Effective Time Management for the Chronic Procrastinator

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It’s the night before an exam and you’re cramming. Again. Last nursing school exam, you said that you wouldn’t procrastinate anymore, just like when you said that for the previous one. This used to be me. It worked when I was in high school, but in nursing school… My GPA is a reminder that cramming does not work. Not only is this ineffective because no information is being retained, but I was also setting myself up for unnecessary stress and anxiety that could’ve been prevented. I went into every exam feeling groggy and unprepared. I’d tell myself, “I don’t have time to read the textbook”, or “I’m too busy to study today”. But the truth is, you do have time. You just don’t know how to manage it effectively. Here are some tips to keep yourself from procrastinating:  

  1. Put everything on the calendar of your phone. I am a huge fan of cute planners, and I buy myself one every year, but always end up never touching it again after a few months or misplacing it. I’ve switched over to using my phone’s calendar app and it’s a life changer. The day my professors upload their syllabi, I put in every exam and assignment I have due, including the chapters associated with that exam. I’ve set it so that I get an automatic reminder two days before an exam or assignment is due, an hour before clinicals start, and 30 minutes before class. I have never missed an assignment because I’m always being reminded, and since I bring my phone everywhere, there’s no way I’d forget.  
  2. Set fake deadlines for yourself. You know that feeling you get when you realize you’ve procrastinated an assignment until the very last minute and you suddenly find yourself exhibiting symptoms of tachycardia and pyrexia? Manipulate it to your advantage by setting deadlines earlier than they actually are. When you see that deadline coming up, it tricks your brain into thinking you’ve procrastinated as much as you possibly could have, and now you’re forced to start. I’m a firm believer that the end to procrastination begins with starting. I find that this tip works best for assignments rather than for exams. 
  3. Limit your time on social media. Key word here is limit. I am guilty of spending way too much time on social media. I used to be on my phone upwards of five hours a day, and most of that wasn’t productive. Remove distractions, especially when you’re studying, and you’ll find that you have a lot more time in your day. Use this extra time to study, hang out with friends and family, or pamper yourself—because self-care and finding balance is important. Remember, everything in moderation.  
  4. Multitask. I used to spend two hours commuting to clinicals, and what did I do on the train? Waste my time playing Candy Crush and listening to music. Now, on my long commutes, I’ll download and listen to voice threads posted by my professor or listen to a nursing podcast. Usually I’ll look for something related to the content in class. Don’t have a long commute? Listen while you’re cooking, in the shower, working out, or even during your morning and nighttime skincare routine. It doesn’t matter if you’re not fully grasping the concepts, but it’s great to be exposed to some of the jargon before you attend the lecture for it. 
  5. Wake up earlier. There can be more hours in the day, if you sleep less. On days when you have an early lecture, there’s no getting past early mornings. But on your free days, do you find yourself waking up mid-afternoon and feeling like your whole day has been wasted already? I wake up every day, yes every day, at 6 a.m. and commit to the same routine of getting ready, studying for 30 minutes, and then leaving for class/work/clinical. Now I won’t lie to you—waking up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday was absolutely dreadful when I first began this, but since my circadian rhythm has reset it’s become a lot easier. Waking up early (with the help of coffee) starts my day on a positive note and gives me motivation to do work. It’s also good practice for the long run when we’re doing 12-hour shifts as nurses! 
  6. Change your mentality. Stop thinking of studying as such a dreadful task. I’ve found that if I read the textbook for pleasure, and not for the purpose of memorization, it’s actually a pretty interesting read.  You need to rewire your brain to think of reading the textbook as a leisure activity and not a homework assignment. Perception is everything. Think of doing practice problems as a game to mentally challenge yourself; or even better, turn it into an actual game with your friends. You got into nursing because you were passionate about science and learning. Channel that energy when you’re studying! 

Implementing these habits made me better at managing my time. I’m no longer scrambling to submit assignments before 11:59 p.m. I’m walking into exams feeling confident. Most importantly, I’m a lot happier and less stressed out. These tips helped me turn into a better student, and hopefully they’ll help you as well! 

Staying Motivated while Earning a BSN Degree

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When I was a little girl, I always had trouble keeping up with my work in school. After being depressed about it for a while, I knew I had to change my mentality and become a more driven, positive, and lively person. Nursing school in general is a lot to take in so having a strong and positive outlook towards your journey to be a registered nurse will get you through! Here are some of things that I continue to do each term to ensure that I am motivated and feel positive to continue to achieve this BSN degree! 

