My Nursing Education

Now there are available online, all the tests and practice tests that students need to be able to pass such tests as the HESI, The TEAS, HESI A2, and the NET.  These tests simulate the actual computerized tests and help prepare the student to pass with high scores.  Just go to the Nurses Learning Center and read more about the wonderful options that await those struggling to find reliable testing material that will help them to not only prepare for the Nursing Entrance Test, but pass the first time with high scores.
Students need some extra help in studying for the various tests that are currently out there. Unfortunately there is not enough reliable resources on the internet to help students sufficiently prepare for the nursing entrance tests. Even the companies that produce them, such as ATI, (ERI World), and others do not give students the necessary information. The only online practice tests that they give are such that the student has only a few hours or days to practice, then the service is turned off. The fee is sizable for their service. Here at the Nurses Learning Center, students can access tests that include Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, Chemistry, English Grammar, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics. Over one thousand questions and answers are available to the students. They can track their test scores and determine their weak points. There is no limit, and the service does not terminate. The student can simply access the internet then  begin their practice testing anytime throughout the day or night.

The best way to study is the right way to study.  The online tutorial testing is user friendly.   Students can log in at www.nurseslearningcenter.com/testing
All the student has to do is to choose a user name and password when they purchase the online product. This will be their password each time that they log in, no matter where they are.  Start studying today.

The following is an example of a reading comprehension passage that you would find on THE NURSING ENTRANCE TEST OR THE N.E.T.. The student who is sitting for the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST needs to remember that they must not bring any previous knowledge into answering the questions. The passage will be on a computer screen and the student must scroll through out the passage until finally arriving at the questions. Time yourself on the passage below.

Childhood behavioral disorders such as ADD and ADHD have been are on the rise. It is important for parents to realize that children are not fully developed with respect to their bone growth and metabolism as adults. Just as an expectant mother’s deficiency in folic acid can lead to defects in the newborns neural tube, so can metal ions and complex organic compounds cause damage to a child’s bones, liver, kidneys and neurotransmitters. Why should we as parents, educators and doctors treat the symptoms of the above mentioned disorders with more chemicals in the form of pills? It is interesting to look at what are some of the chemicals that go into foods that we consume regularly. Below is a list of some of the food additives taken from Casarett and Doull’s Toxicology, The Basic Science of Poisons, 4th Ed.,McGraw Hill copyright, 1991. Page 823. Read more »

Whether you are getting ready to tes for the NURSING ENTRANCE EXAM, THE TEAS-ATT, OR THE HESI, most likely you will have to take a reading comprehension exam. Don’t let these reading comprehension exams fool you into thinking that you do not have to study. Actually, the most important one thing that you can do to ensure that you pass the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST is to study. But find the right material is still another problem. At the Nurses Learning Center students can find all of their testing needs in an online tutorials with over 1300 questions, answers, tests, and tutorials covering subjects such as Reading Comprehension, math, chemistry, biology, anatomy and physiology and English Grammar. Below is a reading comprehension passage. The student is asked to read the passage within ten minutes and answer the questions that come afterward. The online tests at the Nurses Learning Center are written to help students pass the NURSING ENTRANCE EXAM the first time.
Childhood Obesity in Society Today
By Nancy Kimmel R.N., 01/09/2009

The media constantly bombards children with mixed messages on a daily basis. On one hand, children see advertisements that tell them to eat candy, sugary sweets, starchy and fattening foods and drinks, while on the other hand their entertainment peers are svelte and skinny. Children also face pressure from their peers at school, dictating styles, behavior, how to act, dress and what body size is considered acceptable. While parents are trying their best to earn a living many make amends for the time they don’t get to spend with their children by indulging their weakness for sweets, candy and starches. Hence the child is placed in a vicious cycle that they are unable to escape, and obesity ensues. Parents, teachers as well as the media need to take notice of this spiraling epidemic of childhood obesity. While research has made some progress in elucidating the so called “fat gene”, the hard truth is that we as a society must change first before we can make a difference in our children’s eating habits. Read more »

How hard is the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST MATH SECTION?
Does the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST, OR N.E.T. contain any medication calculations?
The answer is yes! This may intimidate many students who are getting ready to take the N.E.T. There is hope. At the Nurses Learning Center students can study online tests and tutorials with unlimited access without worrying that they will lose their access. There are indeed some questions requiring knowledge of medication dosing calculations. These questions however can be broken down into simple ratios and proportions. The student will be using these formulas quite a bit during nursing school, where they can expect frequent medication calculation tests. The N.E.T. Study Guide author, Nancy Kimmel has broke down exactly how to solve for these ratio and proportion problems at the Nurses Learning Center. Whether the student is studying the drip factor of an IV or exactly how much medication to dispense, the student will find the information that they need to pass the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST MATH SECTION.

It is important for the student to prepare for the N.E.T. by getting a thorough understanding of how to use ratio and proportions prior to nursing school. One of the reasons that so many people do not do well on the MATH SECTION OF THE NURSING ENTRANCE TEST, is due to their lack of study in such subject matter.

