Netter's Physiology Book & other Med School books?

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

Hi Guys,

I am (hopefully) starting NS this fall. However, I will be done with my classes this Spring, so I will have a whole summer semester of no school!!! WEIRD!

So, I wanted to get ahead on some really hard concepts for NS, so I won't be stuck later. I've got a dosage calc book and will be purchasing Davis's Math for Nurses book and practice those stupid fractions . I also plan on reading on a little about patho and basic nursing procedures.

But most importantly, I want to really review my physiology. I took that class about a year ago and honestly, I don't think the professor went as deep as other professors in some things. I really didn't leave as prepared as I wanted to. I have my AP book from Marieb and I love it to bits.

But do you wish you had looked deeper into some physiology before NS let's say for pharm or med-surg? Do you think Martini and Marieb prepared you for what you were about to be faced with? A classmate I had in AP that was accepted to NS told me "I really have to review so much over and over again to do some of my assignments for patho. You better re-study everything!" Her and I were the top students in the class so I got really nervous when she told me that.

I really liked looking at Netter's Physiology Book for Med Students.... I just don't know if its "too much" for me as a (pre)NS. Its pretty thin compared to Marieb, like half the size. But I noticed they delved deep into the world of receptor sites and whatnot. I never went over that stuff in AP.

Should I get it or what? Did you use any "med school" books in NS? Do you think some NS books are watered down? I would love to hear opinions and suggestions.

Love, me

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

Yeah, nursing school and most of the anatomy/physiology courses used as prereqs really aren't that detailed. Most of the students and instructors would claim the opposite, but sadly they're not. If you read Netter's and "get it" then I don't think you'd ever have an issue in nursing school. Frankly, it seems that the physiologically oriented lessons and tests are the ones that throw most students to the lions. They really seem to have a lot of trouble with fluids and electrolyts, acid-base balance, perfusion, and basic science.

Nursing school math isn't that bad. There a few conversions you'll have to show off that you won't use again, but it's simply a matter of memorizing the conversion factors for a while. The "hardest" calculations are probably titrations, but they're doable. The math part seems to throw most students too. Like, if you had an order to give 10 mg of a medication and you had it available in 5 mg pills how many pills would you give? Half of my class had issues with that.

Don't worry about learning procedures. You'll really want to see the "school way" of doing things and do it that way despite the fact that many, if not most, of the staff you see in clinicals won't do things that way. The instructors will watch you like vultures and check you off on a random sheet they seem to pull out of an obscure file cabinet.

If you've got physiology down then you really don't need to worry about reading the medical-surgical books like mine authored by a lady I refer to as Iguana. I'm not really sure what her name is.

One thing you can do to prepare is learn about what nursing actually is because it's not treating sick and injured people. You can also bone up on what they refer to as the nursing process, NANDA, NIC, and NOC or what I call knick and knock. Also be prepared to be told to "use critcal thinking" as if you or no other profession in life is capable of that without being told to do it.

Have fun!

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

Yeah, nursing school and most of the anatomy/physiology courses used as prereqs really aren't that detailed. Most of the students and instructors would claim the opposite, but sadly they're not. If you read Netter's and "get it" then I don't think you'd ever have an issue in nursing school. Frankly, it seems that the physiologically oriented lessons and tests are the ones that throw most students to the lions. They really seem to have a lot of trouble with fluids and electrolyts, acid-base balance, perfusion, and basic science.

Nursing school math isn't that bad. There a few conversions you'll have to show off that you won't use again, but it's simply a matter of memorizing the conversion factors for a while. The "hardest" calculations are probably titrations, but they're doable. The math part seems to throw most students too. Like, if you had an order to give 10 mg of a medication and you had it available in 5 mg pills how many pills would you give? Half of my class had issues with that.

Don't worry about learning procedures. You'll really want to see the "school way" of doing things and do it that way despite the fact that many, if not most, of the staff you see in clinicals won't do things that way. The instructors will watch you like vultures and check you off on a random sheet they seem to pull out of an obscure file cabinet.

If you've got physiology down then you really don't need to worry about reading the medical-surgical books like mine authored by a lady I refer to as Iguana. I'm not really sure what her name is.

One thing you can do to prepare is learn about what nursing actually is because it's not treating sick and injured people. You can also bone up on what they refer to as the nursing process, NANDA, NIC, and NOC or what I call knick and knock. Also be prepared to be told to "use critcal thinking" as if you or no other profession in life is capable of that without being told to do it.

Have fun!

Wow thanks so much for this awesome response!!!! I know what you are saying though. I got this book from the Made Incredibly Easy series and I was like surprised at the way they kind of watered down some topics I thought would be vitally important to know... I had teachers that wouldn't even tell us the name of the proteins they were talking about... they'd just call them "This squiggly thing here" lol ugh.

Thanks for the heads up on the NANDA stuff. I hadn't even thought of that. I'll check it out on Amazon :). Yeah I really just want to get as much stuff out of the way so I can "sail smoothly" through NS, as much as possible, ya know?

Well thanks a bunch again for your input! =)