Nursing Podcast by NURSING.com (NRSNG) (NCLEX® Prep for Nurses and Nursing Students)

Epizódy

• You Can't Memorize Nursing Pharmacology. Stop Trying. 24.06.2026 6min

  Test your pharm knowledge at: SIMCLEX.com   If pharmacology is the thing that's breaking you right now, I want to start with the most freeing sentence you'll hear all week: you cannot memorize pharmacology, and you need to stop trying. I mean it. There are thousands of medications. Nobody — not your sharpest classmate, not your instructor, not a working nurse with twenty years on the floor — has them all memorized as individual facts. So if your study plan is "make flashcards for every drug and its dose and its side effects and its contraindications," I need you to hear that the plan itself is broken. It's not that you're failing pharm. It's that you're playing a game that can't be won the way you're playing it. Here's the shift that changes everything. You don't learn drugs. You learn classes. The whole secret of pharmacology is that medications travel in families, and the family tells you most of what you need to know. If you understand what a beta blocker does, you understand the whole "-olol" family — how it works, what it does to heart rate and blood pressure, what to watch for, who shouldn't get it. You just turned forty flashcards into one concept. Do that across the major classes and the ocean suddenly has a shape. So here's how I'd actually study it. First, learn the mechanism — what does this class do in the body? If you understand the mechanism, the side effects aren't a separate list to memorize; they're just the logical consequences of the mechanism. A drug that lowers blood pressure — of course it can cause dizziness when you stand up. You didn't memorize that. You understood it. Second, learn the class by its stem. The naming isn't random. "-pril" is an ACE inhibitor. "-statin" lowers cholesterol. "-azepam" is in the benzo family. Those word parts are free points the test is practically handing you, if you've trained your eye to see them. Third — and this is the part most students skip — you test yourself with questions, not flashcards. Because here's the thing the NCLEX actually cares about: it does not ask you to recite a drug's half-life. It asks you what you'd do. What you'd assess, what you'd teach the patient, what you'd hold and call the provider about. That's applied knowledge, and the only way to build applied knowledge is to practice applying it — in questions, with rationales, over and over.
• The Impostor in Your Head Is Lying to You 22.06.2026 6min

  Get rid of the imposter at: SIMCLEX.com
• Nursing School Wasn't Built for the Way You Learn 17.06.2026 7min

  Take a SIMCLEX at: SIMCLEX.com   I want to talk to the student who has started to believe something quietly devastating: that the reason nursing school is so hard for you is that something is wrong with you. Maybe you have ADHD. Maybe you're dyslexic. Maybe you process things more slowly, or anxiety hijacks you the second a test starts. And somewhere along the way you started to wonder if you're just not built for this. I want to flip that whole thing on its head. Nursing school wasn't built for the way you learn. That is not the same as you being incapable of learning nursing. Those are two completely different statements, and the difference between them might be the difference between you quitting and you becoming a nurse. Here's what I mean. The traditional nursing school model is built for one specific kind of brain — the one that can sit through a three-hour lecture, read fifty dense pages, hold it all in working memory, and reproduce it on a timed test. If that's not your brain, the system doesn't bend. It just makes you feel like you're failing. But notice what's actually happening there: the system is testing how well you fit its method, not how good a nurse you'll be. And those are not the same thing. Some of the most extraordinary nurses I've known are people who struggled badly in that lecture-hall model. So let's talk about what actually works when school wasn't built for you. If you have ADHD and a three-hour study block is a fantasy, stop pretending it isn't. Work in short, intense bursts with real breaks. Use questions to create the stimulation and feedback your brain craves, instead of fighting to stay awake over highlighted notes. If you're dyslexic and reading is slow and exhausting, stop making reading your primary input — lean on questions, audio, diagrams, and patterns. If you process more slowly, give yourself permission to go deep on fewer things instead of skimming everything badly. And if anxiety is the enemy, the antidote isn't "calm down" — it's evidence. Anxiety thrives on uncertainty, and the cure for uncertainty is data about where you actually stand. Notice the thread running through all of those. The fix is never "try to be a different kind of brain." The fix is "study in a way that gives your brain feedback and patterns instead of brute-force memorization." Feedback is the great equalizer. It doesn't care how you learn. It just tells you what you know and what you don't — and that works for every kind of mind.
• Stop Waiting to Feel Ready 10.06.2026 6min

