Study Guide for Fundamentals of Nursing Care: Concepts, Connections & Skills

Book Preface

Our purpose in writing this student workbook is to help you capture the important information from each chapter and be able to apply it to situations you will likely encounter as a nursing student and a nurse.

Because people learn in different ways, we urge you to identify the way you learn best, whether it is by hearing, by seeing and reading, or by touching and doing. You will need to learn the essential information in each chapter in a way that works best for you.

Suggestions for auditory learners—those who learn best by hearing—include:

• Review information by speaking it aloud.

• Repeat information aloud to help you memorize or comprehend.

• Explain the information to another person.

• Watch videos of skills while listening to a narrator.

• Read your text reading assignment aloud into a small recorder; play it back for more audio learning.

• After you feel you can thoroughly answer all of your objectives, write the answers down; then read the answers into the recorder for additional playback and audio learning.

• Get together with peers in small groups and quiz each other aloud.

Suggestions for visual learners—those who learn best by seeing—include:

• Color-code information with highlighters, using different colors for different types of information.

• Write out explanations for difficult concepts in your own words.

• Use sticky notes with keywords and concepts placed where you will see them frequently.

• Watch videos of skills being performed step by step.

Suggestions for kinesthetic learners—those who learn best by touching and doing—include:

• Take notes, draw pictures, and make charts as you study and listen.

• Make flashcards with definitions or explanations on one side and a word or concept on the other side; study by flipping the cards and identifying what is on the other side.

• Write key concepts on different colored flashcards; then sort the cards according to category, topic, or similarities to help you learn how to connect the information.

• Make models of the organs from clay or paper to learn the structures of a body system.

• Watch and listen to videos of skills, using the ability to stop and start the skill after each step; obtain various supplies that will be demonstrated in the videos; study and manipulate them concurrently with the skills video.