Eight Tips for Nurses Trying to Study and Upskill Their Practice

Nurses studyingNurses studying

Nursing schools may not be similar to your usual medical schools, but they aren’t any less challenging. Sometimes, nursing schools become notorious for challenging clinical work, nerve-racking projects, and unpredictable schedules. It is mentally and physically taxing to understand new materials, attend regular labs, study for examinations, and maintain your occupational and personal life all at the same time. Still, it’s possible to do.

If you’re on the way to becoming a professional nurse or are a registered nurse pursuing higher nursing education, you can deal with said challenges by studying smarter. Since the nursing profession is more about evidence-based practice, you need to recognize and stick to the best learning techniques that have already proven effective. Excellent study habits will help every nurse sustain a healthy balance in their routine and prevent burnout.

Successful nursing student life is about better planning, efficient time management, and top study tips. Listed below are eight tips that can make nursing education seem like a sliver of cake for students.




Let’s begin if you’re ready to cut through!

Select The Right Program

Managing a better study-life balance is never easy. All nursing students have their fair share of critical responsibilities to meet alongside accomplishing their career objectives. So, if you have a lot on your plate to cope with your campus-based learning, you should opt for online nursing education.

There are various BSN to MSN degree programs to select from online. It is beneficial if you’re a professional nurse practitioner trying to upskill. For instance, while getting practical experience as a registered nurse (RN), you can opt for the online MSN AGACNP program to specialize and develop skills in adult-gerontology.

Online education will help you adjust your studies around your work schedule and help you maintain an outstanding balance between your educational goals and other occupational and life responsibilities.

Make A Schedule

Making a better schedule will help nurses inefficient time management, which is vital for achieving your nursing degrees. Your plan must be realistic, offering sufficient time to cope with your daily activities and other professional and life obligations.

If you’re a professional working nurse, you can utilize your free time to catch up on your nursing coursework. Implementing apps and other tech tools to set reminders and allocate time slots are among the most efficient scheduling ways you should follow.

Furthermore, it is pivotal to stay adherent to your goal to ensure it works effectively in your favor.

Skim And Scan

Your nursing course material will bombard you with a massive chunk of crucial information. It won’t help if you start cramming this knowledge, especially when you’ve limited time to study. Also, doing an in-depth study of every topic won’t leave you with enough time to complete your learning.

A better and smarter tip for all nursing students is skimming and scanning their topics while reading. You should go through its headings, subheadings, and main points to take in the essential information. Furthermore, if that helps, make the handy notes that you can, later on, refer to and learn quickly.

Implement What You Learn

The nursing education and field is much more than gaining patient care and medical knowledge. The essence of nursing lies in implementing the learning you acquire throughout your nursing education in any clinical setting. Therefore, it’s always good to create hypothetical scenarios and question yourself what type of treatment you would recommend in certain conditions.

This effective strategy can help you excel as a nursing student and a professional nurse practitioner. The more you implement your newfound learning and knowledge in your practical cases, the simpler it can be for you to remember crucial information and sharpen your skills.

Recognize Your Learning Style

The key to your success in nursing education and learning is the recognition of your learning styles. All students have a unique way of receiving and preserving important information. Some students learn well by listening, some through observing, and some understand by tactile communications (kinesthetic learners).

Recognizing a study pattern that fits you will help you effectively structure and manage your learning experience. There are different learning styles usually well-known to people, such as Visual, Aural, Verbal, Physical, Logical, Social, and Solitary. You can pick the most suitable for you.

Keep Shifting Your Study Space

Most nursing students develop some habits and stick to them, for instance, going to the library to study their coursework peacefully or visiting the same coffee shop to hang out with fellow nurses. But, studying at the same place can affect your learning and performance.

Research suggests that regularly shifting your learning spot enables your brain to store more information. So, if the same chair and study table seem to become too monotonous, you should try sitting nearby a window for a change.

Make Helpful Habits to Maintain Your Attention

Following are some excellent nursing study tips that will help every nurse stay focused on their routine tasks.

  • Power off your phone or keep it in “Do not Disturb” mode during the committed time for your study.
  • Instead of cramming a massive amount of crucial information, use the spacing impact effectively.
  • When you keep your study sessions shorter and spaced out, you will hold much more information.
  • To prevent burnout, you should tackle your stress with exercise and meditation.
  • Make plants your learning buddies to maintain a calming environment and help focus on a particular task.
  • Eat healthy foods to feed your belly and memory.

Utilize Online Study Resources

In today’s age, if you are not leveraging your online study resources to simplify the critical process, you are just making it more challenging for yourself. It would help if you surfed your internet browser to satisfy your need for learning the area of your interest.

The internet is the hub for nursing videos, research papers, published articles, and whatnot. You will easily find different helpful materials on websites such as Google Scholar, Mayo Clinic, WebMD, and more that will make your learning process more fun and engaging. So, suppose you feel your everyday coursework material is extremely dreary to digest. In that case, you should go to YouTube and watch some related nursing videos or listen to nursing podcasts while doing your other chores.

Conclusion

Nursing is undoubtedly a rewarding career, yet becoming a nurse or upskilling the practice can often feel like a mountain of a task. These few top nursing study tips will come in handy for students desiring to become nurse practitioners and professionals trying to upskill with higher education. However, always try to maintain a better balance between your work, life, and study.

Categories: Education