  Go take the first step: SIMCLEX.com   If you're waiting to feel ready before you take the next step, I want to lovingly tell you something: that feeling may not show up first. It may not show up at all the way you're picturing it. I see this constantly, and I've lived it. We tell ourselves, "I'll start when I feel ready. I'll schedule the test when I'm confident. I'll take the practice exam once I've reviewed just a little more." On the surface, that sounds responsible. It sounds careful. It sounds like preparation. Here's the problem. Waiting feels safe. More time, more notes, more videos, one more review pass — it all feels like getting ready. It scratches the itch of "I'm doing something." So we keep doing it, and the calendar keeps moving. But waiting can quietly become avoidance. And the dangerous part is the two look absolutely identical from the inside. Sometimes "I need more time" is true. And sometimes "I need more time" really means "I'm scared to find out where I stand." You have to be honest about which one it is — because one moves you forward and the other keeps you stuck while pretending to help.
• The NCLEX Is a Terrible Place to Find Out You Weren't Ready. 08.06.2026 7min

  Start a SIMCLEX now at: SIMCLEX.com   The NCLEX is not the place where you want to discover that your prep wasn't working. Sit with that for a second, because it's the whole episode. There's a question hiding underneath all your studying that most students never ask directly. It's not "Did I study?" Of course you studied. The real question — the one that matters — is "Am I ready?" And those two things are not the same. First hard truth. More studying does not always mean more readiness. Activity and progress feel identical from the inside, but they're different animals. You can log a hundred hours and still walk in with blind spots you've never tested, because human nature is to keep practicing what you already know and quietly avoid what you don't. It feels like work. It even feels good. But it leaves the dangerous gaps untouched. That leads to the thing I worry about most: false confidence. You start recognizing the familiar question patterns. The comfortable topics feel comfortable. And comfort disguises itself as readiness. But the NCLEX isn't a familiar quiz you can settle into. It's adaptive. It pushes on you, raises the difficulty as you go, and probes right at the edge of what you know. Recognizing a question on a calm afternoon is not the same as being ready for that pressure.
• You're Not Behind. You're Just Studying Without Feedback. 05.06.2026 7min

  Start a SIMCLEX at: SIMCLEX.com Today I want to talk to the student who feels like they're studying all the time but still doesn't feel confident. You know the feeling. You put in the hours. You're not lazy — you're doing the work. And yet there's this constant low hum of "it's not sticking" and "I'm behind." I want to offer you a completely different explanation, because I don't think you have a time problem. I think you have a feedback problem. Here's the trap. Passive studying feels productive. Reading your notes, re-watching a lecture, highlighting, rewriting your slides into prettier slides — all of it feels like progress. Your hand is moving, your eyes are on the material, time is passing. So your brain rewards you: "Good job, we studied." You walk away feeling like you did something. But tests reveal what actually stuck. A topic can make complete sense while you're watching someone explain it — and feel like a foreign language the second it shows up as a question with four answers that all look right. Recognizing information is not the same as knowing it. And passive studying only ever trains recognition.
• Pass Any Nursing School Exam With Ease [replay] 23.02.2026 22min

  Today I'm bringing back one of the most popular episodes from the podcast - how to pass your nursing school exams. Nursing school exams are unlike anything you've ever seen before and learning how to master these tricky tests takes skill.
• 28 Must-Have Nursing School Supplies [replay] 20.02.2026 31min

  Today I'm bringing back one of the most downloaded episodes from the podcast - 28 supplies you must have to succeed in nursing school. There is so much to do, and remember, and take care of in nursing school, that spending any time dealing with finding the best this or that can leave you completely exhausted. So here's the replay. 
• Why I Quit Nursing School [replay] 05.02.2026 25min

  Episode Replay: Why I Quit Nursing School Jon shares his personal story of leaving nursing school - the toxic culture, institutional failures, and the moment he realized the system was broken. If you're struggling in your program and questioning whether it's you or the environment, this episode validates what you already know: sometimes the problem isn't the student. Originally one of our most downloaded episodes, this replay is a reminder that speaking up about what's broken in nursing education is the first step toward change. Resources: NURSING.com/podcast
• They Told Me I'm Not Cut Out for Nursing | Fighting Nursing School Gatekeeping 02.02.2026 8min

