My school had us buy the sixth edition of this book: NURSING TODAY: TRANSITION & TRENDS ( ZERWEKH).
I wondered why, at first, but in Nursing I they actually used it a lot for definitions of primary, secondary, tertiary care; types of health care plans like managed care, PPO, HMO, and a bunch of other topics pertaining to RN work, types of nursing jobs, etc., but not clinical skills or patient care. I find it a good reference for all that kind of info.
Moseby's Medical Dictionary is another that they made us buy. Works for me, since I am a career changer and didn't know diddly about medical work.
The nursing diagnosis book was specified by my school and the drug guide, as well. Buy old ones at thrift stores or just wait to get the real book list.
Most nursing schools seem to require white shoes, leather or vinyl, no mesh, no vent holes or perforations, no color stripes or whatever. So you can be looking around for a deal on suitable nursing shoes. I never skimp on shoes. But I do buy them ahead of need, when I find a fantastic clearance deal on eBay or online. Many hospitals are banning the rocker shoes due to their instability and how you can turn an ankle or fall off your shoes. I loved my Skechers XW laced rockers at first, but the more I wore them, the more curved the shoes got and the more stress they put on my feet and ankles. I went back to a walking shoe. Fitting shoes to your particular feet is important.
Having your home life organized and nailed down will save you hassles later, because nursing instructors do not want your personal life to interfere with whatever you are supposed to be doing in school. Transportation issues, in particular. You can't miss classes or clinicals. And you can't be more than possibly 10 minutes late, if that. Have a good reliable vehicle lined up. Drive to and from the school in the hours that you will be commuting there, to determine what the traffic flow is, where construction tie-ups are, and the best route, the alternate route, and the worst conceivable amount of time that you might need to get to school or clinics.
A&P II usually uses the same book as A&P I. You can teach yourself A&P, just by reading and studying the book. II is about the same grunt work and rote memorization as I. So you can be working on that this summer, then formally take the class and lab in the fall and that will make it much less painful to do A&P + nursing I at the same time.
Whenever I am in the thrift stores, I skulk the book racks for nursing school books, particularly ones like med-surg. Or critical care nursing. Those, I found, saved me the reinvention of the wheel b/c they have specific interventions and nursing diagnoses for the common med-surg conditions that I encountered in N1 clinicals: diabetes complications (out the wazoo!), cellulitis, renal failure, heart disease and CHF, etc. I had clinicals in a unit that was followup care for patients who were not critical care or ICU, but had some conditions requiring hospitalization. I have Potter & Perry (not a great book, imo) as my nursing fundamentals text, and I read someone on here saying "I just use my med-surg book" so I tried that. Found a used med-surge book. And a critical care nursing book. Having the more advanced books to refer to for probable interventions and NDs helped me with my clinical writeups. We didn't get a whole lot of guidance on how to do those writeups, but the school still expected us to write like pros, so I looked to the pros books to tell me how, and it worked because it helped me organize my action plan.
If you get stuck with Potter & Perry book for fundamentals, be advised that
the study guide doesn't have answers. The answers are in the instructor's edition only. Instructors might take questions directly from that P&P test bank, so you might not be able to get the study guide answers from the instructors. You can look them up, but who has all of that extra time? So, for exposure to NCLEX style questions, you might want another guide like maybe this Kozier one.
http://www.amazon.com/Study-Guide-Fu...5568159&sr=1-8
But make sure that whatever one you buy has answers. The topics and questions for N1 will be similar no matter what textbook. But you need practice NCLEX style questions WITH the answers and the logic. Nursing tests are all about how *apply* it, and critical thinking. You have to understand the concepts and be able to prioritize and choose best answers, because 3 of the 4 might be things you'd do, but the goal is to pick the best solution/action/answer, etc.
May 16, '11 by KareBear0609I haven't started nursing school yet, but I just bought the Saunders NCLEX book. I also bought a nursing diagnosis book and a care plan book. I had extra grant money for the college book store so I went ahead and bought those. I think I spent like $160.
May 16, '11 by SunshineDaisyNote cards are a must! I got a Jansport rolling backpack and it's awesome. So much so that 11 or 12 other students got the same one*L*
