Now that its December and we are all on winter break, I can finally talk about my first quarter in nursing school! My class ran for 11 weeks from September 23rd to December 8th. And what an experiance it was. Im going to be talking about what we leaned, book work and skills, the class layout, clincal expeance and the overall vibes. However im going to do week by week recap to keep it simple after I do some inital explaing.

I’m hoping this will help anyone who is just starting nursing school to know what they might expect and what they might learn! I have anxiety and literally haven’t met more people in a single major with more anxiety than nursing students. I know that knowing what to expect lowers my anxiety. Maybe it does for you too? I also am posting this for anyone who is keeping up with my nursing school journey! Thank you to anyone who asks me how it’s going, and all that, it’s nice to know you care!

THE LAYOUT/ CLASS SCHDUEL

My college is very “nice” to the first quarter students so we were given a weekly rotating schedule. Week one we had lectures, and week two we had labs… and repeat. We had open lectures, which meant you were expected to come to class having already read the material and be ready to participate in open discussion and activities. Lectures always start at 8:00AM. But they can end as early as 11:00AM or as late as 2:30PM. “Labs” are time you spend in a mock-hospital setting practicing and learning new skills. The amount of lectures and labs you had each week varied on how hard the course material was. We had exams every two weeks (4 exams total) and one comprehensive final at the end of the term. Labs always run from 8:00AM to 2:30PM. 

PASSING:

To pass first quarter you had to check a few boxes.

• score above >74% average on exams
• >80% cumulative grade in the class : exams + assignments
• pass all your skill check offs (pass or fail, you get 4 attempts per skill)
• 100% on the med math exam (two attempts)
• pass clincals (pass or fail)

MED MATH/ DOSAGE CALUCATION

I know a lot of other first quarter students take the med math / dosage calculation test the first week with it gradually getting harder after each quarter. However my college has the first quarter take it near the end of the term because we learn the entirety of med math. For example I learned how to calculate drip rate and flow rate in the first quarter despite not learning anything about IV medication administration. We go over the entire book and take it at the end so there is no new material to learn the following quarter. The following quarters however we do take it the first week of class.

Our college makes us buy a chunky book and then the med math is self-taught. You can always go to the professors for help but let’s be honest you didn’t have time to do that. Each week in Canvas they would assign chapters and an optional quiz (to check if you actually learned anything). Each week we had 1-3 chapters assigned to read, I wont be including them in my weekly recaps but just know on top of everything we had math chapters to read. We didn’t have our med math test till week ten but we did have some math questions on our bi-weekly exams just to make sure we were keeping up with the reading. 

WEEK ONE – Lecture

Week one probably went by the fastest.

Week one was lecture material. We had orientation and a few ice breakers but then dove head first into the book. We had three lectures this week. The first lecture was on intro. to nursing practice, nursing today, healthcare delivery system, community-based nursing and the legal aspects. The second lecture was on infection prevention and control, patient safety and quality. Our third lecture was on health assessments and vital signs. I thought it was pretty easy material to choke down if you had experience as a CNA, MA, or ED tech. We had 8 chapters in total to read this week.

WEEK TWO – Lab

Week two was our first lab week. For labs we have to wear our scrubs, name tags, white shoes, etc. You have to act as if you were on the job, representing your college as a student. We had three labs days this week. On day one the skills we practiced in the lab were, donning and doffing PPE, performing blood glucose tests, vital signing and, donning sterile gloves. On days one and two we learned the skills needed to perform a full head-to-toe assessment. In grave detail. It was a lot of watching and then practicing on a peer. For example we would watch the professors demonstrate how to assess PERLA and then we would practice on the person sitting next to us.

Performing blood glucose tests are a pretty routine skill you perform as a CNA in a hospital setting so most students were comfortable with this skill. The same goes for vital signs. Donning sterile gloves and learning about aseptic and sterile technique was the only new skill for me. Which is why it doesn’t surprise me that it was my favorite one to practice.

WEEK THREE – Exam & Lecture

Week three, Monday, was our first exam. It was 50 questions and I think everyone in the class, including me, was super nervous for that first test. We didn’t know what to expect or what type of questions they were going to ask you. We didn’t know if our study techniques were going to pay off. I got a 96% (48/50) and the class avg. was 86%. 

Right after the exams you have no time to waste because the next day we almost always had a lecture and material you had to read or watch before the lecture. We had three lectures following the exam. On lecture day one we learned about critical thinking, EBP, and nursing theories. On lecture day two we learned about patient education, documentation, informatics, and communication. I like this lecture a lot because we got to practice writing SBAR, DAR, SOAP and narrative notes. On lecture day three we went over the nursing process (ADPIE) in more detail. We had kind of brushed over it in intro to nursing practice. We had 11 chapter in total to read this week.

Most of this material I found easy to comprehend. Some people might have struggled with the theories since it’s obviously more philosophical thinking than factual practice. 

WEEK FOUR – Labs

Week four was another lab week. I remember this week dragging on. There were three lab days this week. One day one we went over some ADLs that a lot of us already knew how to do, making an occupied bed, assisting with gown change, etc. We also got time this day to practice a full head to toe on a peer. On day two we went over oxygen skills; how to apply nasal cannula, how to set oxygen meters, etc. Day three was a bunch of mobility transfers. I didn’t particularly like this week in the lab because a lot of the skills we went over were reviewed as a CNA. This week we got checked off by the professors for two primary skills. Glucose check off and a full set of vital signs.

