need advice on which books to buy.....

Nursing Students General Students

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I'm starting in January and just got a list of books to buy. I would love some advice on any favorites. I need a medication reference, a diagnostic test reference, nursing process reference, care plan resource, nurtrition and diet therapy reference and study and test taking strategies. They do not specifically give names of which books they recommend and there are so many to choose from!! Thanks for your help...

Congrats on entering the profession. I recommend this website:

http://www.lww.com/browsemediaspec/Book/0,0,0,00.html.

Many programs use Lippincott materials. The hospital I work for uses the "Lippincott Manual" as our nursing procedure manual. Browse their titles for what you are searching for. I am still a huge fan of the "Nursing" drug reference manuals--Nursing 2004. :) By the way, I buy these books from Books A Million, Amazon, and Half.com. They can be pretty pricey!

I don't have any absolute favorites to buy, but...after I bought all my texts I discovered I could've gotten several of them (especially Brunner's Med/Surg text) less than half off on half.com or even ebay. Just be surg it's the right edition. Sure wish I'd discovered this $500 ago!Good luck,

teresa

I am starting school in January and I was wondering what you all would recommend in regards to using Mosby's 2005 Nursing Drug Reference. If you have a PDA would you just use that as your one and only reference? Do you recommend also getting the textbook in addition to having it on your PDA or is having it on your PDA enough? I would appreciate any advice!

thanks!

Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

For my PDA, I use the Davis Drug Guide. I do have the actual book however I rarely use it.

A favorite of mine is the Lippincott Review Series. I'm using the fourth edition for Medical Surgical Nursing at the moment. The big heavy lumbering text book is now on ice. This says it all in concise outline form. There are also NCLEX type study questions. It will make a great clinical supplement for a first semester student.

Specializes in Cath Lab, OR, CPHN/SN, ER.

I've been using Saunders drug book. I would also highly recommend an IV drug book (great for push rates, calculations, etc). Schuster's Concept Mapping book is the BOMB diggity!!! They didn't give it to us until summer semester...we raised hell (as in "Why did we not get this when we were first semester!!!!?). I don't remember the care plan book I bought, but Schuster has a NANDA list in it. Good luck -Andrea

Specializes in Telemetry, Oncology, Progressive Care.

I highly recommend the Mosby diagnostic book. My school recommended Corbett but that book is just awful. The Mosby book will list tons of reasons why someone's counts may be increases or decreased.

I recommend the Nursing 2005 drug book. I also have Davis's and Mosby's drug books but some drugs aren't in there and I have found them in the Nursing 2005 by Springhouse. But, Davis is nice because it comes with everything on CD and you can print up your drug cards instead of having to write them all out if your school will let you do that.

For Study and Test taking I highly recommend Test Success Test Taking Techniques for Beginning Nursing Students by Patricia Nugent, etal. It is great. I had trouble on my A&P tests cause they were those critical thinking type tests so needless to say I didn't do so well even though I knew the material. I read this book and did the practice tests and so far have gotten A's on all my tests and quizzes except for one quiz.

Congrats on starting in January. I wish you lots of luck.

Kelly

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry.

I use the Saunder's Comprehensive NCLEX review book; start using this at your first semester!!!! Don't wait until senior year to buy/use an NCLEX book!

As a clinical reference, I use "RN notes," a small pocket-sized laminated pad that I can use for quick checks of vital sign norms, assessment tools, or medications. There are alot of nurses I work with that use it, too.

Anything else by Mosby or Lippincott is pretty widely accepted as well, so if you stick with any of these three brands, you're okay.

Good luck with school!

must have's!

-clinical procedures book- i use an old potter and perry version

-carpenito and doenges care plan books

-patho physio book esp helpful for med surg

-diagnostics book- i use anything that is concise (short descriptions for what its for, nomal values and pre/post procedure care)

i also use a palm pilot to take with me to clinicals. in it i have the lippincott nursing drug handbook 2005, epocrates, tabers, a manual of nursing practice, RNLabs. love my palm! cannot imagine living without it!

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