Advice for nursing students typically involves staying on track with studying and practicing self-care. Some specific advice for new nursing students includes being patient with yourself, seeking guidance from others, adopting successful habits, trialing study strategies, getting enough sleep, finding ways to unwind, and more.
As you start on the path to becoming a nurse, you’ll navigate a busy schedule and many priorities. Fear not — there is plenty of excellent advice for nursing students that can make your journey easier. The best nursing students use a few common strategies to thrive.
Following advice for new nursing students is even more important with an accelerated track like the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) track at Concordia University Texas. Though the accelerated learning path comes with greater responsibility, you can graduate and start your career in less time than you might have thought. In fact, graduation is possible in as few as 16 months upon successful completion of prerequisites.
Explore the top advice for future nursing students from our ABSN track team that will help you master the responsibilities of nursing school.
1. Set Realistic Goals for Yourself
The first piece of nursing school advice is to have patience with yourself. You are a student faced with a new challenge: navigating an intense 16 months of nursing coursework, skills and simulation labs, and clinical rotations. It will take time to learn how to manage your new schedule and responsibilities.
Give yourself time to adjust and figure out a rhythm for studying. Your instructors do not expect you to master nursing school on day one. You have the grace to make mistakes and learn from them. Do, however, try to improve your capabilities a little bit more each day.
2. Build a Support Network
As you work through the nursing curriculum, reach out to others for support and help. You are not on the nursing school journey alone.
You can seek help from others in many ways during nursing school, such as:
- Meeting with your instructors when you have questions about the material
- Setting up a regular peer study group, where you review material and quiz each other
- Talking with our success coach to gain insight into your study methods
- Staying in touch with your loved ones and sharing how they can best support you
Remember that support is a two-way street. Strive to be there for your nursing cohort members just as they are there for you.
3. Develop Strong Study Habits
How you spend your time each day dictates your future. Your success in nursing school depends on creating actionable, productive habits that will help you learn effectively. You’ll develop these habits over time as you gain experience in school and find what works best for you.
Here are a few great ideas for habits to begin during nursing school:
- Start every day with an activity that puts you in a positive frame of mind, such as taking a morning walk or listening to music.
- Begin studying at a consistent time and place each day. Designate specific time slots in your schedule for daily studying.
- Optimize your study time by limiting distractions.
- Give yourself a five-minute break to stretch after every 25 minutes or so of studying.
- Set aside 20 minutes daily to review your flashcards or notes from the day before.
As you enter the nursing profession, work to develop these skills and qualities of the best nurses.
4. Stay Curious and Open to Learning
Second-degree students and those transferring to nursing school have often been out of school for a while. It can sometimes seem like an abrupt transition to jump back into the routine of classes, homework, and studying. If you focus only on rote memorization, you might have even more trouble staying focused.
Instead, take the time to reflect on nursing concepts as you learn them. How might they be implemented in actual patient care scenarios? Are there any relevant case studies that might support the theory? Try to stay curious and open to learning new concepts. You never know what might help you work on a clinically challenging case later.
It may also be helpful to try a range of different study techniques. Everyone learns differently. While a friend may prefer making outlines, flashcards may work better for you. Try a few things and repeat the strategies that resonate most with you.
5. Practice Self-Care Regularly
During nursing school, self-care can be challenging. You’ll be maintaining a busy schedule with plenty of responsibilities. While you won’t have as much time for self-care as you did before, it’s still important to prioritize your health. Sleep, in particular, is crucial, as it promotes learning retention and focus. Practice good sleep hygiene. For example, set a consistent bedtime each night, put the books away, and go to bed.
In addition, find time to exercise on most days of the week. It doesn’t take hours in the gym to get your heart rate up; try jump roping or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. Try to avoid fast food in favor of healthier meals, and drink plenty of water.
6. Critical Nursing School Advice: Learn to Manage Stress
Your mental health is as important as your physical health, and learning how to manage stress is important advice for nursing students. During nursing school, you may sometimes experience stress and anxiety, and it’s essential to have ways to relieve that stress. We have found that successful nursing students have some method of balancing their studies and life.
