This is happening. You’re going to become a (fantastic) Nurse Practitioner (NP). You’ve done your research and know: this is the career for you, how to get into a program, the perfect NP program for you, and how you will feel graduating. The anticipation is building, and frankly, what’s not to be excited about?
There are more than 270,000 nurse practitioners licensed in the U.S., according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and around 28,700 new nurse practitioners completed their programs just last year. You are going to be in great company whether you’re starting your NP program in 2023, or somewhere down the road.
Excitement aside, though, things are about to get serious. But, we have a feeling you already knew that. Picmonic is here to empower you – and all students – to unlock their true potential and achieve the education and career of their dreams. Let’s get started.
Here are our top six tips to succeed in your NP program:
Manage your time
It isn’t a secret, your life is going to revolve around your program, clinical rotations, exams, studying and everything NP-related. To be successful, learning a new way to manage your time given all your new demands is essential. This might be in addition to juggling a family, taking care of other obligations, working – although we recommend trying to plan and budget to take some time off to focus, you will thank us later. Use your calendar, budget your time and respect it like the valuable commodity that it is.
Give yourself a break
You will work hard during your NP program. There will be long nights, friends and family you don’t see as much, and a lot of feeling like you are pushing yourself to the max. And, you probably are. Cut yourself a little slack now and then. We know you expect a lot from yourself, but we also know you deserve a break. If a test doesn’t go how you expected, it can get better. If you feel behind, you can catch up. Picmonic for Nurse Practitioners has helped countless people just like you. Get daily quizzes, access to Picmonics covering thousands of medical facts, study anywhere on your terms, and actually remember what you’ve learned. Our evidence-based approach increases retention by 331 percent! We’ve got your back from your first day through your final exam.
Work with the people around you
This is a unique time when you are surrounded by experts, scholars and your future peers. Be proactive and take advantage of opportunities, embrace new relationships, study with your peers and support each other. You may have no idea now how impactful these relationships and experiences will be to your school work and future career. Think of every encounter you have during your program as a job interview; whether it’s with professors, preceptors or classmates.
Ask the questions
This is the time to ask questions, learn why a path or procedure was chosen and dig into the experience surrounding you! During your clinical placements, get to know not just the medical questions and answers, but also how to work in different environments. Every hospital, medical clinic and private practice will do things differently, but getting some insight along the way will better prepare you for how things are done along with why.
Take care of yourself
Can we all agree that there’s never a good time to get sick? However, you really don’t have extra time to get sick during NP school. Take care of yourself. Late-night studying is absolutely a possibility, or wearing yourself out between studying and clinicals, but you need to give yourself time to rest. Eat well, exercise, plan to see the people in your life or plan a trip during semester breaks. These are all good for your mind, body and spirit. Losing time to being sick or being foggy because you are burnt out are not going to help you. Manage your time (see tip 1!) and make sure to plan for the non-school things that will help you do your best in your NP program.
Have a trusted study method
Figuring out how you learn and retain information is critical, and the sooner you know this about yourself the better. You have a lot of options that may help you learn, review and practice. But what about retaining that information beyond the test? Picmonic isn’t the same old study tool. It’s not new news; picture mnemonics work and they are so much more fun than text books. It’s efficient because you don’t have time for cumbersome study tools that give you more work. It’s effective because it can increase exam scores by 50%. And, it’s customizable because there’s no right or wrong way to learn and retain information as long as you can actually use it.
Now, back to being excited! You’ve got this, and Picmonic has your back. Remember all the reasons why you are here. Are you ready to get to work? Try Picmonic for free today and see why hundreds of thousands of students worldwide have trusted their education and career to Picmonic, and why Harvard Business Review called it one of the leading visual learning tools for medical and nursing students.
Download our mobile app and take Picmonic on the go!
