Are these books worth the $$$

MsLeylaBar · Jan 13, 2008

"Alexanders Care of the Patient in Surgery" by Jane Rothrock

:up: An OR nurse must have Alexander's. Also, Operating Room Technique, Nancy Marie Philips is good.

The pocket guide is okay, not extensive though. Not familiar with the instruments book but if you just want to familiarize yourself with instruments, you can borrow your OR's instrument catalogs from various vendors.

Scrubby · Jan 13, 2008

I recommend you buy Alexanders care of the patient in surgery. it is worth it's weight in gold!

brewerpaul · Jan 13, 2008

Alexander's is terrific. Note that you can find used copies,maybe an edition or two old, at greatly reduced prices. Try Half.com or amazon.com .

Granted there are changes in intruments and techniques, but most of the content really doesn't change all that fast, so an older edition will work just fine for you.

ewattsjt · Jan 13, 2008

I am a CST, CFA going back to school for nursing. Here is my view of the books listed which were included in my ST program.

Alexander’s is a must for anyone in the OR…RNs and techs alike everyone who is in the OR should have one at home.

Tighe’s Instrumentation gives generalized setups for basics…..Good for learning the common instruments with common procedures, however instrumentation will vary from facility to facility and surgeon to surgeon. It can give you a “jump start” but you will learn the instruments as you go too.

Any pocket guide is a limited guide that tells only the basics, which allows it to be small enough to almost fit into a large pocket (really a tote bag) LOL. I don’t think pocket guides are for everyone. I have personally never use mine. I do know people who do use their’s on occasion. So, I guess it depends on what kind of person you are.

During pharmacology, we had to make drug cards from the “Nursing Drug Hand Book” LWW Springhouse. We had to condensate the most important information (contraindications, doses, routes etc…) to 6x 4 index cards, leaving out other details that were not as important. That is basically what all the pocket guides do.

sandiegojames · Jan 13, 2008

There is a pretty good, basic, surgical instrument website that allows people to quiz themselves on the the basic surgical instruments, you might try that out before buying a book.

www.surgical-instrument-pictures.com

And dito on alexander's its a must, as well as the 2007 aorn standards book.

LV_ORnurse · Jan 14, 2008

HEllo Jenny,

I will be strating an OR training Program in so. cali and the books that were recommended were Alexander's care of the patient and Operating room technique. Good luck to you!

I love books and I am looking for some good books to learn OR. I will be a circulator starting very soon.
Here is what I am looking at...please let me know if you find them valuable:
"Pocket Guide to the Operating Room" by Maxine Goldman
"Alexanders Care of the Patient in Surgery" by Jane Rothrock
"Surgical Instruments-A pocket Guide" by Maryann P. Wells (???)
"Tighe's Instrumentation for the Operating Room-7th ed" (bundled with Alexanders)
Any others????
Thanks!
Jenny

Maxine Goldman · Feb 17, 2011

AORN Journal (Dec. '08, p 1023) recommended "Pocket Guide to the Operating Room", referring to it as an "invaluable reference" and a "tremendous resource" for someone "studying for the CNOR" exam. Perhaps if the nurses who replied to this query had read "The Pocket Guide..." their comments would have been more appropriate to the work.

ruralgirl08 · Feb 17, 2011

I purchased "Pocket Guide to the Operating Room," a few days ago, and wish I would had got it sooner to help study for my last OR exam. It's straight forward, and the necessary information is condensed for you. I also studied Alexander's, but this is a quick reference. It will definitely be useful to prep myself for clinical.

stereotypical · Feb 19, 2011

I use both Alexanders and the Pocket Guide. The guide I bring with me to work, when I want to look up something quick. The other book when I want specifics.