While you’ll spend most of your time focused on schoolwork, reserve a little time for an activity that helps you relax and refresh, such as cooking, exercising, reading, or playing with your children. Having a way to decompress after a long day will help you remain strong and focused during the 16 months of our accelerated nursing track.
Looking for more ways to prioritize wellness in nursing school? Here are nine self-care tips for you.
7. Master Time Management Skills
Other top advice for new nursing students is to create and follow a set schedule each week. Using a schedule can help manage stress because it enables you to keep track of all school-related activities and assignments.
The ABSN track at Concordia University Texas consists of online classes, skills and simulation labs, and clinical rotations. Balancing your lab and clinical schedules with your assignments and exams for online classes can be challenging. Creating a detailed schedule can take that off your mind and give you one less thing to remember.
Time and consistency are your friends. You might have crammed for exams in the past, but with the amount of content you need to learn in the ABSN track, studying every day will be to your advantage. The nursing curriculum is intense, and it builds upon itself. Staying on track is essential to ensure you learn what’s next, and studying every day will help you avoid falling behind and getting overwhelmed.
8. Arrive at Labs Prepared to Learn
Nursing skills and simulation labs are a critical part of your nursing education. In labs, you’ll learn how to perform nursing skills, such as nasogastric tube insertion and IV placement. You’ll also practice working through patient care scenarios with other members of your cohort, developing clinical judgment along the way.
To make the most of the experience, arrive at each lab ready to learn. Be prepared with all the supplies you need. Pay close attention as nursing instructors demonstrate how to do something and try to understand the “why” behind it. You’ll have opportunities to practice each skill, but it’s also important to ask questions and be receptive to feedback. Making mistakes is acceptable, but try not to make the same ones repeatedly.
9. Make the Most of Clinical Opportunities
Nursing students often find the prospect of clinical placements to be both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking, as they worry about making mistakes. As with labs, you need to arrive fully prepared and ready to work. Always arrive at each shift a little early and pay close attention during the shift handoff. Carry a notepad and pen around with you to take notes as needed. Jot down questions, so you can ask them later if it’s not convenient to do so right away.
Clinical rotations might seem overwhelming at first, but you won’t be doing anything you aren’t ready for. At first, you’ll be performing simple nursing tasks, like making up a bed to prepare a room for a new patient. As your skills improve, you’ll take on more complex nursing tasks, but you’ll always be under the supervision of your nursing instructors and preceptor. Remain receptive to feedback; aim to learn something new each shift.
10. Ask for Help When Needed
No one expects nursing students to already know everything about being a nurse. That’s what nursing school is for. Never hesitate to speak up and ask a question or request help when needed. Your instructors are here to help, and at Concordia Texas, we also offer success coaches to our students.
Beyond school, you might need help from family and friends. Since your school schedule will be jam-packed, you might need to ask your loved ones to help you out with meal prep, running errands, childcare, and other responsibilities.
11. Remember Your “Why”
Becoming a nurse is an exciting process! Yes, it can get hectic at times, but you chose to attend nursing school for a reason. Stay focused on your “why,” as remembering your motivation to become a nurse can help you get through long study sessions.
You might also start planning your future after nursing school by considering which specialty interests you. There is a wide range of nursing specialties to choose from, such as:
- Pediatric nursing
- Oncology nursing
- Emergency room nursing
- Trauma nursing
- Medical-surgical nursing
- Orthopedic nursing
At Concordia Texas, you’ll rotate through a series of clinical placements in a variety of different specialties. The exposure to different specialties, including mental health, obstetrics, and long-term care, can help you figure out where your career interests lie.
Begin Your Nursing Journey at Concordia Texas!
With our top advice for future nursing students, you’re ready to begin the path to nursing. Concordia University Texas’s ABSN track offers three start dates each year at our Austin and Dallas, Texas locations. The ABSN track is designed for students with a prior non-nursing bachelor’s degree or at least 60 non-nursing college credits.
Wondering what’s involved in becoming a nurse? Follow these seven steps to earn a BSN and become a nurse.
The faculty at Concordia Texas are dedicated to your success and will support you at every point along your journey. To learn more about how to earn your BSN degree through Concordia Texas’s ABSN track, reach out to our admissions counselors.