Fundamentals & using an alternative base source? Eliminating Potter & Perry.

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Hi. I'm in my first term of Nursing. I'm taking Fundamentals, the lab, and intro to professional nursing in which I'd like to drop to focus on fundamentals.

I just took my first quiz for fundamentals and got a whooping 66%. Granted, I didn't read the 2nd half of the chapters assigned because I just didn't have time to read them.

Week one (Aug 27th) consisted of 4 chapters, and week two (no school, labor day sept 3rd obviously still assigned) 3 chapters....and boy are they long. I had about less than 11 days to study them. I was quizzed on all on sept 10th.

We need to read the material BEFORE being lectured on it, just to be quizzed on it. My prof's lectures are useless anyway and she doesn't release the powerpoints. She never finishes all the powerpoints and is extremely fast paced. I feel screwed. The midterm is 2 weeks away and there will be 13 chapters required to know.

I've come to realize that this Potter & Perry (8th ed.) book elaborates on a bunch of non-sense in depth, mixed with the main Nursing concepts, principles, etc. required to know. It seems more like a reference text rather then a text for a course. My friend who is an RN already can't stress enough how important the P&P book is to pass fundamentals. The problem is that it's very, very time consuming, since it explains too much in depth. Heck, assessment is nearly 80 pages! Plus 2 other chapters I must read within 6 days. Sure I can manage to read them before my weekly quiz; that's reading it once, taking no notes, not repeating/memorizing important content.

Not to mention the stuff for the other classes. And ATI stuff due, takes away my study time! The ATI isn't even coherent with the fundamentals lecture either. It also doesn't explain rationales....blah.

My learning style is reading, highlighting, understanding, and repetition, note taking is okay, but I can't really differentiate between that and just reading the important stuff in the book. I know some of you will say...oh but writing it down will help you remember. It doesn't. I'm a pure reading, understanding, repetitive kind of person when it comes to studying.

Anyway, the quiz was definitely a wake up call. Since the P&P chapters take SO long to read, I was finding myself skimming and skimming, doing the practice questions in the end. This isn't the way I study. But really, my study style can't adapt to this book considering how accelerated the term is (9 weeks) and the amount of [long] chapters assigned per week (it'll be 3-4 from now on, the first quiz was 7 because of labor day..it was still overwhelming). There will be a quiz every week with an exception of the midterm and final days. So imagine reading 3-4 long chapters weekly plus familiarizing/studying more the chapters of the previous weeks, and having to worry about skills lab practices/tests, that other class, and ATI stuff? Ouch.

So I bought these books:

http://www.amazon.com/Prentice-Hall-Reviews-Rationales-Fundamentals/dp/0132240785/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347351864&sr=1-3&keywords=fundamentals+hogan

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Success-Applying-Critical-Thinking/dp/0803627793

My plan is to study off these books and do the Evolve NCLEX questions. Completely eliminating the P&P. My gut is telling me that I won't pass just depending on the P&P book.

Has anyone studied using alternative resources for fundamentals, completely eliminating the P&P book and passed?

Thanks and sorry for the long post.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Welcome to nursing school.

You really need to do the work/reading that is assigned. You admit you didn't do the reading because you couldn't be bothered and then you blame the book because you did poorly. Try applying yourself and you will do better.It's not nonsense, it's stuff you need to know. The fundamentals are the foundation for the rest of the things you will learn and you need to pay attention now.If you are too cool to study and do the reading you will struggle down the road. It doesn't get easier.Getting a text with less information in it will not help.

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I'm a bit nervouse too. My first two lectures we had 4 chapters due. I think it was 7 by weeks end plus other books as well.

