According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 4% of Americans are directly affected by mental illnesses annually. Measuring how prevalent mental health illnesses are in our society makes it possible to solve the common mental illnesses. Psychiatric nursing is now more critical than ever. All nurses are therefore required to take a course covering Mental Health Nursing. This class tackles various mental health illnesses, communication basics with mental needs, and the specialized needs that these patients need. This article will share some helpful tips to pass mental health nursing.
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Helpful tips for passing mental health nursing
Below are some of the helpful tips that can help you pass mental health nursing.
1. Join study groups
Apart from getting together and socializing, study groups are a great way of reinforcing the foundations of the things learned in class. Talking to each other helps one note down the elusive concepts they might not have grasped in class. It also helps solidify knowledge that one has already learned. When choosing a study group, you should always choose people who have similar goals and motivations. In your study group, it is also prudent to group content together to make it easy to remember. You can group medical conditions according to patient types and side effects of medication.
2. Hire a tutor
By hiring a tutor who has experience in mental health, you can create a good study schedule and revise sample questions. A tutor can also provide you with additional study materials and resources. Most nursing schools have tutors for their students and sometimes employ senior students to help the younger ones as tutors. You can also talk to a classmate to recommend helpful tutors to you.
3. Conceptualize concepts
As with any other profession, conceptualize concepts rather than memorize them. Memorizing will only get you so far, but conceptualizing will give you a solid grasp of concepts. As you are studying, discuss the reasons behind theories and concepts. Mental health nursing requires you to correctly understand the sequence of events surrounding the questions to explain your answers adequately.
4. Create a good study schedule
The chances of performing well in nursing school without formal studies are slim. It would help if you studied in a way that works well for you. Nursing students learn for an average of 18 hours a week. A good study schedule makes it possible for you to organize all your study sessions without cramming everything at the last minute. Create a sound and calm reading environment for yourself to ensure you are correctly set up for success.
You can color-code different chapters that you need to study and keep everything organized. If you are having problems creating a schedule, there are many scheduling apps available for free or for purchase. If you need help with your mental health nursing essay, you can hire a nursing essay writing service to assist you with your paper in a professional way.
5. Use a study guide
One reason mental health nursing is rather challenging is the sheer number of conditions and side effects that you need to know. Most doctors see these conditions and side effects regularly and therefore have them at their fingertips, but unfortunately, as a student, you need to rely on memory. There are also a lot of mental health disorders and subtypes. It is challenging to remember all of them. Study guides come in and help you group drugs with their side effects and different medical conditions, and their subtypes. You can also group them using tables and pictures. Visual study guides make it easier for you to call a lot of information to memory.
6. Identify your learning style
People grasp concepts differently, and the sooner you identify your learning style, the easier learning will be for you. You can use different online quizzes to help you assess the kind of learner you are. Some people are better audio learners, others are visual learners, and others are audio-visual. Once you know your learning style, you can talk to your Professor or find resources online to exploit your learning style best.
7. Record lectures
You might not be a big fan of recording lectures, but you might find it a beneficial method for navigating your studies. The good thing with recording lectures is that you can always rewind and replay the lecture to grasp the concepts you never got in class. You can use a phone or a dedicated recorder for this purpose. This is one of the tips writers from professional writing services use to grasp somewhat elusive concepts.
8. Take notes
There is no correct or wrong way of taking notes, but having organized notes will help you revise your exams faster. Note-taking is a massive aspect of making it as a professional nurse. The best way to take notes in school is by rewriting them. To many, it appears useless and tedious, but on the contrary, it is not. While in class, we take notes and scribble them in a way that might make it difficult to understand if we look at them a few days from now. However, rewriting notes clearly and coherently will serve you best when you want to sit for your exams.
9. Utilize your Professor’s office hours
If you still have difficulties with your schoolwork, it might be prudent for you if you put your Professor’s office hours to use. Before meeting with the Professor, book an appointment and prepare the questions you need help with. You also need to discuss with the Professor the studying strategy that you have been applying. This might seem difficult at first but bear in mind that your Professor has your best interests at heart. They want to see you succeed, and they were also students
Conclusion
By now, you have the necessary skills to sit for and pass your mental health nursing exams successfully. Having an organized method of studying will make it easier for you to keep everything straight in your head. Use practice questions and lectures to perfect your skills.
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