El Centro First Year - Buy book box or not?

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Hi all,

I'm starting at el Centro College in Dallas this fall and orientation is tomorrow. Do I want to buy the whole box of first year books or only Potter/Perry 7th ed. and Ignatavicius 5th ed. (assuming there is no new edition)? Some people have said that the online stuff was useful and convenient but $900 seems like a lot esp. if most of the stuff isn't used much. Do we use things from the book box in later semesters (mandatory or just good idea)?

I'm really interested in your opinions, and looking forward to meeting all you new students at the orientation!

Richard

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I love the books in the box, because I love the option to use them on my Laptop. But if you are really tight on the money you will need Perry/Potter and IGGY. But I felt the other books were really helpful. Plan for success...buy all the books.

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Specializes in ICU.

Hi!

I am starting my second semester and I remember feeling the same way you are right now. However, now I can tell you that it is worth it and will use all of the books and the cds. One of the great things about the box is that you get this access to all the books on you computer for free and it makes life easier for you (it's easier to carry one laptop than 4 heavy books) and you will use them for reference in the future (e.x. 2nd hesi exam at the end of 2nd semester)

Part from the box, I recommend that you buy the following books:

-A good nursing diagnosis reference manual (e.g. Sparks and Taylor) - you need this to do your care plans. $30-40

-Drug Guide (Davis's) - $40

-Fundamental of Success (Nugent + Vitale) - this helps A LOT when studying for the tests. $45

Oh, and let me give you an advise to save you some money, don't buy the scrub pants from El Centro, they are horrible, overpriced and they won't let you return them! I bougth 2 and never used them because they don't fit well. Instead, go to any scrub store and get them there for 12 bucks (black) and some places give you 10% discount if you say you are a nursing student.

Good luck!:nuke:

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I am starting in the Fall as well!! :yeah:

I have a couple of questions for anyone that can answer....

Do you suggest installing the books on my laptop or desktop?

Also are we allowed to wear different black scrub pants than Landau?

Thanks! :typing

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i am starting in the fall as well!! :yeah:

i have a couple of questions for anyone that can answer....

do you suggest installing the books on my laptop or desktop?

also are we allowed to wear different black scrub pants than landau?

thanks! :typing

i am wondering the same thing about the scrub pants. from previous posts from students already in the program, some suggests buying a different pant, some say landau pant is not very flattering. tomorrow when i buy my books i am going to try on the pants and i guess if i dont like them, i will buy them somewhere else

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Hi guys,

I can't wait to see us all in our non-flattering scrubs! Mine have been sitting in the bag from Majors since the day after orientation ... now I'm afraid to look! Of course, I'm a guy, but we don't want our butts to look horrendously big either :-)

Do we actually use the scrubs before the actual clinicals start? A lot can happen in 7 weeks LOLOL (no more Skittles for me!)

I haven't loaded the e-books yet ... I just have a laptop, no desktop in use, but if I had both I think I'd put them on the laptop so I could take it to class instead of the book itself (a lot of people seem to think that's the way to go). Of course, if your battery dies during class you might wish you had the paper book with you.

Has anyone looked at all the stuff that's on eCampus under the Nursing Community? I think we're all finally members there. There are detailed syllabuses and notes for the classes ... it looked like about 300 pages of stuff for 1423 ... I don't know whether to print it out or not. I guess they'll tell us.

Last but certainly not least ... does anyone know how many more little expenses we'll have as school starts (besides background check, pee check, stethoscope, BP cuff, name tags, etc etc)????

Do any Parkland people know which Parkland location the clinical is at?

Looking forward to meeting y'all next week!

Richard

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So am I the only one not seeing all this information under nursing community? Is it because I'm at NL and not EC? Has anyone received the email for the schedule of the 3 day orientation? All those papers that we are supposed to bring are no where to be found on my ecampus! Someone help....

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So am I the only one not seeing all this information under nursing community? Is it because I'm at NL and not EC? Has anyone received the email for the schedule of the 3 day orientation? All those papers that we are supposed to bring are no where to be found on my ecampus! Someone help....

Hi Oneday,

A lot of it is in the COMMUNITY tab. At El Centro I have the ECC-AD NURSING community in my Community list. There's also a Brookhaven Nursing Community listed but I can't get there. I would think Northlake would use the ECC community stuff, but I don't know.

I received an email from James McCarty last Thursday with the schedule for the 3 day orientation attached. Most of the things say ECC, but a few (peeing, for instance) say ECC/NLC. I don't know if there's a separate schedule for NL.

Most of the forms seem to be somewhere in the Community under Forms, or hidden in the RNSG1423 tabs under COURSES. I still have not found anything that looks like an "immunization release form", or a "1460 lab schedule".

We're also supposed to have an access code for something called "Virtual Clinical Excursion" but I can't find it in my book box ....

Hope this helps! Did you ever get any emails?

Richard

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