How Nursing Students can make flash cards for retentions

Making flash cards, by hand or online, is one of the best study methods for nursing students. But knowing exactly what to put on them can be difficult. Check out the key points below:

• Remember they are flash cards! The information on each card should be brief. You don’t want 4-page letters on your flash cards. It is hard to read and you won’t retain as much (I know because I did before lol).

• Another thing is to include brief definitions of words if you don’t know what they mean.

• Use your resources like Kaplan, HESI, or ATI books to fill in the blanks. They have short concise info which are perfect for flash cards!

7 Categories for Flash Cards

• Patho/Pathophysiology: This is how the disease works.

• Risk Factors: What puts the patient/population at risk for developing this disease.

• Signs and Symptoms: What are the signs and symptoms and how are they manifested. Polydipsia can be manifested as excessive thirst, feelings of dryness in the mouth, and poor skin turgor.

• Diagnostics: Tests, labs, and procedures that help us diagnosis the disease.

• Treatments: Meds, nursing care, procedures, and other things we do to treat the disease.

• Nursing Care: What are we doing as a nurse to treat the disease/patient? Medications, treatments, education, assessments and more.

• Complications: what things can happen as the disease progresses or what are the serious complications of the disease (for a Fracture a complication could be a fat emboli caused by the fracture or compartment syndrome).

Let me know if this helps you in the comments.