Often new nursing students become overwhelmed by the amount of reading and written assignments. Even those students who have taken other college courses are shocked at how much there is to do. Not only is the never ending assignments seem disheartening, the amount of terms to be defined is in just over the top.
My recommendations to my students is to keep a medical dictionary such as Tabers as well as a Webster dictionary close at hand. The first year of nursing comes with a vast challenge of learning a new language. Learning how to pronunciate terms such as sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff). I encourage them to learn the pronunciation as it will instill confidence. Many students ask me how they will survive, and I smile, laugh, and remember when I was a newbie to nursing. It is truly amazing how much a nurse needs to know in order to provide competent care. I reassure them that they are not the first nursing student to feel this way, and I tell them to keep a journal daily. The journal will help them purge their frustrations, and at the same time, it provides them with an accurate accounting of all the ups and downs they will encounter during this large learning curve. It also is something that they can read ten or fifteen years from now and look back and smile at their comments that seem so insurmountable!