How To Manage Your Time In Nursing Or Medical School

It’s a great time for people going into the medical field. Schools are doing every thing they can to attract enthusiastic students to degrees in nursing and medical school. Hospitals, HMOs, schools and private health care entities are falling all over themselves to hire doctors, practical nurses, aides, public health attendants, industrial nurses and dozens of other types of medical personnel. Of course, nursing or medical school is not easy. Students and graduates are held to the highest standards of testing and practical experiences, as well as the stringent requirements needed to get into school. So once you’ve gotten into nursing or medical school, how can you manage your time? How do you keep your sanity intact if you’re balancing a family or other time demands while attending medical or nursing school? First, get a huge dry erase calendar, encompassing a year’s time. Thankfully, basic science courses in medical school still only run a semester in length, while clinical stints run between four and eight weeks. Place every single one of these classes and work-study schedules on the calendar, along with all major due dates, evaluation periods, papers, and holidays/school recess times. Be sure to place “in a different color” all personal or family events. This is your “bird’s eye view” of the entire school year. Next, lay out a weekly planner with all your classes, lectures, rounds, call times and conferences written neatly in each day of the week. Block out time for yourself – it is almost as important as your course requirements. For the basic science classes, plan your study times as well, and mark clearly when you will need to familiarize yourself with your patients, and study for the disease or trauma module for which you are responsible at that time. On a daily basis, for those activities which are not subject to outside planning and forces (like rounds and class work), try to put the most mentally strenuous activities (like studying hard core science lessons) at the time of day when you are most alert. For some, this is morning; for others, later in the afternoon or late at night. In other words: prioritize by brain juice! Students in the medical field are often subjected to grueling rounds with little or no sleep, or spontaneous schedules based on need. There’s no way to keep this out of your curriculum completely, but whenever possible, avoid “artificial jetlag.” This is caused when someone – for example – stays up until the wee hours of the morning on Saturday (or whenever their down time might be), then sleeps all day Sunday. This can disrupt your psychological and physiological rhythms, making it difficult to maintain a clear head the rest of the week. Stress management is necessary for any time management plan, especially when it comes to the rigors of medical training. Use “preventive medicine” as a way to help you, your family and your patients if applicable. Learn to meditate at least once a day, and take advantage of what would normally be wasted time, like standing in line at the bank. Use those ten minutes here and there to flip through index cards with information for a test. Most of all, don’t forget to find a mentor who has gone through the same program you have and is working in the field. They can give you invaluable advice about navigating time management pitfalls, and how to manage stress.

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