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There is no way you can read through a whole textbook word for word, unless of course you have ample time on your hands. Even I, as an instructor, can understand that. This is why it is so crucial to learn how to take good notes and I’m going to teach you how to do it! Below I am sharing five tips & strategies on how to take good notes and make sure you focus on important information and how to identify material that could be on the exam. This is coming from a professor who has created exams in the past. Where do I get my questions from? What do I suggest and recommend students study from? You might want to read below to find out more. Let’s jump right into it! Tip #1: Go to class and take good notes during lectures. Listen to your professors. Many times they mention things that are not on the power-point but are in the book and most times these points are important to know and WILL be on the test. A good professor gives you the information that is on the power-point. A GREAT professor elaborates for better understanding and doesn’t just read the power-point. The problem is, how do you know what is important? During lecture: As mentioned above, a professor will state when something is important to know or remember. WRITE THAT DOWN! If they are going over something repeatedly, WRITE THAT DOWN! There is a reason why they have mentioned something more than once, it is because it’s important and might be on the test. No need to write the same thing multiple times on paper. One time is enough. Just RECOGNIZE the fact that if he/she keeps repeating it is important. Placing words like *know this* after a sentence you just wrote will help you remember later on that the professor said to KNOW THIS. You will focus more on this material when studying because you know if you wrote that it’s because at that very moment the professor said this information was important to know. Your professors might also add different scenarios or experiences they have had as healthcare providers. No need to write each scenario out or jot down too many examples but writing one or two examples of a subject content is key in relating the information to a real-life experience. This will help you understand later on when studying by bringing that subject content to life. Tip #2: Skim through the textbook. There is just far too much information in your assigned readings and all of it seems so important. Am I right?! The first step before taking a deep dive into your assigned chapters is to skim through them first. How to skim through a chapter in your textbook but obtain necessary information for note taking: Always look at tables, pictures, figures, illustrations because professors love to get questions from those areas. I have included a picture of these areas as examples. Read highlighted/bolded vocabulary. Review study questions and summary points at end of chapter. Examples are always important to write down when note taking. Not only do they help you understand but can be used in exams as questions. Repeated information is repeated for a reason. When you see different areas going over the same content consider it important. Tip# 3: After skimming, concentrate on essential material in textbook. Once you have briefly skimmed over the chapter you can go back to certain topics you know will be on your test based on rubrics or what your professor has told you. Go over those topics in more detail – read the chapter. If you don’t understand a word, look it up! This will help you better understand the material. If you are keeping the book, you can write on the margin of the paragraphs or if you are planning to return/re-sell a book, you can use a post it and stick it on. I find highlighting the important parts of the chapter really helps. Those areas that explain in detail the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, interventions are highlightable items. All of that is ALWAYS important and serves as GREAT material for an exam question. In the textbook, you can highlight with one color what you find important, then highlight what the instructor went over with another color. You can also add comments of things the professor said in the margins. Here’s that million-dollar question again, how do you know what is important? In textbook: Explanations or details that are elaborated on, especially material that include examples are usually important to jot down . Include those examples in your notes so you can understand the material and apply it to a scenario. However, do not keep is as lengthy as the textbook. This is key in note taking. You want to keep it short and sweet in a way you can remember. Using acronyms can also help as long as you remember what your acronym means. (e.g., the famous naughty but catchy cranial nerve acronym.OOOTTAFAGVSH = Oh, Oh, Oh, to touch and feel a girls vagina, so hot.) It not only helps you remember the order of the cranial nerves 1-12 but the first letter of each name. Smart, right? Making up songs or phrases are also creative ways to remember content, as well. Tip #4: Review your notes within 24 hours. After class, always review your notes within 24 hours. Academic skill centers suggest reviewing these notes within 24 hours can increase learning capacity. When writing notes in class, they usually tend to be a bit messy since you are writing quickly and trying to capture critical information. When you review them within that 24 hour period I suggest re-writing them as well. While you are re-writing them you can compare your notes to textbook information and add those textbook notes to the specific topic areas. Tip #5: Time to re-write your notes using different colors. Use different colors when re-writing your final draft of notes. There are 3 different sources of information when writing your notes and they should all be in different colors. This helps you reference where you got the material from. What you gathered from lecture – different color (majority of info will be this color) What