Nursing School Week by Week

Send a text Mastering the Head-to-Toe Physical Assessment in Nursing Hey there, future nurses! In this episode, I’m bringing back one of the most popular and highly requested episodes—a full, step-by-step head-to-toe physical assessment, demonstrated on my then-fiancé (now husband!). I’ll walk you through each step, explaining not just what to do but why it matters. We’ll talk about the difference...

Send a text Mastering the ISBAR Method: How to Give a Clear, Confident Bedside Shift Report Giving a bedside shift report can feel intimidating, but it’s a skill every nursing student needs to master. In this episode of Nursing School Week by Week , I walk you through the ISBAR method— Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendations —so you can communicate clearly, concisely, and...

Send a text Feeling overwhelmed trying to keep up with nursing school lectures, clinicals, and exams while balancing work and life? You’re not alone! In this episode of Nursing School Week by Week , I’m giving you a step-by-step Nursing School Study Schedule —the exact system I used to get straight A’s and pass the NCLEX while working part-time and being a mom to five kids. You’ll learn:  ✅ How t...

Send a text Mastering Electrolytes: Understanding Calcium and Magnesium in Nursing In this final installment of the Electrolytes series at Nursing School Week by Week, the focus is on calcium and magnesium. The role of calcium extends beyond strong bones to muscle contractions, nerve transmission, and blood clotting, while magnesium maintains muscle and nerve functions. Detailed signs of imbalance...

Send a text Mastering Potassium: Essential Knowledge for Life-Saving Nursing In this episode of Nursing School Week by Week, the focus is on the critical role of potassium in the body. The discussion includes the importance of potassium for heart function, recognizing the dangers of both hyperkalemia (high potassium levels) and hypokalemia (low potassium levels), as well as the symptoms and causes...

Send a text Understanding Electrolyte Imbalances in Nursing Practice In this episode of Nursing School Week by Week, host Melanie breaks down the critical concept of electrolytes, focusing on their imbalances and the associated dangers. She emphasizes the real-world implications for nursing practice and provides detailed information on the four key electrolytes: sodium, potassium, calcium, and mag...

Send a text Preparation Tips for Nursing Students: Insights from Nurse Melanie In this episode of Nursing School Week by Week, I share essential tips to help you prepare for nursing school. I cover how mastering time management and organization skills with the use of digital and paper planners can be a game-changer. I also explain the importance of setting up an organized workspace and creating a...

Send a text In this episode of 'Nursing School Week by Week', we dive deep into cardiac medications, breaking down complex pharmacology concepts into bite-sized pieces. We start with an overview of the main categories: diuretics, antiarrhythmics, and anticoagulants, using various analogies to make them memorable, like plumbers for diuretics and electricians for antiarrhythmics. We discus...

Send a text N ursing is one of those few degrees that you can get for free, if you play your cards right.  And this is one of those times when it pays to do some research, because besides paying for your first house, college will probably be your biggest expense in life.  Paying out of pocket for nursing school is expensive. Average costs range from $12,000 to $35,000 for an associates degree in n...

Send a text T he difference between working in a hospital and working home health is night and day. I’m going to be talking about my experience as a home health nurse, what a day in the life looks like. I’m going to touch on some myths about home health nurses, kind of the reputation that they have and if I think that that’s warranted or not. And how it compares to working in the hospital. These a...

Send a text T oday we're talking about a basic one but a big one. We’re talking about falls. We're gonna get into what constitutes a fall, because it may not be exactly what you think a fall is but it would still count as a fall. We're gonna get into what makes a person more likely to have a fall; we're gonna get into what we as nurses can do to help prevent falls, and we'...

Send a text Let's continue talking about the pros and cons of working night shift vs day shift as a new nurse. Get 20% off a Lecturio Nursing subscription with Discount Code: nursingschoolwbw20 First up, on the day shift, there are more meds to give. So, that can be good if you’re trying to practice your skills, but bad just because it’s more work and it’s going to take longer to do each of y...

