There's a parking lot outside every nursing school in America, and in it, right now, a student is crying — convinced she's the only one. She's wrong. Jon Haws RN names the most universal unspoken ritual in nursing education: why the car (the first private space after hours of performed composure), why almost everyone does it and nobody says so (the silence IS the culture), the difference between normal release tears and the signal tears that mean it's time to get backup, and the two-word text — "parking lot" / "same" — that has carried more students through nursing school than any study guide. Every nurse you admire has a parking lot. The difference was never the crying. Note: this episode touches on student mental health; if you're struggling, in the US you can call or text 988. From NURSING.com. Keywords: crying in nursing school, nursing school stress, nursing school mental health, is nursing school supposed to be this hard, nursing student burnout, emotional exhaustion nursing school.

Somewhere between first semester and pinning, relationships end — the supportive boyfriend, the childhood best friend, sometimes the fiancé — and every cohort knows it and nobody says it out loud. Jon Haws RN says it out loud: why nursing school strains relationships in ways nobody warns you about (it doesn't just take your time — it changes your availability as a person, and growth and leaving look identical from the outside for a while), the three-question sort that separates relationships struggling to adjust from the ones showing you who they always were, and the actual scripts: the 20-minute weekly state-of-the-union, the answer to "you've changed" that has saved relationships, the voice-memo friendship downgrade, and the one artifact to hand family who "don't get it." Grieve what falls away. Don't apologize for growing. The most personal episode we've ever done. From NURSING.com. Keywords: nursing school relationships, nursing school breakup, boyfriend doesn't understand nursing school, losing friends in nursing school, nursing school changed me, dating in nursing school.

Twenty-five years ago today, rows of gurneys stood ready outside St. Vincent's Hospital — and stayed empty. Most of you listening weren't born yet. So today: no study tips, no advice, nothing to sign up for. Just the stories that belong to this profession now — the hospitals that stood ready, the largest patient influx in American hospital history at a small downtown hospital, and the nurses we lost: Captain Kathy Mazza, the OR nurse turned Port Authority commander who shot out the North Tower's glass walls so hundreds could escape, found five months later beside the patient she refused to leave — alongside Stephen Huczko, a fellow nurse-officer. Touri Bolourchi. Jean Hoadly Peterson. Lydia Bravo. Christine Egan. And the nurses still caring for 9/11 responders and survivors, twenty-five years later. This is not a history lesson. It's a handoff.

It's 2am, the care plan is due at 7, and a nursing student types into a chatbot: "explain preload and afterload like I'm five" — because asking out loud just feels expensive. All over the country, students are having their most honest learning conversations with a machine, and everyone's debating whether it's cheating. Wrong debate. Jon Haws RN asks the more useful question — why does asking a machine feel so much easier than asking out loud? — and delivers the honest guide: the green zone (tutoring, practice questions, explainers), the yellow zone (AI is confidently wrong — verify anything that would touch a patient; care plans; know your program's policy), the red zone (integrity, borrowed understanding, and the HIPAA rule that can end a career: never paste real patient information into AI, ever), and the office-hours script that brings your questions back to the humans. Then the question only you can answer: is the understanding actually YOURS yet? Find out free — start a SIMCLEX at SIMCLEX.com, first 15 questions on us: true adaptive engine, every Next Gen item type, the most realistic mirror of the real thing that exists. Free Green-Yellow-Red screenshot card in the show notes. Keywords: nursing students using ChatGPT, is it cheating to use AI in nursing school, AI care plans nursing, ChatGPT nursing school policy, how to use AI to study nursing, HIPAA AI nursing students, free NCLEX simulation.

Hydrocodone/acetaminophen (Norco) is one of the most common meds you'll see for moderate-to-severe and post-op pain. In this MedMaster episode: therapeutic and pharmacologic class, how the combo lets you use less opioid, mechanism of action at opiate receptors in the CNS, and the nursing must-knows — monitor for hypotension and respiratory depression, never exceed 4g of acetaminophen in 24 hours, and keep Narcan (naloxone) in mind as the reversal agent.

Get your free download of the 50 most commonly prescribed medications — the must-knows for the NCLEX and real life on the floor: https://nursing.com/50meds

Today's NCLEX Question of the Day:

The nursing category is musculoskeletal. The NCLEX category is basic care and comfort. A nurse has given a patient with joint stiffness and limited range of motion a nursing diagnosis of impaired physical mobility. Which nursing intervention would be most appropriate when caring for this patient? A, screen for signs of ineffective coping or helplessness. B, ensure that the patient receives enough food and fluids. C, assess the patient's relationship with his spouse. D, monitor for changes in the patient's affect that indicate anxiety or panic.

Think you know the answer? Listen to the episode for the full breakdown and rationale.

Do you actually KNOW if you're ready for the NCLEX, or are you just hoping? Stop guessing and find out for free. Take the free SIMCLEX at nursing.com/simclex. It simulates the algorithms of the NCLEX, the same question rules, the same difficulty, so you get a real feel for what the actual exam is like.

New NCLEX Question of the Day episodes drop every Thursday.

Two years on the unit as a tech — then her first night alone as the nurse. The quiet shift that teaches you everything.

"She'd worked the unit for two years. As a tech. And then came her first night... alone. As the nurse."

Not every first shift is a disaster. Some of them are quiet — and the quiet ones teach you something too. The night team took care of her with a fair, gentle assignment. She made it through. And she wrote something worth keeping: it felt "really, really lonely"... with no preceptor beside her. But she didn't mind the sound of silence.

In this episode of First Shift, Jon Haws, RN — founder of NURSING.com — tells her story, then tells his own: his first solo shift in the Neuro ICU, sitting with a family as they withdrew life support. Afterward, the patient's mother hugged him and said, "I love you. I will never forget you." He didn't do anything special. He just stayed.

Three things for the quiet shifts: you're never actually alone — build your team, learn their names, say thank you. Asking for help is the job, not a weakness. And the oxygen mask rule: take care of yourself first, so you can take care of everybody else.

If you're a nursing student or a new nurse, this one's for you. New episodes of First Shift drop every Friday — real stories from nurses' first shifts, and the honest talk that gets you through yours.

Studying for the NCLEX? Try SIMCLEX — the adaptive practice exam that tells you when you're ready: https://nursing.com/simclex

It's time to go out and be your best self today. Happy nursing, y'all.

Welcome to Med of the Day — new episodes drop every Monday. It's Med Monday!

In this episode: Benztropine (Cogentin) — an anticholinergic anti-Parkinson agent that blocks acetylcholine to reduce tremors and rigidity. The must-knows: watch for anticholinergic effects — dry mouth, constipation, tachycardia; plus arrhythmias, hypotension, and palpitations; assess for extrapyramidal symptoms; instruct patients to maintain good oral hygiene; and take it exactly as directed.

Download your FREE cheatsheet of the 50 most commonly prescribed medications: https://nursing.com/50meds