Straight A Nursing: Study for nursing school exams & NCLEX

The Beers Criteria, or Beers list, is a list of medications which are considered to be potentially harmful medications for individuals over 65 years old due to risks or side effects that outweigh the benefits.

In this episode, you'll learn:

Beers criteria

Why this list matters

Key medications you’ll see in the clinical setting

Implications for your nursing practice.

The Beers list is updated by the American Geriatrics Society every 3 years with the most recent version as of 8/2026 being from 2023. View the 2023 Beers list here.

Pharmacology Success Pack - Want to get a head start on pharmacology? Download the FREE Pharmacology Success Pack and you'll have drug naming conventions, safe medication administration, unit conversions and reversal agents at your finger tips. Print them and put them in your clinical binder or keep them in your files at your phone so you can reference them any time.Fast Pharmacology - Learn pharmacology concepts in 5 minutes or less in this audio based program. Perfect for on-the-go review!

Read the article "The Beers List Explained" and view references here.

This is a throwback to episode 169 of the Straight A Nursing School Podcast, where nursing school help is at your fingertips with hundreds of episodes covering your journey from taking the TEAS through passing NCLEX and having success as a new-grad nurse.

💕Did you love this episode? Please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode…and share with friends so you can help other nurses thrive!

___________________

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

Nursing is full of terms that sound similar, look similar, and sometimes even seem interchangeable. But understanding the differences between these concepts can make a huge difference in your clinical judgment.

Hit play for a rapid-fire round of "This vs. That" and we'll clear up seven commonly confused nursing concepts.

___________________

⁠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.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed!

💕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

If you're just heading in to clinical or are still feeling a bit overwhelmed at the end of every shift, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I'm sharing how you can reframe your clinical experience to go from just trying to survive, to walking out of every shift sharper than when you walked in.

You'll learn:

How to approach the moments that genuinely are evaluative

Why your brain goes blank in clinical and how to recover

Patricia Benner's novice stage

The skill of noticing and why it's the most important thing you can develop at the bedside

How to handle your first clinical mistake without it derailing your whole shift

The debrief habit that accelerates clinical learning faster than almost anything else

Nursing school gets easier when you have a system to build your clinical thinking from the ground up. I'd love to get you started building that system by walking you through the key shifts that separate struggling students from thriving ones in my free ⁠Nursing School Survival Blueprint⁠.

👉 Download the Blueprint

Start nursing school ahead of the game, or reset after a difficult first semester with my nursing school prep course, Crucial Concepts Bootcamp. Learn key foundation concepts, organization and time management, dosage calculations, and so much more.

👉 ⁠Crucial Concepts Bootcamp⁠

💕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

Next time you get your patient assignment, skip the panic-prep session and instead, try the five-minute clinical prep routine I'm breaking down in this episode. By the end of this episode, you'll know how to focus your clinical prep on what actually matters so you can walk into clinical feeling prepared and confident enough to learn.

___________________

⁠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.

Straight A Nursing Study Resources⁠⁠ - ⁠Check out everything Straight A Nursing has to offer, including free resources and online courses to help you succeed!

💕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

It's really helpful to know a few specific things in advance of your pediatric clinicals so you can make the most of your experience from the start.

In this episode, I'm sharing my top 6 pediatric clinical tips, including:

How to customize your plan of care based on the child’s developmental stage

A quick way to estimate hypotension in children

The importance of weight-based calculations

Key differences between an adult and a pediatric airway

What a child in distress looks like

Tips for assessing a child in the clinical setting

Having a system in place for your approach to nursing school is just as important as reviewing key things ahead of your peds clinicals. You don't want just any system though, you want one that sets you up to thrive. I get you started with building a system that allows you to study smarter and feel more prepared in my free Nursing School Survival Blueprint.

👉 Download the Blueprint

Read the article "6 Peds Clinical Tips to Help You Thrive" and view references here.

This is a throwback to episode 360 of the Straight A Nursing School Podcast, where nursing school help is at your fingertips with hundreds of episodes covering your journey from taking the TEAS through passing NCLEX and having success as a new-grad nurse.

💕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