  Get your free personalized NCLEX study plan at: NCLEXgenie.com   Your advisor looks at you and says it: "Have you considered that maybe nursing isn't for you?" Or the variation: "Not everyone is cut out for this profession." They say it like they're being kind. Like they're doing you a favor. They're not. In this fired-up episode, Jon Haws exposes the most weaponized phrase in nursing education—and teaches you exactly how to fight back. You'll learn: → What "not cut out for nursing" ACTUALLY means (spoiler: it's not about you) → Who gets told this (hint: students who ask questions, need accommodations, or don't fit the mold) → Why this phrase is designed to make you quit before they have to document failure → How to respond in the moment without burning bridges → The exact questions to ask that expose their bias → Why documenting everything protects you later → How to find allies who will actually help you succeed
• My First Patient Died and Nobody Told Me It Would Feel Like This 30.01.2026 7min

  Visit NCLEXgenie.com to create a personalized NCLEX study plan in just 30 seconds: NCLEXgenie.com   If you're processing your first patient death right now, or if you're scared about when it's going to happen, we've got resources at NURSING.com that can help. We've got articles on grief processing for nurses, videos on coping with loss, and a community of nursing students who've been exactly where you are. Head to NURSING.com/griefandloss and find the support you need. And if this episode helped you, share it with a classmate who might need it. Because nobody should have to process their first patient death alone.
• Why You Should Feel Scared for Your First Nursing Job (and how to deal with it) 28.01.2026 9min

  Get a personalized NCLEX study plan in just 30 seconds at: NCLEXgenie.com   I can still remember my first shift. . . I arrived to the Neuro ICU about 5 minutes late, sweating, out of breath, and flustered . . . not to mention nervous, scared out of my mind, and excited! What a way to start my career as a nurse, right? My initial plan was to arrive 30 minutes early, look up my patients, and try to feel prepared for the shift . . . things didn't work out that way and I ended up stuck in traffic for nearly two hours.
• I Failed Out With One Semester Left | What Happens Now & How to Decide What's Next 23.01.2026 10min

  We can help if you decide to return or need help making the decision.  Visit us at https://NURSING.com   You were so close. One semester left. And then you failed. Your whole life plan just collapsed. I'm going to tell you what nobody else will: what actually happens next, how to handle student loans, and whether you should go back or walk away. We'll cover: • What happens to your student loans when you fail out • Your transcript and readmission options • The sunk cost fallacy (and why it's okay to quit) • How to decide if you should reapply or pivot to something else • What to do differently if you go back • How to deal with the shame and judgment • Why failing out doesn't make you a failure If you just failed out, are failing right now, or are terrified it might happen - this episode gives you the real talk you need to make your next decision. Resources mentioned: • Readmission strategy guides: NURSING.com/failed-out • Study strategy overhaul templates • Student loan management resources • Community of students who've been exactly where you are
• My Preceptor Calls Me Stupid Every Clinical 21.01.2026 11min

  VISIT NURSING.com for help with communication with preceptors: https://nursing.com   Being called stupid by your preceptor isn't "tough love" - it's verbal abuse. In this episode, I break down the exact difference between constructive criticism and verbal abuse so you know when to document and report. We'll cover: • The real difference between tough feedback and abuse • What verbal abuse actually looks like in clinical (eye rolls, public humiliation, constant criticism) • How to document every incident (and why this matters) • When and how to report to your clinical instructor • How to request a different preceptor • Why this damages your mental health and what to do about it If your preceptor is making you dread clinical, question your abilities, or avoid asking questions because you're afraid of being humiliated - this episode is for you. Resources mentioned: • Verbal abuse documentation templates: NURSING.com/verbal-abuse • How to report an abusive preceptor guide • Community support for students dealing with toxic preceptors
• The Discrimination That's Ignored In Nursing 19.01.2026 11min

