comprehensive study methods for health sciences and health care students

Here are over 80 study methods for health sciences, health care, allied health, nursing school, and med school. Techniques are broken down into 10 different areas. 

Studying health sciences and health care is no easy task. Even the smartest of students can struggle. When I was in college, I started to struggle once I got into my science classes. I didn’t understand why I was struggling on the tests because I love science. I absolutely love anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, and classes like that. The topics in class fascinated me. I realized the reason I was struggling was because I didn’t know how to study. I’d never really had to. I easily aced my way through elementary/middle school far ahead of everyone. High school classes didn’t challenge me. I could be top of the class in advanced environmental studies without any effort. College is a different ball game. I didn’t start college until I was 26. Times have changed. Technology has changed. The way classes are taught is so different. After some bumpy grades, I realized I needed to make a comprehensive study plan. Here it is. Don’t procrastinate.
 
May I tell you something about studying for health care? This isn’t about the grades. This is about what comes after college. Understanding and remembering the things taught to you in your health sciences and health care classes is what enables you to take care of people. Don’t cram study. Don’t rush. You can go to school part time if you need to. This is not about your GPA. This is about being an intelligent and capable doctor or nurse or whatever kind of health professional you will become. Don’t just study to pass a class and move on. Study to grow your mind and your abilities to be a caregiver.
 
Let’s look at how to improve your learning by maximizing the following areas.

• Physically
• Mentally
• Your environment
• Gathering your material
• Preparing for class
• While in class
• Reviewing material
• Memorizing the information
• For a test
• balance

 
PHYSICALLY

• Sleep. You cannot think straight when you are tired.
• Eat. You’ll be more focused if you’re not hungry.
• Snack on protein.
• Have some water with you while you’re studying.
• Stretch. Release the tension.
• Get comfortable. Take your shoes off. Put comfy clothes on.

 
MENTALLY

• Manage your stress. You do not absorb information well when you are stressed. Click here to visit my blog on stress management.
• Take a moment to get focused before you start studying.
• Don’t get overwhelmed. You don’t have to learn all this in one day. When I started college as a nursing major, a RN friend of mine said something a bit odd to me. She said, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” It sounded bizarre to me at first because who eats elephants? Once I got into my science classes, I understood the elephant reference. College feels like you have an impossibly massive amount of things to learn and accomplish. Plan out each week. Take things one day at a time. Breathe. If you get overwhelmed and are stressed to the max, your intelligent mind will go as blank as a whiteout blizzard.
• Have a written list of why you are going to college. This is an investment. The days of college are temporary. Keep your eye on the goal. Why are you making yourself do this? 
• Find out what kind of learner you are. Take the VARK test. Do you learn best by reading, hearing, seeing, or doing?
• Go at the pace that is right for you. Don’t sign up for more classes than you can handle. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s okay to go part time.

 
ENVIRONMENT

• Clear the distractions. (Hint: Turn your phone off.)
• Have a designated study area.
• Clear the clutter.
• It needs to be quiet. Get ear plugs if you have too.
• Would it help you to bring some calming elements into your study environment? For example, you can have soft lighting, salt lamps, oil warmers or diffusers, tabletop waterfalls, or an indoor fountain.  

 
GATHERING YOUR MATERIAL

• Know your resources.
• Does the textbook provide any additional resources online?
• Are there practice quizzes?
• Are there answer keys to the textbook and/or any study guides?
• Are there websites your teacher recommends?
• What does www.studystack.com have on this topic?
• Which YouTube channels have accurate and easily understandable info on this? Here are some YouTube channels I subscribe to that I find helpful.
  • Crash Course
  • Osmosis
  • MedCram
  • Khan Academy Medicine
  • Registered Nurse RN  
• Does your school have a tutoring center?
• Know your teacher’s office location, email, and hours if you need extra help. They are there to teach. They want you to understand the material. If you get lost, go talk to them.

