Straight A Nursing: Study for nursing school exams & NCLEX

Maureen Osuna, MSN, RN - Nursing school educator, author, and nursing student enthusiast.
  • 4.5 (18)
  • Medicine
  • Updated weekly

In this show, Maureen Osuna, MSN, RN (Nurse Mo) breaks down a wide range of nursing school concepts so they’re easy to understand. Each episode aims to help nursing students improve their study techniques, pass nursing school exams, and feel more confident in clinical. If you’re nervous about nursing school, not “getting it” in lecture, or feeling overwhelmed with all the information you have to learn, this podcast will help you optimize your study time so you can learn more with less stress. While nursing school is challenging, it doesn’t have to be impossible. When concepts are explained in a way that “just makes sense”, nursing students have better recall on exams, feel more confident working with patients in clinical, and are better prepared for NCLEX. Nurse Mo understands the struggles nursing students face and draws on more than 11 years of clinical experience to make nursing school less intimidating. Each episode removes the “fluff” and focuses on the key things a nursing student (and nurse) needs to know about a variety of disease conditions. The show also provides tips for succeeding in nursing school, guidance for students and new nurses, and insider information to help you excel at the bedside.

  1. 22 hr ago

    #491: The Overstudying Trap

    If you can relate to feeling like your mind has blanked while you're taking your nursing school exams despite studying all weekend going through your notes, rewatching lectures, and rewriting your study guides, I'd bet that you've fallen in to something I call the overstudying trap. It's one of the most common, most exhausting cycles nursing students get stuck in. More hours + More highlighting + More reviewing = Still feeling behind. In this episode, I'm sharing: Why overstudying fails...and what's actually happening in your brain when it does The four mechanisms that make passive studying so ineffective What the overstudying trap looks like in real life (and why it's so hard to escape). Three practical shifts you can make this week to start studying with intention. ___________________ Full Transcript - Read the article and view references ⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Nursing school gets easier when you have a system. This free Blueprint walks you through the key shifts that separate struggling students from thriving ones — download it and start applying them this week. 💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Straight A Nursing is a proud member of the Airwave Media Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    29 min

  2. 3 days ago

    #490: MMM - BUN:Cr ratio

    Let's start your week strong with a quick tip you can incorporate right away. In this Mo's Monday Minute shortie episode, I'm breaking down the BUN-to-creatinine ratio and why nurses look at them together. See you there! ___________________ 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. 💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Straight a Nursing is a proud member of the Airwave Media Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    11 min

  3. 28 May

    ENCORE! #267: 7 Things to Know Before Starting Clinicals

    Every other week I republish one of my most popular or impactful episodes from my backlog of over 450 episodes. This week I'm throwing it back to episode 267 and talking about what to know before you start clinicals. These tips are exactly the things I’d make sure you understood before your first clinical day if I was your clinical instructor. ___________________ ⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Nursing school gets easier when you have a system. This free Blueprint walks you through the key shifts that separate struggling students from thriving ones — download it and start applying them this week. Clinical Success Pack - One of the best ways to fast-track your clinical learning is having the right tools. This FREE pack includes report sheets, sheets to help you plan your day, a clinical debrief form, and a patient safety cheat sheet. 💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Straight A Nursing is a proud member of the Airwave Media Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    48 min

  4. 25 May

    #489: PodQuiz - Perfusion

    It’s PodQuiz Monday! Test your knowledge from last week’s 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 perfusion before you do this podquiz, I've got you covered in episode 488. 🧠 Ready to quiz yourself? Let’s dive in! 👉Want more practice like this? ⁠Check out Study Sesh! 💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    9 min