instructor says is important – different color or highlighted. Include *KNOW THIS* What is written in textbook – different color If you haven’t had time to look through the book you can rewrite your notes and leave spaces in between different topics. This is to leave room for any notes you need to add from the book. When re-writing your notes, try to re-write in a way that YOU understand. This is key for good note taking. Re-write textbook explanations in your own words so that you can understand what it means. For example: if the textbook says: “Hirschprungs disease, or aganglionic megacolon, occurs when there is an absence of ganglionic innervation to the muscle of a segment of the bowel.” Leifer, G. (2015). Introduction to maternity & pediatric nursing (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Saunders., What to do: First, look up any key terms that you may not know. This is essential in being able to paraphrase to what YOU can understand. Let’s look up innervation and ganglionic. Innervation= supply an organ or body part with nerves Ganglionic = group of neuron cells in the peripheral system Now that we know this, you can write: “Hirschsprungs Disease is when there is an absence of nerve cell supply in a part of the bowels.” OR “Hirschsprungs disease is when there are ganglionic nerve cells missing from a certain section of the bowels” This makes it easier for you to remember and understand when studying. I really hope these tips and strategies help you improve your note taking skills from lecture and from the textbook. They were definitely techniques I used that taught me how to take good notes as a student. I have also used these techniques when creating exam questions as a Professor. If you have any comments or tips that you can add to this list, please feel free to comment and share your note taking tips below! This is a space for learning and would love to hear what has worked for you. ‘till next time, The RN Educator

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There is no way you can read through a whole textbook word for word, unless of course you have ample time on your hands. Even I, as an instructor, can understand that. This is why it is so crucial to learn how to take good notes and I’m going to teach you how to do it! Below I am sharing five tips & strategies on how to take good notes and make sure you focus on important information and how to identify material that could be on the exam. This is coming from a professor who has created exams in the past. Where do I get my questions from? What do I suggest and recommend students study from? You might want to read below to find out more. Let’s jump right into it! Tip #1: Go to class and take good notes during lectures. Listen to your professors. Many times they mention things that are not on the power-point but are in the book and most times these points are important to know and WILL be on the test. A good professor gives you the information that is on the power-point. A GREAT professor elaborates for better understanding and doesn’t just read the power-point. The problem is, how do you know what is important? During lecture: As mentioned above, a professor will state when something is important to know or remember. WRITE THAT DOWN! If they are going over something repeatedly, WRITE THAT DOWN! There is a reason why they have mentioned something more than once, it is because it’s important and might be on the test. No need to write the same thing multiple times on paper. One time is enough. Just RECOGNIZE the fact that if he/she keeps repeating it is important. Placing words like *know this* after a sentence you just wrote will help you remember later on that the professor said to KNOW THIS. You will focus more on this material when studying because you know if you wrote that it’s because at that very moment the professor said this information was important to know. Your professors might also add different scenarios or experiences they have had as healthcare providers. No need to write each scenario out or jot down too many examples but writing one or two examples of a subject content is key in relating the information to a real-life experience. This will help you understand later on when studying by bringing that subject content to life. Tip #2: Skim through the textbook. There is just far too much information in your assigned readings and all of it seems so important. Am I right?! The first step before taking a deep dive into your assigned chapters is to skim through them first. How to skim through a chapter in your textbook but obtain necessary information for note taking: Always look at tables, pictures, figures, illustrations because professors love to get questions from those areas. I have included a picture of these areas as examples. Read highlighted/bolded vocabulary. Review study questions and summary points at end of chapter. Examples are always important to write down when note taking. Not only do they help you understand but can be used in exams as questions. Repeated information is repeated for a reason. When you see different areas going over the same content consider it important. Tip# 3: After skimming, concentrate on essential material in textbook. Once you have briefly skimmed over the chapter you can go back to certain topics you know will be on your test based on rubrics or what your professor has told you. Go over those topics in more detail – read the chapter. If you don’t understand a word, look it up! This will help you better understand the material. If you are keeping the book, you can write on the margin of the paragraphs or if you are planning to return/re-sell a book, you can use a post it and stick it on. I find highlighting the important parts of the chapter really helps. Those areas that explain in detail the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, interventions are highlightable items. All of that is ALWAYS important and serves as GREAT material for an exam question. In the textbook, you can highlight with