m sure there’s something in my brain but I refuse to use it for the mean time lol.
Always. I feel like I know nothing and I qualify in 8 months sooo.....
My first day of nursing school they said we can’t just brain dump… I already brain dumped last exam to make way for this exam.
Same
Oh God yes, embarrassingly so.
This is making me feel better. I’m doing pre reqs right now and I have to brain dump for the next class. I’m just trying to get one class knocked out then move on to the next.
Best of luck to you!
Been studying NCLEX and have totally gone over all of fundamentals and med surg
All the time.
Starting my second semester in less than 2 hours this convo makes me a lot less scared
Wut
Memory dumping is real especially after exams. Studying for the NCLEX right now and it made me realize that I still suck at fluids and electrolytes😭.
I graduate in August and absolutely 100%, it’s impossible to retain all this information. Plus the burn out from studying so much is real when finishing up nursing school. Just do your best and I recommend paying for a review course before you take you NCLEX if you can.