Any suggestions on what to use to carry all of these books?

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Hi All,

I will be starting nursing school in July, and it was suggested that we use a rolling backpack (of some sort) to carry all of our books - we have SO many and our teacher wants us to bring them all everyday! :uhoh3:

Do any of you have suggestions as to what type has worked best for you? Any websites with pictures would be most helpful.

Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I simply used a small, cheap quality luggage bag on wheels that cost about $10 to lug my books around. These are the exact same ones that people use to roll their heavy luggage around at airports. My bag fit about 10 heavy textbooks.

Click on this link to see some affordable backpacks on wheels:

Korus Aca De Grande Wheeled Backpack | Overstock.com

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Specializes in IMCU.

I have my eye on a really sweet Samsonite but it is expensive.

I have a cheapo luggage one but killed the wheel after the third use. My Jansport rolling backpack is still going strong -- three years old and initially cost me 60+ bucks. It looks like it has been dragged through a jungle but not a rip in site. The wheels and zips are doing really well too. I could, and did, fit the kitchen sink in that one.

We started to share the task of bringing books. I brought the med-surg and the person next to me brought her fundamentals (or whatever). Also, one of my books offered access to a free online copy (of course you'd then need to bring your laptop to class.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering the same thing. I start in Aug. So I wanted to get a jump on some things ahead of time.

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I've beenw ondering this too. I was going to wait and see what the teachers expected us to bring. I've done the text book sharing before - was a huge help, but I'll have to see how it goes.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

I'm surprised that your instructor is making you lug all of those books around - I never had to carry anything, just my binder with notes! There were a couple of days where they wanted us to bring a bunch of books, but that wasn't very often. If you have friends that you already know in nursing school, I would suggest "splitting up" the load - you bring say half of the required books and your buddy brings the other half - and then just share.

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I would ask if they would allow a pda or ipod touch where you can get the apps for some of those books. Check their policy on that. I think lugging around a ton of books would distract me and interfere with my learning.

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Specializes in Home Care.

I use a luggage bag with wheels. I always bring my required text books so I can write notes of what pages to refer to in the text.

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Specializes in Junior Year of BSN.

I had a messenger bag last semester and had a locker so I would just put my books in there. But as the semester goes along you realize you DON'T need to lug around all those books so I left them in my house or car. Also we did the sharing thing to in clinical our instructor didn't want us to clutter the room we held our meetings in the hospital so she just said some of you guys bring this stuff not all. Only brought my nursing diagnosis pocket book and drug book with paper thats it for clinical.

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Specializes in Emergency, Pre-Op, PACU, OR.

You might want to wait and see if you really need to have all your textbooks with you in class. For most of my classes I leave my textbooks at home and only bring my laptop and a small folder to hold loose handouts. If I plan to study before/between/after classes I will leave my textbooks in the car and pick them up/drop them off as needed.

We were also recommended some sort of rolling suitcase but I found that an oversized, well-built and well-padded backpack works great.

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Thanks for all of the great suggestions!

Yes, our instructor said that she wants us to bring all of our books with us each day - it ought to be very interesting because our room is so small and with 33 students elbow to elbow AND all of our books - it promises to be a very snug and uncomfortable room!

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I no longer take luggage with me. I left mines in the car and someone stole the entire luggage thinking it was a laptop or some valuables in there.

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