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Welcome to nursing school.You really need to do the work/reading that is assigned. You admit you didn't do the reading because you couldn't be bothered and then you blame the book because you did poorly. Try applying yourself and you will do better.It's not nonsense, it's stuff you need to know. The fundamentals are the foundation for the rest of the things you will learn and you need to pay attention now.If you are too cool to study and do the reading you will struggle down the road. It doesn't get easier.Getting a text with less information in it will not help.
It did not sound like the OP couldn't be bothered. It sounded more like being overwhelmed with the amount of reading required. I think most of us can say they have been there.
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I would like to tell you that nursing school will get easier and you won't be expected to read before coming to class but that would be a false statement. You will have a lot of material to cover in a very short amount of time. Yes the Potter and Perry book is long and full of details but it's nothing compared to the psych, med surg, maternal, peds, etc. books you will be using in the future. My advice to you is to find someone else in class that is good at reviewing chapters and making outlines for studying. You can work together breaking down the material into a format that will be easier for you to review and study from. Good luck!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I had 13 chapters last week plus some extra pages and videos for lab. The material was cardiac, respiratory and pharmacology. I thought the reading for fundamentals was slow and boring. There is a lot of repetition so don't reread subjects you already know. Pressure ulcers are discussed in nutrition, mobility, assessment, skin care, wound classification etc. P&P is very redundant. I like my med/surg books a lot better. The material is tough yet interesting. Unfortunately the reading pace doesn't get much better. I would try to find a good study group its not my thing, but my grades went up after I joined my group. Have you tried speaking the information outloud, if you can teach it you know it. I hate to tell someone to skim, but a skimmed chapter is better than not reading it. I don't think adding more reading will help you, and your instructors most likely will test you on the books assigned. Don't confuse yourself. It's a lot of work but it can be done!!

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Specializes in nursing education.

I think we all realize that different people learn in different ways. The OP knows herself well, and I commend that; also she is reaching out with a specific, realistic question. It sounds like you want a reliable text that will give you a framework to focus your reading? I know there are many books out there- there is the "made incredibly easy" series, etc. I don't know whether these are reliable, however (some of the Springhouse guides I got in undergrad were not). Perhaps someone else can speak to that aspect.

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^Yes. Definitely a couple books at least that already has the material outlined. I have the Hogan (red) book right now and I'm going to start reading it plus doing nclex style questions. Still waiting on my fundamentals success book.

I think it was easier to just ask if anyone passed using other books, lol.

I have a new fond respect to whoever is taking a term like mine, and working! Wow. :banghead:

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We are using Potter and Perry in my class. I like the book. Yes, it is time consuming but if you want to be a nurse then you gotta make the time. Now, with that being said, I have NOT had a test yet but second year students in my program highly emphasize learning our unit objectives as a framework for the tests. We have several great professors that give us powerpoints ahead of time and teach (I feel so far) very clearly. Have you tried the practice exams on the evolve website? There is also too much reading to be able to do it all (in the program I am in) that is why it is important to study well, manage time, and listen to your professors. I'd be concerned about the teacher not getting through the entire powerpoint. That isn't good time management for someone in the nursing profession, in my opinion.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

I don't think the solution to failing a test due to not reading the material is to not read the material. Review books are great, but they hit the high notes, not everything.

You are absolutely going to have to learn to do selective reading. Ideally we'd read every word in our books twice, but he reality is that most of us have lives. Skim the chapter before class, then use your PowerPojints and the key points at the back of the book to focus on certain areas in the chapters. Do the practice questions in the back of the book and review the material that trips you up. Use support books like you posted to help you lean to pinpoint the important topics.

Our first test of the semester is over the first 30 chapters of P&P and I promise you I haven't read every word of those chapters, but I have a pretty good handle on them anyway.

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My suggestion is reading those BEFORE the lecture and the P&P after the lecture. That way you have a basic idea of the material before the lecture/quiz, and then you can read the in depth stuff after the lecture because it will be easier to read/understand thus quicker. I wish I would have discovered this 2 book technique in fundamentals. I didn't figure that out until my 3rd semester.

The textbooks have more in-depth material that they probably don't cover on the pre-lecture quiz because they know you don't know too much right now. BUT your mid-term and final will probably have harder questions because you have "technically" been given a lecture and more time to review the material.

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We are using P&P for our Fundamentals class as well. The thing that has helped me the most is the Study Guide workbook that we got with it. It basically follows along the chapters in an outline form highlighting the major points. Also, I ditto the learn the objectives comment. If you can explain those, you should be good.

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