Straight A Nursing: Study for nursing school exams & NCLEX

Test your knowledge of prone positioning nursing care with this quick set of audio flashcards. Dive right in or brush up on your nursing knowledge of prone positioning first, in episode #521: Prone Positioning Basics - Preventing Complications in ARDS.

These mini-reviews are a great way to study on the go, and they give you a taste of what it’s like inside Study Sesh, my audio study tool for busy nursing students.

🧠 Ready to quiz yourself? Let’s dive in!

👉Want more practice like this? ⁠Check out Study Sesh!

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Prone positioning can be so intimidating when you're a nursing student or a brand-new ICU nurse. In this episode, I'm covering the basics and potential complications of prone positioning so you actually understand why we do it, rather than just feeling like you’re trying to keep up.

Imagine walking into your patient's room and finding them lying on their stomach instead of their back. They are intubated and sedated, with cushions tucked around their face, chest, and hips, and the monitor leads are sitting on their back. It’s startling if you've never seen it! But it’s a...

By the time pulses disappear in compartment syndrome, real damage has already happened. In the episode, I'm talking about the window before that, because that's where you actually have a chance to catch it before the patient suffers serious consequences. Hit play to review who is most at risk, the two most reliable early cues, and the practical takeaway to help you catch compartment syndrome early.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead...

The Basic Metabolic Panel (BMP) is one of the most common lab tests ordered for your patients. This episode breaks down the 8 components of the BMP, which are sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, carbon dioxide, glucose, BUN and creatinine.

You can read the article "The BMP Decoded" ⁠here⁠.

Get the framework that makes nursing school concepts feel more manageable with my free Nursing School Survival Blueprint.  In it, I walk you through:

- the key shifts that separate struggling students from thriving ones, 

- how to study with intention, 

...

Your patient has low sodium, what should you assess before you react to that sodium value and why? The answer to this trips up a lot of students and new nurses.

You should assess volume status before reacting to a sodium value, because hyponatremia actually breaks down into three different patterns, and each one points to a different cause and a different fix. Hit play on this short episode where I review the three types of hyponatremia, including their causes and fixes.

For a more in-depth dive into the causes, signs & symptoms, and treatments of...

Picture this: You're a nurse in the PACU and are receiving a patient who is a 34 year old male with a past medical history of obesity and loud snoring reported by his spouse. Although he does not have diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea, you suspect it. He was given general anesthesia with some ketamine mixed in during an elective septoplasty.

Once he gets to the PACU, he has a rapid onset of significant respiratory distress. His SpO2 is dropping even with supplemental oxygen, he has pink frothing sputum, and diffuse crackles bilaterally. What's going on with this guy...

Vasopressors such as norepinephrine and epinephrine intimidate a lot of new nurses. In this episode I'm breaking down norepinephrine and epinephrine, including how they work and are administered, and importantly, how to avoid mixing them up when it counts.

If you're in pharmacology and found this episode helpful, my audio-based program Fast Pharmacology is right up your alley! With over 100 lessons, each 5 minutes or less, you'll master pharm concepts in minutes and gain confidence in clinical. Learn more about Fast Pharmacology⁠.

⁠⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠⁠ - Just starting school and trying to figure out how to juggle...

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a hypermetabolic crisis that is fatal if left untreated. It occurs in individuals with a specific genetic condition when they are exposed to certain anesthetic gasses or the medication succinylcholine.

By the end of this episode you'll have a thorough understanding of what you need to know about malignant hyperthermia for your nursing school exams and NCLEX, including:

If you're applying to nursing school, your GPA probably feels like the whole application. And yes, your GPA is important, but it's only one piece of your application. Most competitive nursing programs are weighing several other factors right alongside your GPA, and the entrance exam is the one that trips up more applicants than you'd expect.

If your school requires you to take the TEAS, I highly recommend investing in test prep materials from ATI. They write the exam so you know your time will be spent studying what's actually on the test.

ATI has...

A patient is stable going into surgery and comes out of anesthesia fine. Twenty minutes later in the PACU, she's gasping for air, her neck veins are bulging, and she's coughing up pink, frothy sputum. Yikes! What just happened? And why did it happen so fast?

In this episode, I'm breaking down cardiogenic pulmonary edema, including:

- A walk through the actual blood flow pathway that explains why pressure backs up into the lungs in the first place

- Two distinct processes that can cause cardiogenic pulmonary edema:

☝️ the classic fluid over...

Do you know the differences between a MRI, MRA, CT and CTA scan? By the end of this episode you'll understand the purpose and nursing considerations of each of these scans, and you'll be a better nurse for it.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed!

This encore episode features a brief update to discuss some new medications that are currently being utilized to treat Parkinson's disease. By the end of this episode you'll have a thorough understanding of what you need to know about Parkinson's for your nursing school exams and NCLEX.

Read the article "Parkinson’s Disease NCLEX Review" and view references here.