SET GOALS 

Personally, I like to make “term goals”. My school term is ten weeks long, and there are plenty of items to check off during this time. You can adjust your goals to however long your semester/quarter is, but I’ve learned that having smaller goals broken into my term makes it more exciting to achieve. For example, this term with my Public Health rotation, one of my main goals is to average an A for all my exams. Another one could be for clinical where you make it a goal to successfully administer at least two IVs. Whatever it may be, the smallest goals/wins are the best (which transitions into my next point…) 

CELEBRATE THE SMALL WINS 

If you’re like me, the biggest win you’ve had so far is getting accepted into nursing school! You are still in your nursing program and CRUSHING it! You want to be able to celebrate the little things that you do. Whether it’s getting a passing score on your exam, killing your validations check offs, or having a really good day at clinicals—GO CELEBRATE! Bring your nursing buddies with you for a bite to eat, a nice drink, or head to Disneyland (this is my favorite celebration after each term). 

TAKE BREAKS 

I think this is CRUCIAL when it comes to studying your material and just keeping up the motivation to study at all. Your brain and energy levels can only take on so much information at a time – sometimes a break is necessary. I know a lot of my nursing friends would say that time is precious, but a healthy mind is too.  

I use the Pomodoro Technique in my study sessions. This technique can also be used outside of school, and improves productivity and efficiency in everything that I do in my daily routine. The Pomodoro Technique has six steps: 

  1. Decide on the task to be done.
  2. Set the Pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes). 
  3. Work on the task. 
  4. End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper. 
  5. If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2. 
  6. After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1. 

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS 

If you were to only take one thing away from this blog post, please make it this… Positive affirmations have gotten me through some of the roughest, toughest, and most rewarding situations in my time during nursing school. Putting things out in the universe gives a sense of hope in the goal that you strive to accomplish. Examples of positive affirmations that I always tell myself are that “I will be a Labor & Delivery Nurse”, “I am good enough to be in nursing school.”, “I can accomplish anything I put my mind into.” Anything that says that you are, can, and will be is a possible affirmation. I recommend writing these on sticky notes, or even on a bathroom mirror, somewhere you can see them every day as you work toward your reality. 

How to Pass Nursing School Tests/Exams

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Tests and exams in nursing programs are a breed of their own. They propose very different challenges than the tests taken in prerequisite courses relying simply on memorization is not enough. For these tests, you must filter out each possible answer and utilize the material you’ve learned in a way that provides you with the most correct answer.

One of the biggest challenges I have endured in college was transitioning into what one would call the “nursing school life.” It was difficult to adapt to this new way of answering questions and it began to affect me psychologically. As a result, I failed my first three tests. The entire situation was incredibly discouraging as I was never the student to have problems in school, much less fail tests consecutively. 

Eager to bounce back, I received advice from fellow nursing students and watched dozens of YouTube videos about test taking skills. I realized that there was an entire “test taking” toolbox for me to utilize in the way I study and approached future tests. As I started implementing these new strategies, I instantly saw the positive impact it would make on my grades. Five quarters of nursing school later, I feel more confident than ever in my test taking skills. There is definitely a method to this madness that everyone is capable of learning. 

NCLEX Prep Resources
Saunders Strategies for Success
EAQ for NCLEX-RN
NCLEX Study Tips

Here are the 5 test taking strategies that have made the most positive impact for me:

  1. Utilizing ABC’s, nursing process, and Maslow’s hierocracy – Refer back to these when your caught in a prioritization question! Airway, breathing, and circulation is the order of priority of nursing action in most cases in order to keep a patient stable and alive. The nursing process or ADPIE (assessment, diagnosis, plan, intervention/implementation, and evaluation) is another tool to use for systematically providing patient care. Whereas, Maslow’s hierocracy is the order of human needs that must be followed in order to provide effective patient care.
  2. Pay attention to strategic key words in the questions such as “best,” “priority,” “initial,” and “most appropriate.” – This is the most important tip for prioritization questions! In these types of questions, there is likely to be multiple “correct” answers, however, the key word determines which answer follows the order of priority.  This can be combined with tip #1 when choosing the most accurate answer for priority type questions.

    Example question: The nurse is assessing the client’s condition after cardioversion. Which observation would be the highest priority? 

    1. Blood pressure
    2. Status of airway
    3. Oxygen flow rate
    4. Level of consciousness

    Correct Answer: B – Think about airway from the ABC’s. Understand that maintaining a patient’s airway is the highest priority written out as a nursing responsibility when a cardioversion is done.

