Nurse Practitioner (NP) school is TOUGH. Do you often wonder how you’ll survive NP school? It is both academically and personally challenging. Often by the time you reach this point in life, you have more commitments than you did when you completed your BSN. Between meeting your responsibilities to family and friends, working full or part-time, finding time for your own self care and now a demanding academic schedule, you are busy.
So how do you take care of yourself while juggling all of these responsibilities? How can you partner with your classmates to work smarter, not harder?
How do you survive NP school?
We’re discussing 3 ways that you can survive and hopefully even thrive including:
- Pool your resources with your classmates
- Manage your stress and take care of yourself
- Asking for help
Pool your resources
Your classmates will quickly become some of your biggest supporters and cheerleaders. By working together you can work smarter, not harder. There were 3 resources my cohort used to help us all – a shared google drive, a facebook group and study groups.
Create a shared Google drive
Designate one person to create a google drive folder for your class, collect everyone’s emails, and give everyone access to this shared folder. My FNP class created a folder for each course we took. Those students who wanted to would upload their study guides and other study resources to share with the group. In other instances, we would upload a blank study guide provided by a professor and then all work together to fill it out. This worked super well since shared documents in Google drive update in real time.
This was so helpful, especially in weeks where you were busy or overwhelmed. I highly recommend you and your classmates do this!
Facebook group page
You may already have this set up as one individual usually has set this up even before your program has started. It’s a great forum to share any resources and study tips, ask questions, form study groups or plan events outside of class.
Study groups
If you have friends or classmates that you might work well with, ask them to form a study group. This study group could meet in person before or after class or even virtually. For our physical assessment courses, we often got together in groups of 2 or 3 to practice our newly learned physical exam techniques on each other. For pharmacology, pathophysiology, and management courses, having a study group was a great way to hold each other accountable and help each other learn challenging topics.
Manage stress and take care of yourself
Nutrition
Stress eating and junk food makes us feel better in the moment but is not healthy as we all know. Between school, work, and family responsibilities you are busy! Finding time to prioritize your nutrition can be difficult.
Some strategies you may find helpful:
- Meal prep before your week starts
- When cooking make sure to have enough for leftovers
- Stock up on healthy snacks that easy to grab for work, school, or when studying
- Two of my favorites blogs that have great recipes for meal prep include:
Exercise
We all know the importance of exercise. The challenge is fitting it in to your already full schedule. One thing I often did was listen to or watch lectures while on an indoor bike or elliptical machine (multitasking at its finest). Here are some resources if you’re not sure where to start.
Resources:
- Nike Training Club App – free access to a variety of strength, endurance, and stretching workouts of different lengths and basic equipment requirements (this is my absolute favorite!)
- Most universities give you access to their gym as part of your tuition and fees. Many of these gyms have free or very affordable group classes as well.
- YouTube – a mecca of free workout videos. Some popular ones include:
Counseling
It’s important when taking care of others that you also take care of yourself. As nurses we know this well. To be able to do your best at home, work and school you have to care for yourself first.
Many universities offer free or affordably priced counseling services to their students. This is often available through the student health center. If no services are available, faculty in your program should be able to refer to a resource that could help you find an appropriate counselor.
Mindfulness, meditation, and yoga
It’s common to feel on edge, stressed, anxious, and/or overwhelmed while in NP school. According to the American Psychological Association, mindfulness, mediation and yoga are tools that can help manage your stress, keep your immune system healthy, help you cope with anxiety, improve your focus, plus many other benefits.
Some of my favorite (free!) resources out there are:
- Yoga with Adrienne – YouTube channel with 1,000s of yoga classes of all different lengths
- Headspace – guided meditations for stress, anxiety and to fall asleep. The basic version of the app is free.
- Insight Timer – a free meditation app with hundreds of guided meditations for sleep and relaxation.
Ask for help
Asking for help is not easy, but it is very necessary when you’re stressed and juggling NP school with other life responsibilities.
Family, partners and friends – You may ask for help with cooking, childcare, cleaning, or laundry, really anything that makes your life easier. Letting someone else handle one of your tasks gives you more time to spend with your family, study, or take some time for yourself.
Preceptors and faculty – ask for help if you’re struggling in your courses or in clinical rotations. Reach out via email or in person. They are there to help you through your program and troubleshoot any issues that come up. Your faculty may be able to connect you to community resources for other help you may need – counseling, tutoring, etc.
Summary – How to Survive NP School
There’s no doubt NP school is challenging. If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. Make sure to reach out to classmates, family, friends and your faculty. Everyone in your life wants you to succeed. Between pooling your resources within your cohort, taking care of yourself, managing stress, and asking for help, you will hopefully find the support and energy you need to succeed and thrive in NP school.
I’d love to know – How do you manage your stress in NP school? What are your best tips and tricks for how to survive NP school?
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