If you found this episode helpful, I've got lessons and comprehensive study guides on over 57 more topics in my course Med Surg Solution. Learn how Med Surg Solution can help you thrive in your Med Surg cl...

This is a quick review of SIRS vs sepsis vs septic shock, including what distinguishes each from the next, the earliest clinical signs of this whole progression (hint: it's not hypotension), and why knowing these things matters.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed!

💕Did you l...

Heading into clinical? Ease your nerves by building a mental map of a typical clinical day. Hit play and I'll show you what I mean as I walk you through how I used to run a typical shift in clinical, from start to finish.

Have you grabbed the Nursing School Survival Blueprint yet? If you're heading into your first clinical rotation soon, going through this blueprint will help you build the kind of structure that makes clinical days and the rest of your nursing school journey feel a whole lot more manageable. Grab it here for free...

New nurses, have you called your first rapid response yet? The scariest part of your first rapid response usually isn't the clinical situation in front of you. It's the moment you have to decide whether you should even call it.  If you're nervous about calling a rapid response, I've got a reframe and some actionable advice for you in this quick episode. See you there!

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👋 Want to walk into clinical situations feeling more prepared instead of just hoping for the best? Confident Nurse Academy is our on-demand clinical readiness program, built to help new nurses get...

Reye’s syndrome is a rare but very serious condition that involves acute encephalopathy, cerebral edema and fatty liver failure. The pathophysiology is not fully understood but what we do know points to mitochondrial injury secondary to viral illness and the use of aspirin in young children.

In this episode you will learn:

Read the article and view references here.

Nursing school gets easier when...

Test your knowledge of AKI with this quick set of audio flashcards. Dive right in or brush up on your nursing knowledge of AKI first, in episode #509: Acute Kidney Injury for Nursing Students: Causes, Symptoms, Labs & Treatment.

These mini-reviews are a great way to study on the go, and they give you a taste of what it’s like inside Study Sesh, my audio study tool for busy nursing students.

🧠 Ready to quiz yourself? Let’s dive in!

👉Want more practice like this? ⁠Check out Study Sesh!

💕Did you love this episode? Please...

Acute kidney injury is one of the most common complications seen in hospitalized patients, yet it's a topic that often leaves nursing students overwhelmed by lab values and terminology.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the three types of AKI and showing you how to recognize the clues that help distinguish one from another. We'll talk through:

- Common causes

- Important assessment findings

- Key lab values

- Complications to watch for when kidney function begins to decline.

We'll also review how urine output, fluid status...

New nurses, this one's for you! We're talking about what that first code actually feels like, why the calm you see in other nurses doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for this, and why your contribution matters even when you're not the one leading.

If you're a new nurse and this moment is still ahead of you, or if you've already been through it and it's still on your mind, hit play on this episode!

👋 Want to walk into your first code feeling more prepared instead of just hoping for the best? Confident Nurse A...

The Beers Criteria, or Beers list, is a list of medications which are considered to be potentially harmful medications for individuals over 65 years old due to risks or side effects that outweigh the benefits. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

The Beers list is updated by the American Geriatrics Society every 3 years with the most recent version as of 8/2026 being from 2023. View the 2023 Beers list here.

Pharmacology Success Pack - Want to get a head s...

Nursing is full of terms that sound similar, look similar, and sometimes even seem interchangeable. But understanding the differences between these concepts can make a huge difference in your clinical judgment.

Hit play for a rapid-fire round of "This vs. That" and we'll clear up seven commonly confused nursing concepts.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has...

If you're just heading in to clinical or are still feeling a bit overwhelmed at the end of every shift, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I'm sharing how you can reframe your clinical experience to go from just trying to survive, to walking out of every shift sharper than when you walked in.

You'll learn:

Next time you get your patient assignment, skip the panic-prep session and instead, try the five-minute clinical prep routine I'm breaking down in this episode. By the end of this episode, you'll know how to focus your clinical prep on what actually matters so you can walk into clinical feeling prepared and confident enough to learn.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everythi...

It's really helpful to know a few specific things in advance of your pediatric clinicals so you can make the most of your experience from the start. 

In this episode, I'm sharing my top 6 pediatric clinical tips, including:

Having a system in place for...

Test your knowledge of respiratory failure with this quick set of audio flashcards. Dive right in or brush up on your nursing knowledge of respiratory failure first, in episode #503: Respiratory Failure.

These mini-reviews are a great way to study on the go, and they give you a taste of what it’s like inside Study Sesh, my audio study tool for busy nursing students.

🧠 Ready to quiz yourself? Hit play and let's dive in!

👉Want more practice like this? ⁠Check out Study Sesh!

💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follo...

Respiratory failure occurs when the respiratory system can no longer adequately meet the oxygen demands of the body, remove carbon dioxide effectively, or both.