 
PREPARING FOR CLASS

• Read the chapter before you get to class.
• Review any PowerPoint slides before attending lecture.
• Download any material your teacher has given you, including PowerPoint slides and study guides.
• Write down any questions you have.  
• Try doing a quick outline of what you are learning about in lecture this week. There is a lot of information dumping in health classes. It’s easy to lose sight of the general topic.  

 
WHILE IN CLASS

• Show up to class.
• Be on time.
• Stay off your cell phone.
• Pay attention.
• If you are allowed, record the lecture.
• Take notes. Write down anything the teacher says that is not on the slide presentation.
• Ask questions.  

 
REVIEWING MATERIAL

• Have a study plan. Make a spreadsheet for the week of what to study for each class.
• I want to see the forest before I look at the trees. Think about and write down a basic introduction to what you are studying.
• I find it very helpful to do bullet pointed lists. That brings everything back together for me.
• Outline the textbook chapter in your own words.
• I sometimes reorganize a chapter if things don’t flow well.
• Rewrite your notes.
• Highlight main topics and subtopics. You can use different colors. Don’t bother highlighting “the important stuff” or you’ll end up highlighting the whole textbook. Highlight topics and subtopics.
• You can also use stickers to mark a new section.
• Study in small sections. This goes especially for A&P, patho, and pharm!  
• When you get confused, zoom out. What is the overall topic you are studying? What are the basics of this?
• Draw what you are talking about. This is a necessary study method for science classes and health classes.
• Make concept maps.
• Make charts.
• If the word is bolded in your textbook, write it down. You probably need to know the definition.
• Figure out how this information is applicable to your planned career field.

 
MEMORIZING THE INFORMATION

• When it comes to health sciences, it’s more about understanding than it is about memorizing every term. Do you understand the processes at work here?
• Mnemonics are very helpful.
• Make silly stories. Only health science students can enjoy making up weird stories about bodily functions. I will forever think of the golgi organelle as an OCD goldfish who likes to organize things and ship them off to other cells.
• Fill in diagrams.
• Make models of what you are learning about.
• Do science experiments to understand the concepts of chemistry and biology. Science experiments are fun!
• Flashcards – Buy them in bulk. You’re going to make hundreds and hundreds of them. (I’m not joking.)
• Break your flashcards into smaller groups to study each day. If your flashcards are based off the textbook, you might want to label chapter and section on them somewhere.
• Role playing cards – Get an index card, assign it a part of disease, and explain how it functions. Act out as if you were that thing and what you would be doing. This goes great in groups.
• Listen to the recorded lectures throughout the week.
• Record yourself talking about the material and what you understand. 
• Does your textbook offer review questions at the end of the chapter? 
  
• At the end of your study session, make a bullet pointed list of what you learned today.
• Also make a list of things you are struggling with.
• Create your own questions from the textbook and PowerPoint slides. Question how well you understand every single thing the teacher mentioned.
• Try study groups.  
• Join online study groups or groups related to your career.
• Incorporate different methods of learning. Do some silent reading. Do some role playing. Do some speaking.
• Practice teaching it. If you don’t know it well enough to teach it, you don’t know it.

 
FOR A TEST

• Cramming doesn’t help.
• Review the morning of. You know what you know.
• Take deep breaths.
• Eat something! You can’t think straight when you’re hungry.
• They say sucking on peppermints is supposed to enhance your memory.
• If you have a test you can write on, jot down your mnemonics and memory tips. 
• Take it slow and read carefully.
• Once it’s over, emotionally let go of the stress.

 
BALANCE

• Take things in bites.
• Enjoy the victories. Reward yourself for good grades.  
• Know that your intelligence is not defined by a letter grade. There are extremely smart people who had classes they struggled with. They still have value in the career field.
• Take breaks.
• Have a designated day off. Mine is Sunday. I don’t do school on Sunday. I don’t study on Sunday. I don’t even want to think about school on Sunday.
• Self-care.
• Let yourself do things you enjoy.