  5. 21 May

    #488: The Perfusion Problem: Why Your Patient is Deteriorating

    You know that moment when you walk into a patient’s room and something just feels… off? Not wrong in a pull-the-crash-cart way. Just… different. Their blood pressure is trending down a little. They’re not quite as sharp as they were two hours ago. Urine output isn’t great. And your brain starts doing that scrambling thing — flipping through every diagnosis you’ve ever learned, trying to figure out what category this falls into. Here’s the thing: that scrambling feeling? It’s not a sign that you don’t know enough. It’s a sign that you’re trying to find the diagnosis before you’ve found the pattern. This episode is about the pattern.   Perfusion is one of those foundational concepts that shows up everywhere — cardiac, renal, neuro, sepsis, shock — and yet it rarely gets taught the way it needs to be. Not just “perfusion means blood flow” but what actually happens when it fails, how your patient’s body responds, and what that looks like when you’re standing at the bedside at 10am wondering if you need to make a phone call. In this episode, we go deep. Like, actually deep — the cellular level, the four components of the delivery system, why blood pressure is often the last thing to drop, all four shock types through one unified framework, and three clinical cases that will change how you think about patient assessment.   By the end, you’ll have a question you can ask about any patient that will immediately anchor your thinking and help you catch deterioration earlier than you thought possible.   Ready to think like a nurse? Hit play.   👉 If this episode helps you see patient assessment differently, the Nursing School Survival Blueprint is a great next step. It’s the free guide that shows you exactly how to build the kind of structured, clinical thinking that makes episodes like this click — and stick. Get the Blueprint ___________________ Full Transcript - Read the article and view references Related Episodes: Non-Sepsis Reasons for an Elevated Lactate - Episode #167 Distributive Shock Simplified - Episode 346 💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Straight A Nursing is a proud member of the Airwave Media Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    51 min

  6. 18 May

    #487: PodQuiz - Vascular Assessment

    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 vascular assessments before you do this podquiz, I've got you covered in episode ENCORE! #274: Introduction to Vascular Assessment. 🧠 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 follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Straight A Nursing is a proud member of the Airwave Media Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    11 min

  7. 14 May

    ENCORE! #274: Introduction to Vascular Assessment

    Every other week I republish one of my most popular or impactful episodes from my backlog of over 450 episodes. This week I'm highlighting Episode 274, which walks you through how to perform a vascular assessment. ___________________ ⁠Full Transcript⁠- Read the article "Performing a Vascular Assessment" and view references ⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠ - Nursing school gets easier when you have a system. This free Blueprint walks you through the key shifts that separate struggling students from thriving ones — download it and start applying them this week. 💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Straight A Nursing is a proud member of the Airwave Media Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    34 min

  8. 11 May

    #486: PodQuiz - Burn Fundamentals

    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 burn fundamentals before you do this podquiz, I've got you covered in episode ENCORE! #149: The Basics of Burns. 🧠 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 follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode! ___________________ The information, including but not limited to, audio, video, text, and graphics contained on this podcast are for educational purposes only. No content on this podcast is intended to guide nursing practice and does not supersede any individual healthcare provider's scope of practice or any nursing school curriculum. Additionally, no content on this podcast is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Straight A Nursing is a proud member of the Airwave Media Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    12 min
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In this show, Maureen Osuna, MSN, RN (Nurse Mo) breaks down a wide range of nursing school concepts so they’re easy to understand. Each episode aims to help nursing students improve their study techniques, pass nursing school exams, and feel more confident in clinical. If you’re nervous about nursing school, not “getting it” in lecture, or feeling overwhelmed with all the information you have to learn, this podcast will help you optimize your study time so you can learn more with less stress. While nursing school is challenging, it doesn’t have to be impossible. When concepts are explained in a way that “just makes sense”, nursing students have better recall on exams, feel more confident working with patients in clinical, and are better prepared for NCLEX. Nurse Mo understands the struggles nursing students face and draws on more than 11 years of clinical experience to make nursing school less intimidating. Each episode removes the “fluff” and focuses on the key things a nursing student (and nurse) needs to know about a variety of disease conditions. The show also provides tips for succeeding in nursing school, guidance for students and new nurses, and insider information to help you excel at the bedside.

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