one color what you find important, then highlight what the instructor went over with another color. You can also add comments of things the professor said in the margins. Here’s that million-dollar question again, how do you know what is important? In textbook: Explanations or details that are elaborated on, especially material that include examples are usually important to jot down . Include those examples in your notes so you can understand the material and apply it to a scenario. However, do not keep is as lengthy as the textbook. This is key in note taking. You want to keep it short and sweet in a way you can remember. Using acronyms can also help as long as you remember what your acronym means. (e.g., the famous naughty but catchy cranial nerve acronym.OOOTTAFAGVSH = Oh, Oh, Oh, to touch and feel a girls vagina, so hot.) It not only helps you remember the order of the cranial nerves 1-12 but the first letter of each name. Smart, right? Making up songs or phrases are also creative ways to remember content, as well. Tip #4: Review your notes within 24 hours. After class, always review your notes within 24 hours. Academic skill centers suggest reviewing these notes within 24 hours can increase learning capacity. When writing notes in class, they usually tend to be a bit messy since you are writing quickly and trying to capture critical information. When you review them within that 24 hour period I suggest re-writing them as well. While you are re-writing them you can compare your notes to textbook information and add those textbook notes to the specific topic areas. Tip #5: Time to re-write your notes using different colors. Use different colors when re-writing your final draft of notes. There are 3 different sources of information when writing your notes and they should all be in different colors. This helps you reference where you got the material from. What you gathered from lecture – different color (majority of info will be this color) What instructor says is important – different color or highlighted. Include *KNOW THIS* What is written in textbook – different color If you haven’t had time to look through the book you can rewrite your notes and leave spaces in between different topics. This is to leave room for any notes you need to add from the book. When re-writing your notes, try to re-write in a way that YOU understand. This is key for good note taking. Re-write textbook explanations in your own words so that you can understand what it means. For example: if the textbook says: “Hirschprungs disease, or aganglionic megacolon, occurs when there is an absence of ganglionic innervation to the muscle of a segment of the bowel.” Leifer, G. (2015). Introduction to maternity & pediatric nursing (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Saunders., What to do: First, look up any key terms that you may not know. This is essential in being able to paraphrase to what YOU can understand. Let’s look up innervation and ganglionic. Innervation= supply an organ or body part with nerves Ganglionic = group of neuron cells in the peripheral system Now that we know this, you can write: “Hirschsprungs Disease is when there is an absence of nerve cell supply in a part of the bowels.” OR “Hirschsprungs disease is when there are ganglionic nerve cells missing from a certain section of the bowels” This makes it easier for you to remember and understand when studying. I really hope these tips and strategies help you improve your note taking skills from lecture and from the textbook. They were definitely techniques I used that taught me how to take good notes as a student. I have also used these techniques when creating exam questions as a Professor. If you have any comments or tips that you can add to this list, please feel free to comment and share your note taking tips below! This is a space for learning and would love to hear what has worked for you. ‘till next time, The RN Educator

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Suctioning seems pretty easy when you think about it, right? You are pretty much just removing mucous from someones airway BUT how to properly suction your patient actually requires a lot more knowledge than you think. Think about it, each time you suction your patient’s airway, you aren’t just removing secretions, you are also removing oxygen. This is why there are certain techniques to follow when properly suctioning your patient. The goal is to not only achieve a good suction that leads to airway clearance, but that your patient does not decompensate while you are doing it. Let’s go through the steps below. Step 1 Gather equipment. Seems pretty obvious but it is so frustrating when you forget something that is essential to a procedure and have to keep coming in and out of the room. You also don’t want to give the impression that you are unprepared (although this by no means signify you don’t know what you are doing, perception can sometimes sway your patient’s experience). Step 2 Introduce yourself, provide privacy and verify your patient’s information. This is pretty self-explanatory. You must do this prior to any procedure on a patient. Step 3 Place patient in a Semi-fowler’s position and ensure suction regulator is working properly. Believe it or not, there are times when you turn on the suction block or regulator and it isn’t even working. You test this by turning on the regulator and intermittently feeling for a vacuum seal with your gloved finger at the end of the tubing (you should feel your finger being sucked in by the tube). One of the first steps in how to properly suction your patient is to always make sure both your suction and oxygen are working prior to suctioning. You might ask, “Why check oxygen? I’m only suctioning”. Well, you don’t want to be caught in a situation where your patient needs oxygen after a suction and your oxygen isn’t working. Always check that both are working properly. Step 4 Protect yourself and your patient. Make sure you have the appropriate PPE on. This includes gloves