leapoffaith – I Am Nurse Tiffany

What is ATI???

August 24, 2019August 24, 2019by I am Nurse TiffanyLeave a Comment

This quarter of nursing school, I had to take my first ATI assessment. I was a little familiar with the product because I needed to take the ATI Teas when I was applying to school. As a student nurse blogger, I like to be transparent with my audience to ensure they too know all about the many woes of nursing school. So what is ATI????

According to ATI:

ATI’s Comprehensive Assessment and Review Program (CARP) is a focused remediation resource that is with you and your students throughout the nursing program. This comprehensive learning solution goes beyond NCLEX preparation by offering unique and proprietary remediation on each test, whether it’s practice or proctored. It does what no other test prep can do – it ties directly back to the NCLEX®. To address diverse learning styles, this program offers multiple remediation tools, including traditional and online reading materials, videos, practice assessments and Internet sources.

The thought is the results will yield increased pass rates and student attrition rates are decreased. The program offers 8 specific targeted areas to test you on. Each subject area comes with study materials attached such as eBook or physical book. This is to assist you on major concepts that you must conquer to ensure successful mastery on assessment test. The targeted areas are below.

Targeted Subject Areas:

RN Adult Medical Surgical Nursing
RN Community Health Nursing
Fundamentals for Nursing
RN Maternal Newborn Nursing
RN Nursing Care of Children
RN Pharmacology for Nursing
Nursing Leadership and Management
Nutrition for Nursing

So if your school use ATI products, you should be glad. There are also many other companies that offer similar products such as Kaplan, Hesi, etc. If your school does not offer these products to you, you can do a little research to find individualized products that are available. Hopefully, if your school want you to succeed. they will already have a program like this incorporated into the program.

Although, it can be a pain to have to study for these assessments, I find it to be helpful to easily point out my strengths and weaknesses. This allows me to go back and focus on the material that I can improve on. Moreover, it allows me to be better prepared for the NCLEX.

References

ATI (2019). Comprehensive Assessment and Review Program. Retrieved from https://www1.atitesting.com/Solutions/DuringNursingSchool/ComprehensiveAssessmentAndReviewProgram.aspx

Blog Post

How to Deal With Anxiety in Nursing School

July 20, 2019July 20, 2019by I am Nurse TiffanyLeave a Comment

Anxiety

I have recently been having a hard time dealing with stress and anxiety. I think the reason for this is the constant going of nursing school. There is always somewhere to be and something to do. Regardless, this is what I signed for so I have to stay on top of things. If you fail to it is very easy to get behind and even fail out of nursing school. Luckily for me, I have finally been able to get into a flow that works for me. I wanted to share it in hopes that I am able to help someone else.

Step 1:

Get organized!!! You can start by getting a planner. This helps because my syllabi are always at least ten pages long on average I have at least three classes per quarter. Seeing what I have to do on a daily view is better than seeing what I have to do over an entire quarter. I also do not want to carry around several folders each class in order to stay on top of things.

Step 2:

Make sure that you are incorporating ME TIME! People often forget just how important this is. This can be achieved by making sure you are doing things that you love such as, hanging out with friends and treating yourself to something nice. Self-care is a must in nursing school. If you do not take care of yourself, it often develops into stress, anxiety, depression, etc.

Step 3:

Avoid Caffeine! Like majority of Americans, I too enjoy a cup of joe each morning. However, when you have anxiety sometimes coffee can make it worse. What is more, caffeine is know to cause gastrointestinal upset.

Step 4:

Practice Relaxation Techniques! People often underestimate the benefits of this. This can done by meditation, yoga, aromatherapy, etc. One of my favorites is tuning into the relaxation music on YouTube. It helps to put me in a better mood so that I am capable of being more productive.

Step 6:

Tell yourself Self-Affirmations! This is important because if you do not believe in yourself and can motivate yourself, you cannot expect someone else to. For example, you can do this by adding sticky notes to your bathroom mirror. Additionally, when you feel negative thoughts creeping into your mind, you can silence it by speaking something positive to counteract it. For spiritual or religious people, you can download applications to your phone that can send you daily devotionals.

