Student Asking a ?

Potter & Perry text is very helpful for the lecture part. I like RN Notes also...a small notepad size reference to use during clinicals. Handy to keep in your pocket as a reference.

I strongly suggest Saunders NCLEX Comprehensive Review (has a triangle on the front). I started using this book in Med Surg and went from B-'s to A-'s. It is a great book to review before tests! Hope this helps!

Hey, Carla. . .when I did my med/surg years ago I found Norma M. Metheny's Fluid & Electrolyte Balance: Nursing Considerations book very helpful. I still have a current edition of it on my shelf. I mean she covers everything from metabolic and respiratory alkalosis and acidosis to tube feedings, IV fluids to how the fluids in the body shift with liver and renal failure. I had a hard time understanding the different renal failures and I also found a small book that explained renal failure so I could understand it. Liver failure was another puzzle for me. A lot of these things lie in the pathophysiology underlying the diseases. There is so much you can get on the internet these days as well. If you do not have a good pathophysiology textbook you should consider getting one of those as well. I have the one by Huether and McCance and I can't tell you how many times I've come home and opened it up to look things up, as old and as long as I've been a nurse. A good care plan book that will lay out care plans for specific diseases will also serve you well. Although I'm sure you know I like the Ackley and Ladwig care plan book, it isn't laid out that way. I also have Carpenito's care plan book which is.

i would recommend medical-surgical nursing: critical thinking for collaborative care by donna d. ignatavicius, m. linda workman. i used during my nursing school and when i prepared for nclex ( passed )
big book with excellent explanation, a lot of tables, pictures. i love it.

also, a lot of my classmates used brunner and suddarth's textbook of medical-surgical nursing (two volume set) by suzanne c. o'connell. smeltzer, suzanne c. smeltzer.
good luck

I STRONGLY suggest this too. I used this during clinicals and it was very helpful. I also bought the RNotes Medical Surgical version - it's more detailed regarding med/surg procedures ie. cpr, foley insertion, etc. I didn't use this as often as the original RNotes.

I usually do't recommend the "....Made Incredibly Easy" books, but the Med-Surg Made Incred Easy really was good, dumbed everything down to my level......

I used Straight A's in Med/Surg and a few NCLEX review books. The review books seemed to really help me understand and brought my grades up. Good luck to ya!