  3. Delegation/assignment-making questions require you to understand the scope of practice for nurses versus other parts of the care team (i.e. CAN/UAP can help patients with ADL’s, LPN’s can do med passes, etc.) – Understand the different roles of the care team so that you know which tasks may be delegated and which tasks require a specific team player. 
  4. Use process of elimination – When you really don’t know the answer, it’s best to work your way backwards. Try narrowing the choices down to the last two. You will have better chances when only choosing from two answers versus guessing between four. This is a strategy that I only use when I’ve exhausted all my other test taking skills and have no clue what the correct answer actually is. 
  5. Do not change your answer! – UNLESS you are 100% sure that your original is not the correct one. You chose it first for a reason, so what’s making you second guess it now? Trust your gut and instincts! 

These are just a few test strategies that I’ve learned over the past year and a half. One book that I highly recommend reading for more test taking skills and tips is Saunders Strategies for Test Success. It does a great job of breaking down and explaining how to take nursing school tests and what the benefits are to those specific strategies. I’ve also decided to incorporate this book into my NCLEX review guide. After all, the NCLEX is essentially the ultimate nursing school test. Nursing school can be difficult and nursing school tests will be challenging, but just remember that you made it this far for a reason! You can do this!

Finding Balance in Nursing School

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You’re 3 weeks into another semester of nursing school and you realize that you can’t remember the last time you watched a movie or called your parents. You can’t remember the last time you took time to do something fun, but you can definitely remember how many nights in the last week you didn’t get enough sleep and how many hours you’ve spent studying for your upcoming exam. It’s true that nursing school is a challenging and fast-paced program that requires intense dedication, but that doesn’t mean it should completely consume your life.  

People often believe “nursing students have no life”, but I’m here to tell you that statement is so far from the truth. In fact, I have found more life since I started nursing school. After a few months of trial and error, I found a way to juggle working 12 hours a week, spending quality time with my family and friends, exercising 4-5 times a week, and volunteering, while still succeeding in my classes. I believe a rich and full student life is possible for every nursing student with just a few helpful tips: 

Plan ahead. Plan ahead. Plan ahead. 

You can fit a lot into your schedule if you plan for it and manage your time well! For example, if there’s something fun you want to do on a Saturday, like go to a college football game or go out to see a movie, plan ahead by making sure you get your schoolwork/studying done by Friday night. That way, you are completely free to enjoy your day off without worrying about homework, and then you’re ready to refocus and work hard the next day. When you have free time, enjoy it! But when it’s time to hit the books, you have to be diligent and focused in order to make use of your time.

Work smart not hard.

Try your best to be as productive as you can with your time. When you’re learning a new topic in class, go ahead and start preparing for the exam. Start your exam study guide in class and ask your professor all the questions you have so that you don’t need to teach yourself or re-learn the topic when the test comes around. This will save you time studying.  

Multitask! 

What I mean by this is that you can sometimes incorporate 2 aspects of your life in a single task. For example, studying with friends is a great way to get work done and spend time with your friends at the same time. You can listen to the audiobook version of your textbooks while driving in the car on the way to. Or, you can go on a walk with your family to get in your exercise and spend quality time with your family too. It’s important to focus on nursing school and take breaks from it too. Finding balance is an excellent form of “self-care” and will help you to have a happy, healthy, and full life which will ultimately help you in becoming an amazing future nurse. 

Self Care for Nursing Students

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Nursing students are over-achievers. It is in our blood. We beat ourselves up whenever we forget an assignment, don’t study as much as we told ourselves we would, or fail a skills check-off. Being so tough on yourself can take a toll on your mental health. We must remember that it is ok to make mistakes and it is ok to not be perfect.  

Self-care is more than just face masks and excuses for binge watching Netflix. Self-care is taking the time to give yourself what you deserve mentally, physically and spiritually in order to make sure you are the best version of yourself. Throughout the last semesters of nursing school, I have learned a thing or two on dealing with stress and anxiety.  