Step 7:

Do NOT Cram! Cramming can create the most anxiety because you are putting unnecessary stress on yourself by not properly planning for an exam. In nursing school, there are usually minimum 6-7 chapters on one exam and these chapters have a wealth of information. When you wait until the last minute, you likely will not remember everything you studied. Also, you will not remember the information long term and that will not do you any good when it is time for the NCLEX. That brings me to my next point.

Step 8:

Shut Your Brain Off! You heard that right. Sometimes you have to learn to quiet your mind. I usually do this when I go into what I call “information overload.” This is basically when I studied for too long and now feel like I cannot retain any more information at the time. I step away from the material and go relax. Once I feel that I can handle looking at the information again, I go back to it. This can also be done the night before the exam. Instead of cramming more information the night before, just take a step back and do nothing. This will help you sleep better, feel refreshed the day of the exam, and hopefully help you perform better.

Step 9:

Seek Help. Unfortunately, sometimes are mental health can get far beyond our control. It may be some lingering trauma that we have yet to deal with or some genetics that are out of our control. If you feel that you are unable to maintain control of the anxiety, do not be afraid to seek professional help. This can be by way of a Licensed Clinical Profession Counselor, Psychiatrist, Psychologist, and Therapist. Their services include but not limited to, therapy sessions (one on one or group) and medications.

Well that is all the tips I have for now. I really hope this can help someone. I am placing a link here for those who may be interested in aromatherapy. It is super useful for relaxation and stress relief.

Link: https://amzn.to/2JRGCCd

Lastly, for more tips on dealing with anxiety, check out my YouTube video below.

Blog Post

Working While in Nursing School???

March 26, 2019March 28, 2019by I am Nurse TiffanyLeave a Comment

This tends to be a question that comes up a lot when making the decision to go to nursing school. It is a very valid question and can be viewed from various angles. From my personal experience, it is all person dependent.

Since I knew about my acceptance into the program 6 months in advance, I had time to prepare. Before making a decision, I explored all options. My first thought was to reduce hours to part-time. However, that plan fell through when my employer of five years would not allow it. I figured I could possibly find another job comparable to the one I already had. However, when looking at pay there was a drastic difference. I was then left with no choice but to quit.

This was by far the hardest decision I had to make in life. Despite of, I knew it was the leap of faith I needed to have to put me in a better position. So I saved for 6 months as much as I could before quitting my full-time job. I have not looked back since. I think that this has contributed to my success during my first quarter of nursing school as well (I will do a follow up post in regards to Q1). Below are some factors to consider when making the decision to work while in nursing school.

Factors that contribute to if you should work:
1.) Flexibility of Job- Are they generous on PTO? Will they be understanding that school is priority? Do they allow a temporary leave of absence?

2.) Job Position- Usually jobs that have fancier titles are the ones that requires more work. While, some positions you may have mastered it, which may allow for down time to do other things once work is completed.

3.) Pay- If you are able to make a significant amount money, then you could potentially work less hours. This will allow more time from studying and school work.

Other factors to consider:

1.) Class Load- The number of classes taken, the amount of assignments and/or exams given, the days and hours of clinicals, etc.

2.) Time Management- If you can effectively study within a reasonable amount of time that can potentially free up time for other things not school related. This means totally getting rid of the procrastination habit if applicable.

3.) Prioritize- Understanding that school comes first and everything else is second behind it. Making use of a good planner is also helpful. This will allow to keep a log of task that need to be completed and helps you to stay on top of things. Link on where I got mines is here.

May Designs Planner: https://amzn.to/2HKMrCS

I may not have touch on every single thing. However, I feel that these are some of the most important. After you have evaluated you personal circumstance, then you will be able to determine if working is possible for you.

Although I have yet to experience what it is like to work while in school thus far, I will eventually explore the possibility. Whether you choose to work or not is a personal decision. Although people give their opinions often, only you can decide what will ultimately work for you.

Be sure to check out my YouTube Video on this topic as well.