WEEK FIVE – Exam & Lecture

Week five we had our second exam on that monday. 50 questions, and one math question. (If i remember correctly it was just one on metrics conversion). I scored a 90% (44/50) and the class avg. was 78%. 

As usual we had a lecture the day after. This week we had three lecture days. The first lecture was on pharmacology and pharmacodynamics. The second lecture was on medication administration. The third lecture day we learned about pain management, stress and coping. We had 6 chapters to read. We were assigned our first group of medications to study, which were non-opioid analgesics and opioid analgesics. I really liked this week and found that I have a passion for pharm!

This week we had our head-to-toe skill check off due. They were nice enough to let us record ourselves. But the video had to be under 20 mins and if you missed anything major OR if you missed too many small details you would have to redo it in front of the professors while they grade you.   

WEEK SIX – Lab

Possibly my favorite week because we got to practice med admin! I have some experience working with needles (SubQ fluids for foster kittens), but I had never practiced giving them to people or with the intent to medicate. We also learned how to give meds by different routes; PO, IM, SubQ, dermal patch, ointment, eyes, ears, inhaler etc. I took the opportunity to practice my 7 rights of med admin while in this lab. During this lab week we were also made aware of our med pass skill check off. Unlike the other lab skill check-offs, you weren’t allowed to make a single mistake! For good reason.

WEEK SEVEN – Exam & Lecture

This was possibly the worst week. Not because it sucked but because the new material was just so complex. We will get to that in a minute. We had our 3rd exam, I scored a 92% (46/50) and the class avg. was 86%. We had three lecture days. The first lecture was on acid-base-balance. I found ABB a little difficult at first like most people but got the hang of reading ABG values and picking out the s/s of metabolic vs. respiratory, alkalosis vs. acidosis. Our second lecture was spent on fluid and electrolytes. Fluids confuse me, often because I just get things mixed up. Even after long study sessions I still need to refer to my note cards. As for electrolytes. They were a bit easier to learn because part of it is memorization. In our third lecture, we went over bowel and urinary elimination and wound assessment. This week we got another short list of meds to learn, most were stool softeners or lasix. We had 5 chapter total but they wre meaty and you needed to take breaks between sctions or your brian would give up.

WEEK EIGHT – Lab

This week we only had two lab days. On day one we somewhat stuck to the theme, as per usual, and learned foley catheter associated skills. Taking a sterile specimen from a foley, proper foley care, assisting with bedpan, etc. Then on day two we played around with sterile fields and learned how to set one up, and how to clean / dress a wound. It was fun playing with the fake wound pads and getting to work with aseptic technique again. 

This week of the lab they started offering med pass skill check offs. We were given two meds in advance to learn and had 15 minutes to administer both meds to our fake patient, which was our professor. The meds I gave were Lisinopril PO and Insulin Lispro SubQ. I volunteered to go first and passed on my first try!

WEEK NINE – Clinicals

We had our 4th exam on monday. This was a tough exam! I scored a 88% (44/50) and the class avg. was a %76. After the exam we had a day off and then it was time for clinicals.

First week of clinicals! I started my clinical rotation on evening shifts from 2:30PM to 11:00PM. We had three clinical days this week. Wed-Friday. My clinical group had 6 other peers in it and we were placed at a long term care facility. At clinicals we got assigned one patient for the week/ rotation. We had to do head-to-toe assessments daily, and chart a bunch of other stuff daily. I assumed we would be glorified CNAs but instead we were glorified computers with the amount of typing and charting we did. We got practice doing blood sugars, vitals and writing soap notes, assessing our patients, etc. We also started working on ou first care plan! I had to drive 35 minutes to the clinical site so i didnt get home till midnight most evenings.

WEEK TEN – Lecture

I’ll keep this one short and simple. We only had two lecture days because of thanksgiving break. In the first lecture we learned about the psychosocial aspects of nursing and health and wellness. One lecture day two we went over development across life spans, culture and ethnicity. Very easy material to digest compared to last lecture week’s material. In total it was 9 chapters to read.

WEEK 10 & 11 – Clincals + Finals

After being on evening clinical rotation, I went to three days in the mornings. I had to be there at 6:00AM and left at 2:30PM. I had to wake up just before 5:00AM to make it on time. We got assigned a new patient but still just one for now. Most of this week at clinicals was a repeat of the last. We got some good quality feed-back on our charting form the previous week and got to make another care plan for our patient. I was so exausted after clincals that I barely had time to study for finals.

I was so burnt out at this point. Honestly, I wanted to finish so badly but also didn’t care about anything at the same time. I studied for hours and hours this week. I felt guilty if I didn’t! My final for my class was comprehensive so I had to study everything from the start of the quarter. I had studied all throughout the quarter and performed well on all my exams. I didn’t know if I would do well on the final. I had little motivation and while taking the exam I had such bad brain fog. I wasn’t panicking, not because I thought I was gonna fail. But because I was so damn nervous! I was hyperventilating and had to pause to breathe several times through the test. After the exam my class went to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate the quarter being over. And as I was driving home the grades were released. I got a 95% (62/65)! The class avg. was 86%

OVERALL THOUGHTS

If you get the choice of what quarter to start nursing school (or semester), choose fall! You’ll have a long break in between quarters without having too long of a break to forget what you learned (like in summer). My college starts a new cohort of students every quarter, but I know not all colleges do that.

First-quarter is a lot of new information. It’s stressful and intense, but I loved it! My cohort is pretty good and I am so glad that I ended up with a great clinical group. I was also able to pull off an A in both my classes which I didn’t think was even possible.