Quote from BioD1234
Paco-thank you!!!!!! Do u remember what books were pointless to buy? I accepted my admission and paid my deposit I'm ready to go!
Pathology: hands down - is one you don't have to buy. They do an incredible job in that class of giving you Powerpoints and extensive Word doc notes that they're all you need for the exams. They also give you access to some prior exams to practice questions. Sometimes some of those old questions are reused but they are few.
Intro to Health Care Policy: prob the biggest waste of a textbook if anyone bought it, the exam questions did not even come from assigned readings.
Health Assessment: you can get away with buying the pocket version if you want to avoid buying the bigger book, and don't need to buy the cultural competencies book.
Perspectives: on the fence about this one. 1 year and 2 year programs were taught this course differently by different professors ... so depends. Was a waste for us in the 1 year, but you may have to get as a 2 year.
Research in Nursing: Was a waste as well for us (both programs) BUT not sure if the course format is changing, so I can't say either way for you guys.
For all other courses, textbooks are good to have (but would not say absolutely required, because like I said a few people in my class never bought a single book and got by, but I am sure they may have occasionally borrowed a classmate's at some point ... I felt compelled to have books at some point for most courses, or good access to one).
Rarely buy new books! I personally rented most of my books (BookRenter or Chegg) or bought older editions online for cheaper, much cheaper. Some professors try to scare you into buying the current edition of a book but you absolutely can get away with the one prior edition for most courses, sometimes obtainable as cheap as $1 online.
Special notes on books I recommend buying:
OB and Peds: these are each 1/2 semester courses in the fall (in your last year if you are a 2 year). You should work out with a classmate who is taking the course you are not taking yet and switch books when the next one starts. This is one way to save $$ on one book. The textbooks in these classes are resourceful, particularly for huge management plans you will have to do on one patient for each clinical.
The ONE thing I did buy at the bookstore (since there was no outside option) was the
Fundamentals package, as it comes with the textbook and study guide for the class plus other useful do-dads that you will use throughout the program (or should), such as the Saunders NCLEX book and the Swearingen care plan book. Its about $225 if I recall. Also, Fundamentals is 10 credits!! You really should strive to get an A in this class if you are GPA-obsessed, because a lower grade in this class out of the gate will be hard to recover from. Just my opinion. Some people found this class hard, but I found it pretty straightforward, as long as you do the work! Also, things you learn in Fundamentals are skills you will use throughout nursing school in other clinicals and in your nursing career (helping patients with ADLs, taking vital signs, starting IVs, giving injections, administering medications, documentation, etc.). You learn about it in lecture, you then practice the skill in lab on a dummy, then do it for real on a patient in clinical.
So for instance, after you take this course and later take OB, when the instructor asks you to get vitals on your patient (the woman who just had a baby one or two days ago), you are expected to know what she means and do it on your own (because this is a fundamental skill). You won't be expected to do a specific OB assessment on your own at first because you will learn this in that clinical with your instructor, but you should be able to do other basic assessments on your own if patient reports basic symptoms (if patient feels weakness, you should know how to do neurological checks based on what you learned in Health Assessment). See how things in first semester build upon the rest of the other courses?
Definitely buy the math workbook for
Bio Math, you are gonna need the worksheets inside to hand in as homework.
That is all I can think of right now .... enough to get you started for sure
May 11, '12 by Paco-RNQuote from nursebydesignIn theory, everything you mentioned above (scanner, etc.) sounds nice, but on a practical level you won't need it. The profs do a great job of giving you everything you need to study for your exams and understand the material and know as a basis for NCLEX later on. You will need to do very little outside referencing beyond the Powerpoint slides (hell, some of my classmates got by without even buying a single textbook all year, and I have no idea how they managed that, although I admit some are a waste of money). The only heavy resourcing you will do on your own will be for care plans and for management papers that are assigned in clinical courses. Other than that, just print out the Powerpoint slides for each lecture and you will be just fine. Use the school computer lab to print your slides, you get $14.00 a week credit to print pages. I had a printer before nursing school and it's still unpacked in the box from when I moved! You pay a technology fee to SBU, might as well use it to your advantage.Hi Paco:
But in reality, I used very little study aids. Pharm and psychiatric are probably the only classes I used them in, as they are the ones I personally spent the most time trying to understand.
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May 12, '12 by BuckerooNice job Paco, i put a note on the fall 2012 blog for folks to take a look at all your work over here. Great information.Paco-RN likes this.