Send a text T oday I want to talk about the differences between day shift vs night shift for nurses. Maybe you’re on the fence, you don’t know if you want to work day shift or night shift when you graduate, so I want to go over the pros and cons of each to help you make your decision. Check out Lecturio for incredibly helpful videos and so much more! Get 50% off a subscription through August!   ht...

Send a text You just graduated from nursing school, and now you're working as a nurse in the emergency department. The EMTs bring in a 26 year old female with generalized weakness of the left lower and upper extremities, and a sudden headache. What do you do? Can you complete all 5 critical actions, or will you carry out a dangerous action? Learn the most important things to do for stroke pat...

Send a text  Today we are focusing on Strokes, or Brain attacks. This is one of those conditions that is so important for us nurses to know the signs and symptoms of, because your patient could have a stroke at any point. They could come into the ER with a suspected stroke, or they could be recovering on the med-surg unit, about to be discharged, and then have a stroke. So it can happen at any tim...

Send a text It’s almost time for a new semester to start and a lot of you will be going to clinicals for the first time, and the rest of you will be going to clinicals again. I am all done with clinicals now, but I know when I was going through it, I packed a lot of things that I really didn’t need at all, and then there were some things that I didn’t pack, that I kept having to bum off my friends...

Send a text With a new semester just around the corner, and some of you starting nursing school for the very first time, it is so important to make sure your study system is top-notch and ready to go. As James Clear would say, "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." In this episode, I'm sharing my insanely effective study system for nursi...

Send a text T here are pros for going straight for your RN, there are pros for doing LPN first, or even just doing LPN. Not everyone who gets their LPN degree is planning on becoming an RN.  The first obvious pro for going the LPN route is that it’s faster. You can get your LPN in just 12 months, whereas getting your RN takes about 18 months. So you’re gonna save like half a year, which isn’t a hu...

Send a text I patient comes into the emergency room with chest pain. What are you, the nurse, going to do about it? Would you recognize it? Go through this case study with us and see what to do when a patient is having a heart attack, or myocardial infarction. Learn the 5 critical actions you must take as a nurse  to prevent lasting damage from a myocardial infarction. Are you looking for an easie...

Send a text Everything you need to know as a nursing student about Myocardial Infarction, or a heart attack. Know the signs and symptoms of myocardial infarction in patients, know the nursing interventions for a STEMI heart attack. And know what medications to give for a myocardial infarction. Check out Picmonic for an audiovisual learning system with unforgettable stories to help your remember EV...

Send a text Not all nurses are bedside nurses, and I don’t want you guys to feel like just because you don’t want to work in a hospital, as a bedside nurse, that you’re somehow not a “real” nurse. 61% of nurses work in a hospital setting. So that means almost 40% of nurses work non-bedside nursing jobs. And do not try to tell them they are not “real” nurses. Cause that’s not gonna go over well! In...

Send a text T oday I want to address the Elephant in the Nursing School room. I want to talk about this myth that’s out there that says you’re not a “real” nurse unless you work as a bedside nurse in a hospital. And that’s just not the case, and in a bit, I’m gonna give you 10 alternative jobs that you can do as a new grade nurse.  Nursing is a big, huge field. There are over 100 specialties in nu...

Send a text You are working as a nurse in the emergency department when you get a new patient. A 65 year old female with a chief complaint of altered mental status. Will you be able to use your nursing spidey-senses to figure out what is wrong with this patient before she crashes? Once you recognize signs of Sepsis, don't forget to "CALL IT"! CALL IT = Cultures, Antibiotics, Lactate...

Send a text With sepsis, or septicemia, it can get real complicated, real fast. But we’re gonna try to just keep it simple today and talk about what you really need to know as nursing students. Sepsis is when the body has an extreme response to an infection. The body tries so hard to fight off the infection, that it can even damage the patient’s own tissues and organs. Sepsis usually starts with a...

Send a text Today I'm talking about the reasons why you will fail out of nursing school, if you fail out of nursing school.  I’m rooting for all of you, and I want you all to succeed. I don’t want anyone to fail out of nursing school. But the reality is that according to the National League for Nursing Study, the rate for students that either fail or drop out is 20%. That’s 1/5th. So at orien...