MEDICATION SAFETY

While medications do a lot of good, most of them can cause a patient physical harm or death if too high a dose is administered. Because of this nurses typically double-check  and triple check their calculations when they are giving a new or potentially deadly medication, or have another nurse check their calculations.  As a nursing student you will check every doctor’s order with your instructor before the two of you act on the order. For a student to give a medication or change an IV rate without consultation with a professional is not permitted by this School or the clinical agencies. Medication safety is crucial. Below you will find some examples of ratio and proportion problems.

IV FLUIDS

The amount of fluids administered intravenously each hour should never be more than you would want to drink in an hour. Most often doctors order only about 4 ounces of IV fluid per hour for their clients. The Metric System is usually used by doctors to order the infusion rate for an IV. There are 30ml in an ounce of fluid. “Infuse 125 ml/ hour” is a common IV order. If the client has a heart or kidney problem, IV fluids might be restricted to 50 – 80ml/ hour. More than that could cause their lungs to fill with fluid, drowning them from the inside causing congestive heart failure.  In the following exercises if you get an answer wildly different from these numbers, your logic should tell you that your answer is probably wrong.

BASIC INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT AN IV

1. Usually IVs come in clear plastic bags with lines on the side showing how much fluid is left in the bag so a nurse can see how much of the IV has infused.
   
2. The most common size is about a quart which is equal to 1000 ml. 1000 ml is one liter. The total amount is printed on the bag.
   
3. There are many different solutions in these bags, but they all look the same. The name of the solution is printed on the bag. Even though they may be all piled in a heap on a shelf, it is critical that the correct solution be hung for each patient. The wrong solution could kill.
   
4. The tubing that connects the bag to the client comes in different diameters. The wider the tubing, the faster fluid gets into the client. When you look at the box the tubing came in it could give a “Drop Factor” of 10 drops/ ml or 12 or 15 or 20 drops/ ml. When the Drop Factor is between 10 – 20 it is called “macrodrip tubing”. A drip rate can’t be figured out unless you know the Drop Factor for the tubing being used.
   
5. Some tubing has a needle built in that limits the size of the drop that can enter the tubing from the IV bag. Pediatric nurses use this kind of tubing because their little patients can only tolerate tiny amounts of IV fluid. It takes 60 of these little drops to equal one ml. When the Drop Factor is 60 the tubing is called “microdrip tubing”
   
6. All IV tubing has a chamber at the end near the IV bag where nurses can see the fluid dripping out of the bag before the fluid enters the tubing. This is where they count the rate of the falling drops using the second hand on their watches. So you can check your answers for logic be aware that if the tubing delivers one ml every 10 drops, a drip rate of 21 will give the patient 125 ml in an hour. If the tubing delivers one ml every 15 drops, a drip rate of 31 will give the patient 125 ml in an hour.
   
7. If the drip rate is less than 10 drops each minute the client’s vein may clot off the IV, meaning s/he might have to get stuck again to start a new IV.
   
8. Just because the IV is no longer in the IV bag a nurse can not assume that it infused into the client. It could have disconnected and be in a puddle on the floor. Nurses always check the client’s infusion site to make sure everything is connected and the client’s arm looks okay.
   

FORMULAE AND PRACTICE

The goal for these exercises is for you to be able to quickly formulate and calculate IV problems.

This is a useful formula to compute the drip rate of an IV. Memorize it. You will need to prove that you can use it in every clinical course before you will be allowed into the clinical area.

= drops/minute

Another way of saying the same thing is:

Example #1

Dr. A. orders your client to receive 125 ml of D5W an hour for the next 8 hours. The nursing unit used tubing with a drop factor of 10. What is the drip rate?

Fill in the formula putting an X for the drip rate because that is what you want to know.

Notice that the fact that the information about 8 hours was not needed to figure out the drip rate.

Example #2

Dr. B. orders a liter of D5W to run this 8-hour shift. The drop factor is 15. Put this information in the formula with the X in the spot for the drip rate.

Example #3

Dr. C. wants your client to have 50 ml of a pre-mixed antibiotic. The Pharmacy writes, “infuse in 30 minutes”. The tubing box says drop factor = 15.

Many Thanks to the wonderful faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson College of Nursing

http://www.fdu.edu/

If you would like to begin to prepare to study for the N.E.T today, you will be making a decision that will help your chances at being placed on the nursing school waiting list before the other testers.

Anatomy and physiology review for the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST, THE TEAS-ATT, OR THE HESI, require that the student apply the nursing process. However, no one tells that student that those are the type of questions that they will see on the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST. The best preparation is for the student to read about how the nursing process applies to real world nursing, and thus see how their knowledge of anatomy and physiology is used in the health care field.

