Books for Nursing School

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As the new semester of school starts, there are so many out of pocket expenses nursing students endure before any scholarship or financial aid is dispursed. I personally, and many other nursing students are unemployed and raising families. New nursing students have been accepted for the fall term with a packet of atleast $1,000.00 out of pocket expenses $500.00 within 15 days:eek::eek:After the fifteen days we are expected to buy books, study guides and other materials ranging upwards of $500.00 or more.:eek: I am asking if any seasoned nurses and recent grads would help us out and donate any material you think we may need or find it in your heart to donate books that you don't use anymore. I clearly see that I am headed for desperate times, so I am taking the first of many desperate measures to come. Any and all replies welcome. I'll take this time now to thank, hug and kiss any angels.:kiss

:tku::tku::tku::tku:

:hug::hug:

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check EBAY - I bought many of my books there for pennies on the dollar

$150 med/surg book - mine was $14

$100 psych book - mine was $10

look for the previous edition - it usually is almost identical.

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I can ask around, but I know that I plan on keeping all my books for at least a few years after I graduate, so I can use them as reference.

Congratulations on being accepted into NS. It's a fun journey! Good luck!!

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Not sure if they have nursing textbooks, but I recently discovered campusbookrentals.com for my daughter. Have rented her microbiology book for the semester for 50-sumthin bucks. The cheapest ebay had it was a lil over 100. Then you mail it back in the envelope provided for free. It's worth checking out, this is the first time we have tried it.

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Specializes in CVSICU, Cardiac Cath Lab.

If you hurry, you can get them through inter-library transfer. Might be the last edition, but it will work and be free :)

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Call tlhe school librarian to see if the library is required to maintain the latest copy of what is required for each course. My state requires that. I used the library and copied what I needed my whole last year. Most stuff came from notes anyway.

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I second the suggestion to check online for used copies, particularily one edition old. I use half.com quite a bit, but there are many options out there.

You can get current edition used copies for less than the new price, but being ok going one edition ago means you can usually get a textbook for $10 or less. That was my experience, at least.

Other students sometimes gave me slack because they didn't recognize my editions, and when I said it was a few years old, they harped on needing to have the most current information. For me, I found very few differences. I also found most of my instructors did a great job at pointing out and teaching the newest information. And I studied with other students, so I was able to compare editions of books.

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Yeah, I was wondering about the books earlier today. I think six books were required for the foundations course, and three of those, judging from what Amazon had posted, were all repetitive. Three are require for pharmacology, although I don't understand why after reading about them, and who knows what's required of the geriatrics and assessment courses listed this fall?

That said, I plan on buying whatever used is available and selling it back as soon as I'm done with it. It sounds naive, but I always thought all nurses used was the Lippincott manual.

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I actually love amazon. I bought mine today and saved $300 (we have 10 required texts for this semester). I checked out half.com and chegg (I think) for renting, but honestly, I will need most of these texts for atleast the first year, and 2 semesters of rentals is going to cost more than buying used. I got everything NEW on amazon for USED prices. There are also certain editions (we are using potter and perry fundamentals this term) that we have to do homework out of, and they have recently updated them because the first copy for 2009 was full of errors. I suggest getting some assignments from your instructors, because if you have to do work out of them, you will need that edition. Plus alot of them come with CD's or DVD's that you will have to use as well.

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I never purchased a book during nursing school, not one! What I did was borrow the previous edition from the library. Sometimes I had to travel to other community colleges to borrow a book which wasn't available at my school, it was worth it. I saved TONS of money.

Best of luck!

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You've gotten great advice here just wanted to add:

campusbooks.com compares prices at popular sites for used books like half, amazon, and textbooks 'r us. Textbooks 'r us is nice because you can buy from their corporation directly (not from an independent seller like at half.com). Always check the quality of the seller before you buy used and give yourself enough time for shipping and snafus (so order now - books are rarely more than $20 on these sites if you are willing to purchase the previous edition). I always bought older editions, just compare with a classmate who has the current edition so you are sure you aren't missing anything. In the entirety of my career, there was a single diagram which the older edition was missing, I simply photocopied from a classmate.

For classes like OB and Peds, I borrowed from the library (I knew I would never need them for reference). If your campus library doesn't have an older edition to check-out available - you can often times use the reference copy and photocopy what you need. There were also copies available in our lab, this was great because the newer edition had the CDs and "My Lab" type inserts available (the one drawback to buying used). If you do not have them in lab, buddy up with someone in class that owns the current edition.

Explore the resources at your college for other expenses ... There were donated uniforms, stipends for stethoscopes, emergency funds, through our nursing program. It does not hurt to ask.

All the best to you.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Do you have any friends that are nurses that still have their books? I borrowed several books from a friend that graduated a few years before I started. Most of the books were 1 or 2 editions old, but they were almost identical (Maybe a few new pictures or diagrams). Buying older editions would be alot cheaper too, and again, have the exact information. As for all of the study guides and other stuff, unless they actually check to see if you bought them, maybe you should wait to see if you need them to study with. Some people are able to study just fine with the textbooks. My most important books were the Med/surg books, drug guide, and nursing diagnosis book. My program "recommended" tons of other books that were not needed.

Good luck with NS. Btw, check with state programs. I'm in NC, and I know they will give you a decent amount of money for nursing school if you agree to work as a nurse in NC after you graduate. :up:

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