PREPARING TO STUDY

Where is my study place?

Free from interruptions/distractions?
All my study materials?
Large enough desk or table?
Comfortable chair
Temperature and lighting?

EXAM PREPARATION
Ensure that you are revising all key areas
Use the course outline as a framework
Review all lecture notes in a systematic manner.
SQ3R Survey, question, read , recall and review.
Look at online exercises
Revise tutorials
Handwrite your revision notes
Reduce your revision notes to dot points

REVIEW UNIT MATERIALS AND TOPICS

Review for several short periods
Use fifteen minute slots.
Turn the main points of each topic or heading into questions.
Check to see if the answers come to you quickly and correctly.
Try to predict examination questions; then outline your answers.

STRESS?
A certain amount of stress is beneficial, in that it helps to motivate you into achieving goals
and targets.
Too much stress can be detrimental to your health.
How do you feel about exams?
Are you focused, alert, excited?
Nervous, afraid, worried not sleeping ?
High anxiety?
make an appointment with a Counsellor
visit Student Life Office @ Notre Dame University

HOW TO MANAGE STRESS

Self awareness

Be positive rather than negative

Do not compete with other students only yourself

Be realistic time management

Prioritise

Exercise

Balanced diet/fluids/sleep

Talk to your tutor/lecturer

(Charles Sturt University, 2010).

THE NIGHT BEFORE!

Revision, not re-learning!

Get enough sleep!

Exam resources prepared

Date/time/place for your exam

Have you got your student card?

Transport/parking

Alarm

EXAM DAY
Try to remain calm relaxation techniques
Get up early
Have a good breakfast
Read over your summaries and revision notes.
Get there on time
Give yourself plenty of time to get to the exam room early

If you maintain a positive, 'I can do it' attitude building up to your exams,
your stress will be transformed into positive energy

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

Require : Careful reading
Calculate the time
Skill revision and practice
Knowledge & critical thinking
Do not be distracted by the false answers
Think of an answer first
Do the easiest ones first
Check your answer before marking on the multiple choice sheet
(Charles Sturt University of Melbourne, 2010).

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Read question carefully
Multiple parts?
Allocated marks
Key words describe, discuss
Grammar, spelling.

(Monash University, 2010).

BRIEF CONTENT REVIEW

The following are slides from lectures and tutes in NPD 100.
For more information you will need to review the full content via Blackboard
This is not ALL lecture topics i.e. APA / Refworks are not covered here

CRITICAL THINKING
What is it
Active thinking
An objective, neutral process for evaluating other peoples and your own
opinions or claims

Maintaining a position of skepticism or doubt

Asking questions about what you see, hear, read and write

CRITICAL THINKING
Why do we do it

Learning to think critically is

at the core of all university
study and professional
development

Think and write with purpose

Develop your voice

How do we do it

Suspend pre-conceived beliefs

or assump4ons

Open-mindedness

Flexibility

ACADEMIC WRITING
WRITING SKILLS
Paraphrasing
Linking words
Paragraphs
Sentence construction
Spelling
Academic style
Referencing

WRITING WELL
Short sentences
Less than 25 words
Express ideas simply and succinctly
Short sentences have greater impact
Effective paragraphing
A topic sentence
Supporting sentence
Clincher
Linking sentences

(Higgs et al., 2008).

http://emedia.rmit.edu.au/learninglab/content/writing-skills

PLAGIARISM
WHAT IS IT
To take and use as ones own (the thoughts, writings, inventions, etc., of another person);
Copy (literary work, ideas, etc.) improperly or without acknowledgement;
Pass off the thoughts, work, etc. of (another person) as ones own (APA, 2010)
AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
Err on the side of caution
Keep the citation close to content
Keep authorship clear
Dont use anonymous or unreferenced sources
Never give other students your work

(Higgs et al., 2008, pp. 37-39)

NURSING DOCUMENTATION
Factual
Subjective-use patients exact
words
Accurate
Exact measurements
Use of abbreviations
Complete
Avoid unnecessary words
Avoid irrelevant detail

Current
Time entries
Organized
Logical

COMMUNICATION
Types
Active listening
Open-ended questioning
Clarification

BARRIERS IN COMMUNICATION
Language, tone, speed of delivery pronunciation
Appropriateness touch, space, hand gestures, eye contact
Non verbal - Body language, appearance, lack of eye contact
Not understanding cultural differences
Social courtesies
Environmental factors
Communication impairment hearing loss, visual disability, sensory loss
Closed ended questions

PATIENT INTERVIEWS & QUESTIONING

CLOSED QUESTIONS

OPEN QUESTIONS

No elaboration or description

No right or wrong

Exact answer can be elicited

Allows professional to listen, observe and

learn

Useful in an emergency
Can be seen as controlling
(Sully & Dallas, 2010).

Can be less threatening

Wide range of possible answers
(OToole, 2012).

PATIENT INTERVIEWS & QUESTIONS

OPEN FOCUSSED QUESTIONS.
What facilities have you got in your bathroom to prevent you from falling?
LEADING / LOADED QUESTIONS
A leading question points the respondents answer in a certain direction
PROBING QUESTIONS
Asking probing questions is another strategy for finding out more detail

HEALTH INFORMATICS
What is it
The appropriate and innovative application of the concepts and technologies of the information
age to improve health care and health. (Standard Australian Health)
How do we use it
Tele health (related to direct e.g. videoconferencing or indirect e.g. website delivery of health
information or health care to a recipient.)
PCEHR a secure system for storage and sharing of information related to clinical care Personally
controlled electronic health record
(Bond, 2012)

MEDICAL JARGON MADE EASY

Three basic parts to words:
Consider the root word -some words
have more than one:
Kidney - ren or nephr
Lung Bronch

Prefix modifies the root

word
BradyHyper-

Suffix tells you something

about the prefix and the
root word
Ectomy
It is

EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE

What is it
An ongoing process by which evidence, nursing theory and the practitioners clinical expertise are
critically evaluated and considered in conjunction with patient involvement to provide delivery of
optimum nursing care for the individual

How do we do it
Search strategies such as PICO, allow you to take a more evidence based approach to your
literature searching when you are searching bibliographic databases like Medline (OVID), PubMed.

EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE

Levels of Evidence

Level

I:

Systematic reviews

Level

II:

Randomised Controlled Trials

Level

III:

Cohort Studies

Level

IV:

Case Controlled Studies

Level

V:

Case Series/ Case Report

Level

VI:

Editorial/ Expert opinion

RESEARCH METHODS
QUANTITATIVE STUDIES
Use mainly numerical data to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data
that can be transformed into useable statistics.

Often referred to as scientific or empirical research

Emphasise objective observation and control

QUALITATIVE STUDIES
It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations.
When a research question is attempting to generate exploratory or descriptive knowledge and
attempts to understand experience from the perspective of the research participant
There are several different types of qualitative research i.e. ethnography.

SOCIAL MEDIA
5 KEY POINTS
1. Use of social media is increasing
2. Social media is changing peoples expectations of health services
3. Mental health service users in particular are increasingly using social media as part of their
recovery
4. Nurses have an important role to play in helping people use social media to improve their
mental health
5. Nurses should have sufficient knowledge to help service users stay safe online,