Hesi

We've had Hesi as a part of our nursing "exam" at school. I thought their questions were harder.

May I recommend Kaplan/Hurst to you?

I've personally tried Kaplan. I learned that by signing up with a review school it guided me in a sense where I am not just all over the place and not knowing where to start. In other words, I used Kaplan to assist me with time management.

And one more thing. I also have the HESI book and didn't even used to prepare for my nursing.

Books that I used:

1. Incredibly Made Easy Questions and Answers with Rationales.

2. Saunders, but I mainly used the CD to answer the questions, I didn't feel the rationales were as good as Incredibly made easy.

3. Kaplan

I believe hurst is almost like kaplan.

I've personally tried Kaplan. I learned that by signing up with a review school it guided me in a sense where I am not just all over the place and not knowing where to start. In other words, I used Kaplan to assist me with time management.

I have been reading Saunders. I started out with Mosby's because, believe it or not, in 1980 their program helped me to pass the NCLEX. Back then it was called "state boards." But I found errors and inconsistencies in the book and so Barnes and Nobles graciously let me exchange it for Saunders. I am not completely out of touch with what is going on. I remember many things and teaching has kept me abreast of some of the disease processes etc. I worked NICU for many years and so I know, for example, what a blood gas should look like. I know when a client is experiencing respiratory acidosis as opposed to metabolic because I've seen it and know it. With my age and experience, I have a lot of personal situations to draw from. The real problem for me personally in answering questions is perspective of the nurse these days. For example, we never called a patient a "client." That would have been taboo back in my day because it would have probably been thought of as inappropriate. The ability for patients to dictate their care has changed a great deal too. I remember at times when patients seemed to lose their autonomy in the hospital and the doctors and nurses took authority.

For example, in yet another one of my practice questions, a mom was not really responding to her newborn because of a precipitous delivery. I don't remember all the answers but the first one was to have the baby nurse and the second was to support the mom in what she was doing. I chose that she should nurse the baby because when I took state boards, that would have been the answer to help the mom and baby bond. Now, because mom is a "client," the nurse is simply there to support her in however she wants to do things. It is a whole different prespective than the past like I said.

Oh well..... It's like riding a bicycle but one that has completely changed. :)

Thanks for the help! I was just curious if anyone had actually taken their tests and found them of value.

Vera