NCTC ADN Fall 2014

eLeVatioN · Jul 28, 2014

Mckinneygrl thanks for the Payless recommendation. I paid $38 for a pair there!

Shine_On · Jul 28, 2014

Wow, I haven't checked in for a while--trying not worrying too much about a lot of school stuff (as much as I can). A lot of good helpful info guys. I have everything done except my physical & scrubs. I have not received my blue card either yet. I have financial aid so I will get my book on campus with that but I think we (financial aid students) have to wait until 10 days before the semester starts to use our aid for books. I had a TB test & a flu shot last September, so I'm guessing I probably need to redo them when I get my physical (or do the chest xray-I think that's good for 2ys? gotta check). Have an appt. for the physical next week. The form is pretty non descriptive, I assume it's just a real basic physical to make sure we can handle the physical demands.

Thanks for the amazon recommendation for the extra books, that's the route I'm going to take for those!

ladds32 · Jul 30, 2014

Is there anyone else who still hasn't received their blue card like me? Talk about nerve racking!

eLeVatioN · Jul 31, 2014

Ladds32 I think it took two weeks after I sent payment to group1 before I received my blue card.

Shine_On · Aug 1, 2014

It took about 10 days/2 weeks for mine too. Received it while I was out of town this week.

Shine_On · Aug 1, 2014

Ok, more confused book talk. I have the list from Majors Books and have been to the website to see the list of additional books we need that are not included in the bundle. I get financial aid so I will be using that to purchase my big package of books through the school bookstore, but I have been looking for some of these other required books through amazon etc. to see if I can find them for as way cheap as some have said. Unfortunately, the cheapest I have found the pharmacology book is like 44$ used. I have no problem with used, however my only hesitation is access codes etc that would be included with new books. For anyone who has ordered & received their books from Majors, did any of the unbundled required books have access codes or addition material included?

eLeVatioN · Aug 3, 2014

I didn't buy the unbundled books through Majors, but I would be surprised if the program required or gave advantage to students with access codes specific to those unbundled books. What confirms my hunch is that current/former students say they got theirs for $1/$3/$5 -- those have to be used prior editions!

HelloWish, ADN, BSN · Aug 3, 2014

I bought my unbundled books from Amazon. I haven't received them, but hopefully in a few days they will come. I am thinking there will be some codes for online access to some of these books since they would be useful in clinical!

I can post what I find out in a few days once the books arrive.

Shine_On · Aug 3, 2014

Thanks for the replies guys. The current students saying they found theirs for so cheap is what really confused me, to get them that cheap they would have to be used, and with used any access codes, etc may very well not be included. But for clinicals, you would think there would be access codes for interactive learning, etc. While I would like to save money, I want everything I would need to be successful as well. (With 3 kids + 1 in college besides myself to get school stuff for, every penny is impactful!)

eLeVatioN · Aug 3, 2014

The unbundled books are care planning, pharmacology, drug reference and med calculations if I recall correctly. Although I didn't go through Majors, I did purchase some of them new and I will tell you about them.

I went with the new 2015 Pearson Nurse's Drug Guide. For this one, there was a notice on the inside cover to go to http://www.pearsonhighered.com/drugguides for the Online Companion which includes additional info not found in the reference guide (although the mobile version of the guide is an additional cost). There was no mention of an access code.

Focus on Nursing Pharmacology, Karch, 6th ed, has an access code on the inner cover for additional student resources at the publisher website. Resources listed include NCLEX-style chapter review questions, watch & learn video clips, drug monographs, dosage calc questions and journal articles.

Medical Dosage Calculations, 10th edition has no code. It refers the reader to nursing.pearsonhighered.com for resources that appear to be for an additional charge.

Nursing Care Plans, Elsevier, 8th edition has no access code but tells the reader to register the book at http://evolve.elsevier.com/Gulanick to gain access to additional care plans (36 additional ones listed on inside cover).

jls0459 · Aug 4, 2014

For the "extra" books like your math book, the pharmacology book and your care plan books, etc. you will not need the codes. So you can buy a used version without access codes and be just fine. When you buy a math book - just make sure it isn't missing any pages because that is where your math homework comes from. The only book that isnt in the box that you may want to get a brand new version of would be a drug book with online access. It will be easier to copy and paste the information you need for your drug maps.

You wont get interactive assignments in clinical from additional books. If you are assigned some sort of online module related to clinical, it will be during SimLab and all of the codes are in the big box of books you get in the bookstore. There are more than just books in that box which is why we recommend buying it over buying everything separately.

It should also be a relief that once you buy books this semester - you never buy books again. What you pick up this semester will last you the entire program!

HelloWish, ADN, BSN · Aug 4, 2014

I received my unbundled books today! There were several scratch off codes in the books. The drug book had a code for an electronic device. The others had student resources. I have found extra student resources very valuable in the past.