and a shielded mask. Depending on the patient’s isolation precautions you may also require a gown. If possible, place a towel over your patient’s chest to prevent any transmission of secretions and/or saline from splashing over. Step 5 Set up and hyperoxygenate if indicated. Open suction kit and catheter with clean gloves while using a clean technique if it is a bulb suction device such as a BBG (pictured in the title picture) and using aseptic technique if it is a deep catheter suction. If indicated, hyperoxygenate your patient or ask them to take a few deep breaths right before procedure. How to properly suction your patient when using a BBG: Turn suction machine to proper setting according to order. Attach BBG and make sure it is working properly by testing suction again. Suction each nostril for a couple seconds intermittently to remove any mucous trapped in the nasal passage. If the order indicates use of 0.9% saline during suction you can instill a couple drops per nostril (one nostril at a time) and begin intermittent suction. (e.g., a couple drops of saline in one nostril and intermittently suction that same nostril). Another way to suction is by using a neti-pot method, instilling saline in one nostril while suctioning through the other. This should only be done for a couple seconds at a time. Some tips I have learned through clinical experience and other nurse educators on how to properly suction a patient and facilitate secretion drainage is: While suctioning, you can massage the sinuses to allow that mucous to break up. The BBG is a flexible bulb syringe catheter (should never be stiff). Move it around different angles while snug on the nose to be able to suction certain areas in the nasal passage. This is the purpose for this flexibility. How to properly suction a patient when using a sterile suction catheter: Turn suction machine to proper setting according to order. Open the water-soluble lubricant and squeeze a small amount onto sterile field. Perform hand hygiene and don sterile gloves. Fill your sterile basin with sterile 0.9% NS. Using dominant hand, test suction catheter in the sterile water in basin. Lubricate the suction catheter with the lubricant. Gently rotate the catheter while following the natural path of the nasal passage to the back of the pharynx, always assessing your patient while doing this. If your patient coughs or any resistance is met along the way stop and withdraw. Apply intermittent suction while rotating the catheter for 10 seconds as you withdraw. Assess your patient and apply oxygen if needed. If there is a need to repeat suctioning allow 20 seconds between each session. Note* your patient’s vital signs should always be monitored while performing deep suction. Vitals signs that are important while deep suctioning are SpO2, HR and BP. Some patients are sensitive and a deep suction can easily trigger a vagal response (causing sudden decrease in heart rate & BP). If there are any changes in vital signs, stop and withdraw immediately providing adequate care as indicated. Always, always, always keep an eye on your patient while suctioning, no matter the method. Assess them. If they look like they are in any form of distress, STOP immediately and withdraw. You will apply oxygen as needed and notify the physician of any changes. …and viola! YOU ARE ALL DONE! Hope you guys enjoyed this post and it helped you gain some tips on how to properly suction your patient. Stay tuned for more posts coming soon and comment below any other topics you would like me to go over. Patient Education Question What are some important tips to educate parents on when performing suction at home? Comment below! ’till next time, The RN Educator Disclaimer: This post is not intended to be used as medical advice. It is only intended as educational content.

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There is no way you can read through a whole textbook word for word, unless of course you have ample time on your hands. Even I, as an instructor, can understand that. This is why it is so crucial to learn how to take good notes and I’m going to teach you how to do it! Below I am sharing five tips & strategies on how to take good notes and make sure you focus on important information and how to identify material that could be on the exam. This is coming from a professor who has created exams in the past. Where do I get my questions from? What do I suggest and recommend students study from? You might want to read below to find out more. Let’s jump right into it! Tip #1: Go to class and take good notes during lectures. Listen to your professors. Many times they mention things that are not on the power-point but are in the book and most times these points are important to know and WILL be on the test. A good professor gives you the information that is on the power-point. A GREAT professor elaborates for better understanding and doesn’t just read the power-point. The problem is, how do you know what is important? During lecture: As mentioned above, a professor will state when something is important to know or remember. WRITE THAT DOWN! If they are going over something repeatedly, WRITE THAT DOWN! There is a reason why they have mentioned something more than once, it is because it’s important and might be on the test. No need to write the same thing multiple times on paper. One time is enough. Just RECOGNIZE the fact that if he/she keeps repeating it is important. Placing words like *know this* after a sentence you just wrote will help you remember later on that the professor said to KNOW THIS. You will focus more on this material when studying because you know if you wrote that it’s because at that very moment the professor said this information was important to know. Your professors might also add different scenarios or experiences they have had as healthcare providers. No need to write each scenario out or jot down too many examples but writing one or two examples of a subject content is key in relating the information to a real-life