Breath Patterns

Breath patterns are extremely important to notice while assessing a patient as a nurse. 

Here are the most common ones that you should know: 

Cheyne-Stokes Respiraton

Often found when a person is at the end of their life, however, it is common in infants and elderly while they are asleep. They have regular periods of inspiration and expiration followed by period of apnea. 

Biot's Respiraton

Irregular patterns of inspiration, expiration, and apnea. Often found in patients who have had severe trauma to the head or any severe problems with the nervous system (spinal cord or brain).

Eupnea (Normal)

Regular and constant cycle of inspiration and expiration. There are no periods of apnea. The rate is 12-20 breaths/minute. 

Bradypnea 

Regular breaths at a lower rate than eupnea (<12 breaths/minute). 

Tachypnea 

Increased rate of regular, shallow breaths (20+ breaths/minute). Often found in those experiencing fear, have a fever, or recently exercised.

Hyperventilation

Increased rapid rate of regular deep breaths that occur in patient's who are experiencing fear, anxiety, or extreme exertion. Hyperventilation is when the person believes that they are not receiving enough oxygen, when in fact, they are over-oxygenating and there is a lack of carbon dioxide in their blood system. 

Learning Medical Abbreviations

Sometimes, your professors will use abbreviations that you are not used to because they forget that you are not advanced nurses or are trying to teach you the abbreviations without explicitly saying "this means this." Either way, you may miss out or feel lost in class because they use these abbreviations. 

I complied a list of some abbreviations that you may come in contact with that your professors may not always explain to you. 

r/t (RT) - relating to

s/s - signs and symptoms

PRN - as needed or as circumstances arise

po - by mouth

mcg - micrograms

kg - kilograms

g - grams

tsp - teaspoons

mL - mililiters

ac - before meals

pc - after meals

BP - blood pressure

Rx - perscription

Dx - diagnosis

NDx - nursing diagnosis 

NSAIDs - Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug

q4h - every four hours (q = every)

EMR/EHR - electronic medical record or electronic health record

MI - myocardial infarction (Heart attack)

CVA - cerebral vascular accident (Stroke)

CA - cancer

DM - diabetes mellitus

CAD - coronary artery disease (heart disease)

UTI - urinary tract infection

HTN - hypertension

ICS - inter coastal space

Are there any other abbreviations that you have come upon that you don't know what they are?

Using PowerPoint to Study

PowerPoint is a great utensil to use while studying. It really can be used as note cards. If you need to know concepts or memorize a sequence, PowerPoint helps the most.

Most note card apps (and real note cards) give you two sides, a front side and a backside. You cannot hide concepts one at a time. With PowerPoint, you can use animations to keep steps in order. 

How to make a note cards:

Make the title of the PowerPoint the title of the note card.

Here: Health Promotion (YA) (Young adult)

Make the bullet points the information on the card.

Here: Immunizations, HIV/AIDS, etc.

Click your first bullet point. 

Go to animations and decide which one to use. 

If you want the information to appear one-at-a-time, click the first bullet point and each main bullet point will be given an animation. If you want the information to appear all at the same time then highlight the whole section.

PowerPoint is really a helpful study tool to use, especially in nursing school. I used it mostly during Human Development. The only problem that I can think of is that it does not randomize the slides. But to counter that problem, you can put your notes on a slide show so it will be full screen. That reduces a lot of distractions that you could have on your computer. 

Do you use anything else that helps you study?