  A Black student mistaken for housekeeping. A disabled student told to "reconsider her career choice." A trans student deliberately misgendered daily. When students report discrimination in nursing school, they're told they're "too sensitive" or "misinterpreting" the situation. Jon breaks down what discrimination actually looks like in nursing education, why it persists in a profession built on hierarchy and conformity, and exactly what to do if you're experiencing it. Includes specific steps for documenting incidents, understanding your legal rights under Title VI, Title IX, and ADA, and navigating a system that wasn't built to protect you. This episode covers racial discrimination, disability discrimination, LGBTQ discrimination in clinical settings, how to use legal language in reporting, federal protections for nursing students, and why nursing's "eat your young" culture enables discrimination to continue. Resources mentioned: Documentation templates and reporting guides available at NURSING.com   Keywords: nursing school discrimination, racial discrimination nursing, disability discrimination nursing students, LGBTQ discrimination healthcare, Title IX nursing school, nursing student rights, reporting discrimination nursing, toxic nursing culture, nursing diversity problem, nursing school retaliation
• When Your Nursing Instructor Wants You to Fail 08.01.2026 9min

  Get help at: https://nursing.com Episode 3: When Your Instructor Wants You to Fail You're prepared. You know your meds. You practice your skills. You do everything right. And somehow, you're still getting destroyed in evaluations. Your instructor tells you you're "not ready for this." That you're "not cut out for nursing." They find fault with everything you do. And you're starting to believe them. This isn't about having high standards. This is about an instructor who has decided you won't make it—and who is actively working to prove themselves right. In this episode, I'm giving you the exact strategy for surviving (and fighting back against) an instructor who's targeting you. You'll Learn: How to tell the difference between a tough instructor and one who's targeting you The 5 twisted reasons instructors target specific students The 8-step survival strategy that protects your grade and your future How to document bias in a way that actually holds up in appeals When to go to the program director vs. when you need a lawyer What to do if you're actually at risk of failing out Why instructor bias has nothing to do with your ability to be a nurse The reality: Sometimes the instructor has more power. Sometimes the program protects faculty over students. But you can survive this. You can fight back. And you WILL become a nurse. Resources mentioned: Visit NURSING.com for documentation templates, communication scripts for difficult instructors, grade appeal processes, and a community of students who've been through this and came out the other side. We tell you the truth about nursing education—including the ugly parts nobody else wants to talk about.   Keywords: nursing instructor problems, nursing school failure, clinical instructor bias, grade appeal, nursing student rights, toxic nursing instructor, nursing education bias, student nurse, nursing school survival, academic discrimination Connect with NURSING.com: 🌐 NURSING.com 📋 Download documentation templates 💬 Join the community of students who survived this #NursingStudent #NursingSchool #StudentNurse #ClinicalInstructor #NursingEducation #GradeAppeal #StudentRights #ToxicInstructor #NurseLife #FutureNurse #YouBelongInNursing  
• The Nursing Brain Sheet That Actually Works (PLUS FREE DOWNLOAD) 07.01.2026 7min

  The Nursing Brain Sheet That Actually Works (PLUS FREE DOWNLOAD) GET YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD AT: https://nursing.com/cheat-sheet It's 10am on your first clinical day. You've got four pages of notes you can't make sense of, vital signs written on your hand, and you just forgot to chart that your patient went to the bathroom. Meanwhile, that beautiful color-coded brain sheet your instructor gave you? Completely useless. The problem isn't you. It's that academic brain sheets are designed for perfect theoretical patients who don't exist. You need a brain sheet for chaos. For the real world. For keeping your patients alive and yourself sane. You'll Learn: The 3 reasons most brain sheets fail (and why instructors keep giving them to you anyway) The only 6 sections your brain sheet actually needs Why time-based organization is the difference between success and medication errors The "pro move" for end-of-shift documentation that protects you legally The 3 biggest mistakes students make with brain sheets (and how to avoid them) Why your instructor will hate your brain sheet—and why that's totally fine The truth: Your brain sheet isn't about making your instructor happy. It's about keeping your patients safe when you're managing four people who all need pain meds at the same time. Resources mentioned: Head to NURSING.com for downloadable brain sheet templates, videos showing exactly how to fill them out, and examples from real clinical shifts. We built an entire section on clinical organization skills because nobody teaches you this in nursing school—they just expect you to figure it out.   Keywords: nursing brain sheet, clinical organization, nursing student tips, clinical nursing, shift report, patient care organization, nursing documentation, med-surg clinical, student nurse, nursing school tips, clinical survival Connect with NURSING.com: 🌐 NURSING.com 📥 Download free brain sheet templates 📹 Watch step-by-step fill-out tutorials #NursingStudent #BrainSheet #ClinicalNursing #NursingSchool #StudentNurse #NursingTips #MedSurgNursing #NurseOrganization #ClinicalRotation #NursingDocumentation #FutureRN  
• How to Survive an Nursing Abusive Preceptor 06.01.2026 8min

