help in selecting a book

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I am an LPN student in my first clinical rotation and I'm looking for opinions on the following;

Is it worth the $26 more to purchase the latest (2007 8th edition) or is the 2005 7th edition sufficient?

Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: An Evidence-Based Guide to Planning Care (Nursing Diagnosis Handbook) (Paperback)

by Betty J. Ackley (Author), Gail B. Ladwig (Author)

OR..is there another book you would recommend ?

Thanks!

Monique

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

Save your money and use the book you have. My clinical instructors lugged around ND books I could use if needed or if I couldnt find what i wanted in mine, maybe a classmate has one you can look through.

Odds are you wont use it when you done with school so dont spend a bunch of money on one.

If you feel the need to get one anyways. Go to half.com. Great deals on used books.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

alot of what is in the books is found on the Internet anyway.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I would get a used version; even a previous edition (no more than about one or two editions back). I do like to use books for reference, I also happen to want to highlight and write in them. Also, if there is a dispute with the professor, it is easier to show them from their suggested books how you came to a certain conclusion. You can get them from amazon.com.

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Specializes in Addiction & Recovery, Community Health.

I have both. Very little difference between the two.

Got a good deal buying used on amazon. Half.com has good deals too.

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Buy used....half.com or amazon

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Specializes in ER; HBOT- lots others.

dont buy another. those books never change, and they dont add anything useful. if you need anything, look up on net. not worth your money at all in my opinion

hth

-H-

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Thanks to all for your replies. I ordered the older (2005) book for a total of $12 on Amazon. Not a bad price and I think it will be helpful. :nuke:

Thanks again

Monique

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

frankly, i think that one of the big reasons people purchase the ackley/ladwig book is because of the cross-reference guide that is at the beginning of the book. that runs about 70+ pages and isn't going to change from edition to edition. i find that most students use that cross index to look up potential nursing diagnoses for their care plans since it is organized by symptoms, medical diagnoses and clinical conditions. i'd borrow someone else's book and just xerox that section. the other features of the book are the nursing interventions with evidence based rationale, nanda information and suggestions for outcomes (goals). the problem with the interventions is that they are general in nature. the difference between the latest version and the previous version is that the newer nursing diagnoses have been added to the book.

i, personally, prefer to use nanda-i nursing diagnoses: definitions & classification 2007-2008published by nanda international. all it contains is the bare bones nursing diagnosis information, defining characteristics (symptoms) and related factors. it costs only $24.95 and must be ordered directly from nanda http://www.nanda.org/html/nursing_diagnosis.html for interventions and the same nanda information and goals i would get any other care plan book which is organized by medical diagnoses.

recently i have been finding good information for interventions in nurse's 5-minute clinical consult: procedures and nurse's 5-minute clinical consult: treatments and nurse's 5-minute clinical consult: signs & symptoms. however, to buy all of these would be outside your budget.

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