Does your nursing calling revolve around caring for the elderly and elevating their life quality?
Gerontology is the right career path for nurses who find elderly care rewarding and suited to their talents and skills.
However, it’s crucial to avoid undermining the effort and preparation required to obtain a gerontology specialization.
Geriatric care is one of the most challenging nursing subfields, and delivering specialized care to seniors demands a well-rounded skillset. Nursing students must undertake extensive academic courses in geriatric training, learning about wide-ranging physical and mental health concerns.
Geriatric care differs from other nursing subfields because the human body undergoes numerous changes triggered by the aging process.
Aging makes the body vulnerable by undermining the immune system and other bodily organs, making the elderly more susceptible to illnesses.
A nurse specializing in geriatrics must combine physiological and pharmacological training with emotional support and patience to help senior patients enjoy life quality.
Studying for the examinations may seem overwhelming if you’re overly focused on the extensive course curriculum and learning requirements.
Keep reading to pick up some helpful advice that will eliminate roadblocks to help you create a streamlined exam preparation strategy:
Develop a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Suppose you’re preparing for the nursing exams for geriatrics without taking a leave from your full-time job
In that case, you need a healthy work-life balance to make time for your preparation sessions. This scenario is relatable for most nurses pursuing higher education while performing their nursing duties.
Quitting your job or asking for an extended leave of absence while your workplace is struggling with staffing shortages isn’t always viable.
We advise pursuing an online MSN adult gerontology acute care NP program to create a healthy work-life balance. You can create a flexible studying schedule that doesn’t compromise your work ethic or life quality.
You can easily catch up with your lessons and lectures between shifts, breaks, and commuting with an online degree.
Pursuing a full-time MSN degree in a brick-and-mortar classroom will create numerous challenges. You may have to quit your job or pursue a shift with a lesser workload, resulting in a loss of financial stability.
Financing an on-campus nursing degree isn’t easy, and you may have to explore your student debt options
An online program offers the flexibility of remote learning and studying at your own pace. You can prepare for your exams by scheduling several 30-40 minute sessions throughout the day.
Once you have a healthy work-life balance, making time for studying isn’t much of a challenge.
Learn About Chronic & Acute Medical Conditions
The crux of a geriatric nursing course revolves around helping seniors reclaim their independence, life quality, and mobility. The crux of the curriculum offers insight into the chronic and terminal medical conditions impacting the elderly.
Nurses need in-depth knowledge and training in handling chronic and acute medical concerns to provide specialized senior care.
It’s wise to understand the vital components of delivering quality care to help the elderly maintain wellbeing, independence, and mobility.
Nursing students must focus on building a solid command over medical terminologies, medications, diseases and afflictions, and symptoms concerning senior patients. Senior patients depend on nurses to manage their symptoms with specialized assistance.
Students who understand the tools and resources of helping seniors regain their health and independence won’t have much trouble clearing the examinations.
For this purpose, it’s wise to stay abreast with your coursework and conduct external research to learn beyond the textbook’s content. Researching the different diseases impacting seniors will help you excel academically and professionally.
Find Interactive Learning Resources
Do you struggle to stay awake every time you open the textbook or listen to your professor’s online lecture?
It’s natural to feel uninspired or sluggish because of the monotony of textbooks and coursework.
At times, the textbook encloses us within a box of information, constraining our cognitive development. When that happens, it’s wise to put the textbook aside and find interactive learning resources to keep yourself engaged.
Cramming the textbook is not the secret to clearing your geriatric examinations with flying colors. You can achieve this goal by understanding core concepts and gaining specialized knowledge.
And this endeavor doesn’t restrict to textbook knowledge or uninspiring lectures. We advise finding interactive learning resources that align with your learning needs.
Suppose you learn more by watching an interactive YouTube video than by reading the textbook chapters. Some students prefer learning concepts through immersive videos and interactive presentations, while others prefer articles and scholarly journals. In that case, go ahead and learn your concepts by watching videos or other mediums that you find more constructive.
There’s no one-fits-all solution to learning. It all boils down to finding the strategy that works for you.
Practice Sample Questions
The internet is brimming with numerous resources to access examination questions for nursing students. Practicing sample questions will familiarize you with the format and the questions you will answer in your exam.
Here’s a strategy to take off the anxiety we all feel before sitting for a critical, career-making exam.
Review exam blueprints to understand the format of questions and content distribution strategies used for geriatric examination. These questions do not mimic your exams’ format, course content, or length, but they offer valuable insight.
Practicing sample questions and exploring exam blueprints will prepare you for the structure and format. Think of it as an exercise to build readiness and confidence, and avoid unpleasant surprises in the examination hall.
We advise taking practice questions after each study session to eliminate the anxiety of attempting the exams. Building confidence will help channel your cognitive skills to write accurate and insightful answers to exam questions.
All this practice will pay off splendidly when you open the exam paper without anxiety dampening your spirit.
Final Thoughts
Nursing students are strongly advised to benefit from academic resources, professional guidance, and tools available. Students often shy away from reaching out to professors to gain insight into complicated concepts and complexities.
Gaining insight is crucial to improving your academic performance, so don’t hesitate to contact your instructors.
We cannot emphasize enough the significance of creating a streamlined routine to study regularly without overwhelming yourself.
At times, an hour of concentrated studying is more productive than hours spent reading the textbook distractedly.
Peer collaboration and developing connections with fellow students will help you overcome roadblocks and benefit from external advice.