  You're doing everything right in clinical, but your preceptor is setting you up to fail. They humiliate you in front of patients, refuse to let you practice skills, then write that you "lack initiative." When you report it, you're told to "build a better relationship" or "be more confident." This isn't about being tough. This is abuse. And it's happening in nursing programs everywhere. In this episode, I'm giving you the exact survival strategy for getting through a toxic preceptorship without tanking your grade—or your mental health. You'll Learn: How to tell the difference between a tough preceptor and an abusive one Why some preceptors specifically take students to bully them The 6-step documentation strategy that protects your grade When to fight for reassignment vs. when to just survive How to build evidence that actually holds up in grade appeals What to do when your instructor gaslights you about the abuse The hard truth: Sometimes the system protects the preceptor over you. But you can survive this. And you will become a nurse. Resources mentioned: Visit NURSING.com and search "clinical survival" for documentation templates, communication scripts for difficult preceptors, and a community of students going through the exact same thing. We're the resource that tells you the truth about nursing education—including the parts nobody else wants to talk about. Keywords: nursing student, clinical preceptor, toxic preceptor, abusive preceptor, nursing school survival, clinical instructor, nursing education, preceptorship problems, student nurse, nursing clinical   Connect with NURSING.com: 🌐 NURSING.com 📧 Search "clinical survival" for free resources #NursingStudent #NursingSchool #StudentNurse #ClinicalRotation #NursingEducation #PreceptorProblems #ToxicWorkplace #NurseLife #FutureNurse #RNtoBe  
• Pressure Ulcers Nursing Care Plan 10.10.2025 11min

  View the full lesson here: https://academy.nursing.com/lesson/nursing-care-plan-ncp-for-pressure-ulcer-decubitus-ulcer-pressure-injury/?quiz-view=open   All right. Let's work through an example Nursing Care Plan for a patient with a pressure ulcer or pressure ulcers, right? Let's look at the hypothetical patient. Let's think just about what we might see on this specific patient regarding the pressure ulcers. So subjective data, if I have a patient with a big wound, whether it's on their sacrum or their shoulder or their leg, they're probably going to be pretty uncomfortable, right? They might actually have some pain, right? Or they could potentially have some tenderness over the area, especially over those bony prominences. So that's something to think about for sure. Then you might actually see it, right? We're actually gonna see the pressure ulcer. So depending on the stage, stage one to stage four, make sure you check out the lesson on pressure ulcers inside of the med surg integumentary course to know how to stage these pressure ulcers.
• Encephalopathy Nursing Care Plan 09.10.2025 7min

  Find the full lesson here: https://academy.nursing.com/lesson/nursing-care-plan-ncp-for-encephalopathy/   This here is the nursing care plan for encephalopathy. So, the pathophysiology. Encephalopathy is a general term for disease of the brain tissue. It's a syndrome of brain dysfunction caused by damage to brain tissue and failure. This damage can be done by atrophy, lack of oxygen, edema, or toxins. So some nursing considerations, there are a few things that we want to consider when taking care of these patients, we want to consider putting them on seizure precautions. So we want these patients to be protected. The best way to do that is with seizure precautions. We want to do vital signs. We want to monitor their vitals.    We want to do frequent neuro checks and if available and if necessary, we would need to monitor their ICP. And we want to draw labs; more importantly, ammonia and finding levels to see if that is the root cause. The desired outcome for these patients is to treat or reverse the cause in order to restore proper brain function, it returns the patient to their usual baseline mental status. So when this patient comes in to you, this encephalopathic patient comes in to see you. There's going to be a few things that we see, but there's going to be some things that either them or their family tells us. Some of the subjective data that we see is that they are going to complain about mood or personality changes.