experience. This will help you understand later on when studying by bringing that subject content to life. Tip #2: Skim through the textbook. There is just far too much information in your assigned readings and all of it seems so important. Am I right?! The first step before taking a deep dive into your assigned chapters is to skim through them first. How to skim through a chapter in your textbook but obtain necessary information for note taking: Always look at tables, pictures, figures, illustrations because professors love to get questions from those areas. I have included a picture of these areas as examples. Read highlighted/bolded vocabulary. Review study questions and summary points at end of chapter. Examples are always important to write down when note taking. Not only do they help you understand but can be used in exams as questions. Repeated information is repeated for a reason. When you see different areas going over the same content consider it important. Tip# 3: After skimming, concentrate on essential material in textbook. Once you have briefly skimmed over the chapter you can go back to certain topics you know will be on your test based on rubrics or what your professor has told you. Go over those topics in more detail – read the chapter. If you don’t understand a word, look it up! This will help you better understand the material. If you are keeping the book, you can write on the margin of the paragraphs or if you are planning to return/re-sell a book, you can use a post it and stick it on. I find highlighting the important parts of the chapter really helps. Those areas that explain in detail the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, interventions are highlightable items. All of that is ALWAYS important and serves as GREAT material for an exam question. In the textbook, you can highlight with one color what you find important, then highlight what the instructor went over with another color. You can also add comments of things the professor said in the margins. Here’s that million-dollar question again, how do you know what is important? In textbook: Explanations or details that are elaborated on, especially material that include examples are usually important to jot down . Include those examples in your notes so you can understand the material and apply it to a scenario. However, do not keep is as lengthy as the textbook. This is key in note taking. You want to keep it short and sweet in a way you can remember. Using acronyms can also help as long as you remember what your acronym means. (e.g., the famous naughty but catchy cranial nerve acronym.OOOTTAFAGVSH = Oh, Oh, Oh, to touch and feel a girls vagina, so hot.) It not only helps you remember the order of the cranial nerves 1-12 but the first letter of each name. Smart, right? Making up songs or phrases are also creative ways to remember content, as well. Tip #4: Review your notes within 24 hours. After class, always review your notes within 24 hours. Academic skill centers suggest reviewing these notes within 24 hours can increase learning capacity. When writing notes in class, they usually tend to be a bit messy since you are writing quickly and trying to capture critical information. When you review them within that 24 hour period I suggest re-writing them as well. While you are re-writing them you can compare your notes to textbook information and add those textbook notes to the specific topic areas. Tip #5: Time to re-write your notes using different colors. Use different colors when re-writing your final draft of notes. There are 3 different sources of information when writing your notes and they should all be in different colors. This helps you reference where you got the material from. What you gathered from lecture – different color (majority of info will be this color) What instructor says is important – different color or highlighted. Include *KNOW THIS* What is written in textbook – different color If you haven’t had time to look through the book you can rewrite your notes and leave spaces in between different topics. This is to leave room for any notes you need to add from the book. When re-writing your notes, try to re-write in a way that YOU understand. This is key for good note taking. Re-write textbook explanations in your own words so that you can understand what it means. For example: if the textbook says: “Hirschprungs disease, or aganglionic megacolon, occurs when there is an absence of ganglionic innervation to the muscle of a segment of the bowel.” Leifer, G. (2015). Introduction to maternity & pediatric nursing (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier/Saunders., What to do: First, look up any key terms that you may not know. This is essential in being able to paraphrase to what YOU can understand. Let’s look up innervation and ganglionic. Innervation= supply an organ or body part with nerves Ganglionic = group of neuron cells in the peripheral system Now that we know this, you can write: “Hirschsprungs Disease is when there is an absence of nerve cell supply in a part of the bowels.” OR “Hirschsprungs disease is when there are ganglionic nerve cells missing from a certain section of the bowels” This makes it easier for you to remember and understand when studying. I really hope these tips and strategies help you improve your note taking skills from lecture and from the textbook. They were definitely techniques I used that taught me how to take good notes as a student. I have also used these techniques when creating exam questions as a Professor. If you have any comments or tips that you can add to this list, please feel free to comment and share your note taking tips below! This is a space for learning and would love to hear what has worked for you. ‘till next time, The RN Educator

Stay engaged in class, utilize diverse learning resources, and practice hands-on skills to excel in nursing school this semester. Learn how these strategies can help you maintain a successful pace and make the most out of your education.