Med-Surg Nursing Incredibly Easy?

[TreehuggerRN]

I've been offered a position on the med-surg unit (nights). The pay stinks (really bad) and I'm totally not a night person at all but I need the experience and am excited about doing a good job. I've been warned I'll feel overwhelmed at times, but right now I'm looking forward to the excitement and finding a system that will help me really show my stuff out on the floor. I'm eager to do well. My plan is to use med surg to get my foot in NICU (I hope.)

How about a PDA? What about books that would be helpful to have?

[Blackheartednurse]

I like Manual of Nursing practice by Lippincott but it is almost a 1800 pages and the cover is plain,ugly but the book is just awsome.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

A PDA will be of much use, I used it for two years. I don't now only because the computer access to drug info. is easy to use at my current employer.......the PDA would actually be more of a hassle.

I also wrote down diagnosis/tests and went home to read up on them again. If I had a pt. getting their gallbladder removed, I'd read up on it the next day. Then I'd be............."OK, thats why the doctor did that" or "Ah, no wonder they had this/that complaint".

[belgarion]

If you happen to have and I-Phone or I-Pod Touch there are some really good apps available for nurses.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Davis Drug guide for the touch, also if you join Medscape they have a cool (free) new little drug app that tells you basics quick... you can also save drugs to go back to later and look more in depth. I had the free portion of Epocrates, but thinking of deleting it as its is a PITA, and you'd have to drop some hefty$ to access any indepth stuff. Also Epocraties is not a "nursing" source... very light on assessment/implemetation things we need to know.

Now I flip between Davis and the new Medscape one. My facility has computer source, but as a student I cannot always get immediate access... nice to not carry a book around!