  1. Everything happens for you, not to you. It is OK to make a mistake. In some cases, your professors and preceptors WANT you to fail, because these certain mistakes and failures happen so we can learn how to provide the best care possible for our patients to be able to thrive.
  2. Show up for yourself the same way you would for a patient. If you make a mile-long to-do list and only finish half of it, you might feel upset or disappointed in yourself. This disappointment leads to a depletion in your self-confidence. Confidence is a reoccurring concern for nursing students when it comes to skills and clinicals.  When you “show up” for your commitments, such as extracurriculars, clubs, and clinicals, you arrive prepared and professional. When you “show up” for your patients you ensure that all of their needs are met to the utmost satisfaction. Make sure you are giving yourself the same time and love that you do everything else in your chaotic life.
  3. Put your leisure time into your schedule after important things has been completed. For example, set aside time for an activity that helps you to de-stress. This might look like scheduling time to listen to a motivating podcast, taking a nap (personal favorite), reading a book, etc. The trick is to schedule this “me-time” after you have finished all the tasks you told yourself you would do. But also make sure not to jam pack your day with a to-do list! There are only so many hours in the day.
  4. Always stay humble and kind. There will be days that you sit in your car after a 13-hour shift absolutely discouraged, drained, and defeated. During these times it is important to reflect. Remember where you came from. If you are a nursing student, remember the anxiety you felt when you gave your first set of vital signs. Look at where you are now. If you are a patient care technician or nurse, remember your worst shift. Reflect on all that you have learned from that day. Nursing is an intense profession. There is constant learning and growth to be done. When you are struggling, remember the reason why you chose nursing as your career path, and always be kind to yourself for choosing this profession. 

Heading North for Nursing School: My Canadian Experience

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Born in Boston and raised in a small town south of the city, I always assumed my love for Massachusetts would keep me in my home state for my college years. However, when I was applying to nursing programs, I decided to look at every available opportunity. As a dual citizen of both Canada and the United States, I had a wide range of options I could explore.

As a current university student with three years of biological sciences under my belt and no degree at the time, Canadian schools became more attractive. Most advanced nursing programs in the U.S. require students to have an undergraduate degree, while some Canadian programs do not.  

My school search led me to Cape Breton University (CBU), located on the small island of Cape Breton Island. This was the clear choice for me as they offer three programs for students looking to become an RN: three-year direct entry from high school, a two-year advanced Standing Pathway, and an LPN to BScN Pathway. The two-year advanced option really appealed to me because with nursing being my passion, I wanted to immediately start chasing my dreams.

An important factor when deciding on a Canadian nursing school was the NCLEX® officially being offered in Canada. With this expansion, I could receive my NCLEX-oriented education in Canada and have the option to work in both countries.

With the NCLEX implemented in Canada in 2015, CBU’s nursing education faculty knew they needed to start adapting their learning plan to the NCLEX requirements. Elsevier, a global information analytics company specializing in science and health, had the resources CBU was looking for and the partnership began.

After the first year of utilizing Elsevier’s resources, CBU students produced a passing rate of 92% on their first NCLEX exam, with the national average, according to the Canadian Council of Registered Nurse Regulators, being just a 69.7% for first time test takers. If that doesn’t make a nursing student jump for joy, I don’t know what would!  

I am currently in my second semester of the program and am already preparing to attend my second clinical rotation on a Cardiac Med-Surge floor. As I continue my education at Cape Breton University, I am constantly receiving affirmation for my decision in choosing this school. CBU, along with the partnership with Elsevier, has designed their semesters to optimize student success. I am excited to see where my nursing career will take me and I am grateful to be surrounded by the resources I need to build the foundations of a great nurse.       

Making the Most of Your Clinical Rotations

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My nursing school schedule consisted of lecture, labs, simulations, and clinical rotations. Although simulations place students into “real life” scenarios to enhance learning, the best experience is gained through clinicals. By the time I graduated from nursing school, I had over 500+ clinical hours. I had clinicals in a wide variety of specialties such as geriatrics, pediatrics, maternity, critical care and adult acute care. Clinical rotations are a huge part of the nursing school experience, as they allow you to put your nursing school knowledge into practice. The more hands on experience you gain as a student, the more comfortable you will be with performing nursing skills.  

Clinicals are a great tool, however they can be very overwhelming and a big source of anxiety if you don’t know how to make the most of your time there. I’ve looked back on my clinical experiences and gathered some tips that will help all nursing students excel during those 8 to 12 hour clinical shifts! 

Take the more difficult patient. 

If your clinical instructor lets you choose which patient you want to assist during the day, choose the patient that has a more complex medical history. You will end up having a more interesting shift. I would usually choose patients who needed bedside procedures done, such as a thoracentesis or a cardioversion, so that I would be able to observe and learn about how the nurse prepares and assists with those procedures. Also, taking these complex patients will allow you to be exposed to a variety of medications that you may have not seen in practice before. 

Say yes!  

If a nurse or CNA needs assistance with caring for their patient, be the student who is always willing to help. Being helpful will allow you to see more types of patients and get more experience with patient care. Also, if you would like to work at that specific facility upon completion of nursing school, it will work in your favor if you’re as resourceful as possible.  

Seek out opportunities.   