In this episode you'll learn:

- Types and causes of respiratory failure

- Signs & symptoms of respiratory failure

- Tests used to evaluate respiratory failure

- Treatments for hypoxemic respiratory failure and hypercapnic respiratory failure.

Read the article "A Quick Guide to Respiratory Failure for Nursing Students" here.

Review how to conduct a respiratory assessment in episode #237.

Cushing's Triad is one of those concepts that nursing students often memorize for an exam but don't always understand. Hit play to change that, because once you understand the "why," it's actually a much easier concept to remember.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed!

💕Did y...

All nursing schools teach you the five rights of medication administration as a key component in keeping your patients safe, but if you want to take it further to understand all the factors that go into giving medication safely, this episode is for you.

In this podcast episode, I’ll talk you through the five rights of medication administration, and then keep going with six more that will take your critical thinking skills to the next level.

Medication rules are AWESOME because they're designed to keep both you and your patient safe, and I absolutely wa...

It’s PodQuiz Monday! Test your knowledge from a recent episode with a quick set of audio flashcards designed to reinforce what you learned.

These mini-reviews are a great way to study on the go, and they give you a taste of what it’s like inside Study Sesh, my audio study tool for busy nursing students.

If you need a brush-up on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems before you do this podquiz, I've got you covered in episode #500: Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic Nervous System - Your Secret Weapon for Pharm.

🧠 Ready to quiz you...

In this episode, I break down the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in a way that goes way beyond the vocabulary test version. You'll learn:

- what triggers each system

- which neurotransmitters and receptors are involved

- what happens to each major body system when one is dominant,

- how understanding this makes drug mechanisms predictable instead of mysterious.

By the end, you'll be able to look at medications like atropine, epinephrine, metoprolol, and albuterol and understand exactly why they do what they do, including the side effects. <...

You might be wondering, what in the world is JVD? It's another of those terms that nursing students hear all the time and plan to look up later. First, JVD stands for jugular venous distention. Second, hit play and I'll tell you all about JVD and why you should never stop noticing it.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing ha...

It's a great day to review the differences between STEMI & NSTEMI! In this episode, we'll review:

Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Listening to my podcast is a great start. The next step? My free Nursing School Survival Blueprint. I designed this Blueprint to help you understand exactly what's working against you in nursing scho...

Acute confusion is often one of the first signs something is wrong. The sooner you identify the cause, the sooner your patient can get the treatment they need. Hit play to review 3 common causes to keep an eye out for.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed...

Most nursing students spend months anxiously waiting for school to start. Then day one arrives and they're completely reactive, overwhelmed, behind, and wondering why nobody told them what to expect. This, my friend, is a quick path to nursing school burnout and I definitely don’t want that for you!

If you're starting nursing school soon (or you've just started and you're already feeling the pressure), this episode is for you. Hit play on this one and I’ll share practical things you can do right now, before the chaos hits, to set yourself up for the enti...

A common misconception is that ETCO₂ measures oxygen. It doesn't. Hit play to find out what ETCO₂ does measure, how it works, and why it's so valuable.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed!

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Understanding the key foundational concepts of pain is crucial as a nurse and I've got you covered in this episode. Press play to gain a deeper understanding of pain and pain management for nursing, including:

Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Listening to my podcast is a great start. The next step? My free Nursing School Survival Blueprint. I designed this Blueprint to help you understand exactly what's working against you in nursing school — and what to do instead.
👉  Download the Bluepr...

As a clinical instructor, I noticed that many new nursing students struggle with care plan pharmacology. In this episode, I'm addressing the key things your clinical instructor wants to see as your fill out your med worksheets.

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⁠⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

⁠Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed!

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Over the years I've seen students struggle and students thrive, and what becomes clear pretty quickly is the students who struggle tend to repeat the same handful of mistakes. And the sneaky part? Most of them won’t feel like mistakes when you’re making them.

It’s not that you're not smart enough, or not working hard enough, or not meant for this. Nursing school rewards a specific kind of engagement with material and most students were never shown what that looks like.

I'm covering six of the most common first semester mistakes I see, a...

You've picked up the blood pressure cuff and your patient says "Wait! Not that arm! I had a mastectomy." You swiftly go for the other arm, but let's talk about WHY we avoid taking blood pressures, starting IVs, and doing veni-punctures on the side of a mastectomy.

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⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Feeling overwhelmed or unsure how to approach nursing school? Download this free Blueprint to understand exactly what's working against you — and what to do instead.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resourc...

Want to start clinicals with more confidence? Walking in, already knowing these 8 common labs inside and out will definitely give you an edge when it comes to interpreting your patients lab results and understanding important components of their care plan.

Still nervous about starting clinicals? One of the best ways to fast-track your clinical learning is having the right tools. And you're in luck, I've put together a Clinical Success Pack which includes report sheets, sheets to help you plan your day, a clinical debrief form, and a patient safety cheat sheet. Download it now for free 👉 Get...