essential books for nursing students

beachbutterfly · May 28, 2009

I would definitely invest in Lippiincott's Manual of Nursing,it is expensive but at the same this it is a great learning as well as reference tool,it helps you to put all the puzzle of nursing care together.

I definitely like the book called Prioritization,Delegation Assignment practice exercises for Medical-Surgical Nursing by Linda A.LaCharity,this particular book has plenty of multiple choices questions,case study questions,I believe it helped to think more like a real nurse.

I also can throw in few other helpful books.One is pharmacology success A course Review applying critical thinking to test taking by Ray.A Hargrove-Huttel.

From the same series another good book called Medical-surgical success by the same author,hundreed of NCLEX-like questions,rationales for each.

I would also invest in 3 or more NCLEX books like Saunders or Lipincott.I have both in a book style and and flesh cards that I can carry with me in my purse and study anywhere.

Lastly buy a NCLEX RN 3500 or NCLEX RN 4000 (the newest editon that just came out) CD.

cursedandblessed · May 28, 2009

first semester :

reviews and rationales for fundamentals

test success for fundamentals (don't waste money on test success for beginning nursing students-i used an older edition from half.com)

i used fluids and electrolytes reviews and rationales though most of the book is used later on it did help with the fluid and electrolytes i needed in first semester.

drug book, lab book, or pda with these programs.

Nepenthe Sea · May 28, 2009

I would definitely invest in Lippiincott's Manual of Nursing,it is expensive but at the same this it is a great learning as well as reference tool,it helps you to put all the puzzle of nursing care together.

I got that book, brand-new and hardcover, off of Amazon.com for $22 plus shipping. I don't remember how much it is in the bookstore, but I got it for WAY less. Check out online bookstores, and even Ebay, for really good deals.

BTW, my care group leader last semester said she got a super-expensive stethoscope off of Ebay for cheap, so it's good for finding other supplies, too.

happilymarried · May 28, 2009

For first semester, the MOST helpful book for me was a care planning book. I bought an NCLEX book before ns started. I tried to use it to study with during first semester but since that semester is primarily about learning skills I didn't think it was all that helpful (most questions were over my head at that point). Second semester I used my NCLEX book to study for tests with and it helped considerably. First semester all I really needed was the care planning book and the NANDA, beyond my required books. I also bought a pocket medical dictionary and it was helpful as well.

rachelgeorgina · May 28, 2009

Harvard's Nursing Guide to Drugs (Tiziani, A) 2006

The clinical placement. An essential guide for nursing students. (Levett-Jones, T. & Bourgeois, S) 2007

Health assessment in nursing. (D'Amico, S. & Webster, S) 1995

Nursing diagnosis handbook. An evidenced-based guide to planning care. (Ackley, B. J., & Ladwig, G. B) 2008

madnurse2b · May 28, 2009

Each semester's instructors in our program have an NCLEX study guide that they like. One likes Mosby's one likes Prentice Hall. My study group has pretty much all of them now :specs:

We create our study guides for that tests material. We do study groups, and include test questions from each of the appropriate sections in the books, as well as the NCLEX style questions from our textbooks. We have had instructors who actually use the questions from some of the books, and from some of the textbook testbanks.

I have had people talk about buying testbank questions online - I'm not sure how that would work since you have to understand the rationale. Plus most of our instructors create their own questions even if they use some from the books.

The one thing I can say about nursing school is that the most important part is learning how to think and reason a question out. The questions are generally not memorization, other than the need to memorize what certain s/s are -you still have to know why those are the s/s. Understanding the pathophys is crucial.

Hope this helps