There will always be a lot going on in the unit, and sometimes there may be procedures that your clinical instructor is unaware of. If your nurse has a patient that is going down for a diagnostic procedure, ask your clinical instructor if you can go down with them to observe. As a student, you must advocate for yourself to ensure you are getting the most out of your clinical experience. In my last semester, I asked to observe central lines and nasogastric tubes being inserted. I also offered to insert Foley catheters and change central line dressings, in the presence of my clinical instructor.  

Take advantage of the hours that you’re spending at your clinical rotations. This is the time to ask questions, learn, and even make mistakes. The nurses that you’re shadowing know that you are a student, and that you don’t know everything, and that’s perfectly okay! Be a sponge, be helpful, and be proactive! 

Experiencing Loss as a Nursing Student

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It’s already 4 in the afternoon and you can’t believe how fast time has gone today at your favorite clinical placement. Only three more hours left of the shift. Another nurse on the same unit comes by to share that her patient hasn’t been doing well and had a difficult time with her surgery this morning. You take a walk to that patient’s room to assess her together. You feel your heart stop briefly but you can’t understand why. That balloon-like belly looks so familiar, but you cannot recall from where. The patient’s nurse pulls up her chart so you can read through her medical history and ask questions. As soon as your eyes meet her name on the screen, it all comes back to you: you had specifically requested to observe her surgery in the operating room when you were rotating in the PACU last week. 

You remember how small she was and how flaccid her limbs were as the anesthesia team transferred her from the isolette onto the operating table. The procedure itself was as quick as watching an episode of Friends, but you remember how meticulous the team was in ensuring she was stable and safe to bring back upstairs. You don’t stay too long because you must prepare the next round of medications for your own patient assignment, but it was only a matter of minutes until you saw that flash of red in your peripheral vision (the crash cart). Flashes seem to cross your vision as nurses sprint back to the room to draw meds and set the metronome app to 100 bpm for compressions. 

Compressions, pulse check, compressions, pushing meds, pulse check, compressions, pushing meds and blood for a rapid blood transfusion, pulse check. The cycle went on and on. You knew that they were only going to do this for so long, but the question was until when? Consumed by so many thoughts, you try to process everything going on in real time. Suddenly, the current moment hits and you come across the realization that everything has just … stopped. Hands were no longer on the patient, people weren’t frantically moving, and the rhythm strip shifted to a steady flat line. Asystole. The patient has been pronounced dead. 

As a student, you do not experience these situations often. You’re assisting nurses with their cares on a unit for roughly 7-12 hours once a week for 12 weeks’ time. Duties typically consist of learning to critically think about a patient’s condition and practicing your hands-on nursing skills. Seldom are we able to prepare ourselves for the emotional and mental challenges faced with experiencing what it’s like to lose a patient. 

Remember, it’s ok to cry and it’s important to feel. We might try to tell ourselves to be strong, and to hold back tears by focusing on how you didn’t truly know that patient. However, it’s important to avoid this mindset. You can remain strong while also allowing yourself to embrace natural human emotions. No matter how brief your time caring for the patient, you did get to know them in some respect – and maybe their family and friends too. Allow yourself to mourn a lost life, but stay composed to console the family, provide psychosocial support, and provide post-mortem care. Demonstrating respect to the patient and family is your priority. 

Establishing emotional connections with patients is one of the greatest parts of nursing, but in times like these it’s also one of the hardest parts. If you need to cry after your shift or take a minute alone to collect yourself, that is ok. Take the time you need, then leave these sad emotions at the door so we’re not constantly carrying around this emotional weight.  

How can we keep such an emotional weight from negatively affecting our daily lives? The answer: the same way we can separate work from home or coping in general. For some, that might entail going to a mentor, friend, or significant other to share your feelings. Sometimes you need to express yourself to someone with a listening ear to come to terms with what has happened. For others, maybe you just need a night of self-care activities, such as a journaling, taking a warm bath, massage, listening to music, reading a book, or watching your favorite TV show. 

If we let such emotions dwell on us, it can become difficult to continue caring for others. You must take care of yourself before you can take care of other people. You chose to pursue nursing as a career for a reason. Remember that reason, but also remember that there are many paths you can take in nursing. Some people may find that a situation like this has a severely negative impact on their psychological wellbeing – and that’s ok too. If that’s you, evaluate where your best fit in nursing may be.  

One of the beauties of nursing is that there are so many opportunities out there for us depending on our interests – from working with children to working with the older adult population, oncology nursing or rehabilitative nursing, home care nursing, education, management, and the list goes on. It might take experiencing a certain kind of situation to help you realize where you do or don’t wish to work. But wherever you end up, make sure you’re doing something you love – something you’re passionate about. That’s where you’ll excel to be the best nurse you can be and have the drive to provide the best care possible.