Greetings Adrienne, we're ALL glad that you joined us.
As an RN you'll know what questions to ask soon enough. You'll find plenty of answers here too, not always in agreement with one another. Beekeeipng is a lot like medicine--not all doctors agree what is the correct diagnosis and answer to give to the patients. But like doctors, we try our best. Like patients, you'll have to be the one who makes the final decision.
But for the meantime, the best advice is to read, read and read some more about bees. As you read and learn more (and there are certainly plenty of books available on the topic) you'll start getting the hand of the big things and the little details can be filled in by observation and by the knowledge and experience we all will be happy to share with you.
Once again. greetings, and enjoy this wonderfull journey of beekeeping.