Nursing care for allergies include some of the following; identifying the level of health care deficit, providing comfort care, encouraging self care, promoting comfort, assuring that the patients airway is patent and free of any obstruction, and that is no further injury to skin integrity caused by scratching. Nursing diagnoses that are applicable to those suffering from allergies can include but are not limited to; impaired skin integrity related to persistent scratching secondary to an allergic reaction, knowledge deficit related to treatment of allergy symptoms and insufficient air exchange related to congestion secondary to an allergic reaction. Notice that nursing care and nursing diagnoses are not medical diagnoses, such as the diagnoses of an allergy or an allergic response. Nurses who specialize in care for patients with allergies and asthma are able to assist with diagnosis, establishing nursing care objectives and providing treatment. Nurses help determine the cause and treatment of allergic reactions, administer medication and monitor the patients progress throughout the treatment program. Allergy nurses must have knowledge of signs and symptoms allergic reactions and are trained to provide emergency treatments such as, resuscitation, emergency intubation and administration of proper medications when necessary. Allergy nurses help patients understand their conditions, medications and self-care skills.
To learn more about how to better study for the A&P section on the HESI, TEAS TEST, or THE NURSING ENTRANCE TEST, just go to the Nurses Learning Center.

1. Being admitted to nursing school is indeed a great accomplishment. Before you can get into nursing school you must first pass the NURSING ENTRANCE EXAM OR THE N.E.T. More now, than ever, is the need to be prepared for the fast paced two years of lecture and clinical rotation that lies ahead. Keeping some simple reminders will ensure a successful journey through nursing school. The best reward is graduating as a registered nurse. Some of us nurses have brained stormed the following tips. So have fun with the A, B, C’s of nursing school and best wishes for a bright and rewarding career! The most important step in beginning your nursing career is to begin studying for the N.E.T.
   

   It is good to be a nurse!

   The A’s
   Always be on time to class and clinicals. (10 to 15 minutes early is the best time)
   Always have on clean scrubs and shoes. (your appearance is a reflection of who you are)
   Answer instructors politely even if you feel they are in the wrong. (They never are)
   Ask questions only when the instructor opens the floor to questions. (Don’t interrupt their lecture, you can see them after class)
   Absolutely no chatting during a lecture.
   Argue, if you want to fail.
   Allocate time for yourself. (Do something nice, just for you and you alone)
   Advise your loved ones of the importance of study time.
   Abstain from activities that drain your mind and body. (you need all the strength and rest possible)
   Acknowledge that fact that you are doing the best that you can. (Forgive yourself)

The B’s

• Be kind to yourself
• Believe that you can make it through nursing school.
• Brave the hardest times. (There will be times that you will want to quit. Don’t ever, it will get better)
• Bring chocolates on the day of a test.  (Eat a few before a test.  The brain uses 100% glucose, your score may increase.)
• Buy your self a pair of comfortable nursing shoes. (You will be thankful that you did)
• Book Bags are a no no, use the ones on rollers.  (Save your back)
• Beauty is not important.  (Easy on the makeup)
• Beware of busy bodies. (Always be professional in or out of class and clinical. Never gossip about schoolmates or instructors.  It will come back to you 10 fold. )
• Balance your home and schoolwork.  (It is difficult to do at first, but it is a must.)
• Belong to a study group. (One that gets A’s )

The C’s

• Craming doesn’t get you A’s (take your time and study well in advance)
• Care about all that you do, especially the patients
• Caffine can be your best friend, but don’t over do it.
• Clear your mind of all your worries prior to an exam(remember, this is your carrer, and sometimes you only get this one chance, so do your best)
• Comfort is very important whether in school or in clinicals(always dress in loose fitting clothes, and wear comfortable supportive shoes) If your jeans are too tight, it is hard to breath and your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen.
• Crack open the books daily. (it is the only way to keep up with the material)
• Confine yourself to a designated study area where it is nice an quiet.  (keep one place in the house that is for you only.)
• Contemplate what a wonderful nurse you are going to be when you graduate. (It is important to be able to visualize your future accomplishments.  Keep the dream alive.)
• Cupid can wait until after your through with nursing school. (Beginning a new relationship isn’t the best thing for a nurse in training.  Be strong, it really isn’t that long.  You have your whole life ahead of you.)
• Call a friend or family member when you are feeling down. (It is important early in the game to establish your support base.  You will  need them.)

All of the above criteria to be successful as a nursing school student also applies to studying for the N.E.T. You can begin today, and increase your chances of getting into nursing school fast by getting the right study materials for the NURSING ENTRANCE TEST at the Nurses Learning Center.
Remember the ABC’s of Nursing School and be a success.

NLKimmel,RN,PhD,CHMM,CNAT

Students have to pass the TEAS, the HESI and the NET to get into nursing school. Finding the right tutorial can be frustrating. Now, students can have unlimited access to online tests that will help them to prepare for any nursing entrance test

“Too many students find my site after the fact.  They have failed either the HESI, TEAS or the NET more than one time and they are desperate.  I have had more than one conversation that centered around helping a student calm down and gain confidence.”