New nursing student advice

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Hello! After 1 1/2 years of completing pre-recs I was accepted into my college's nursing program, beginning in a few weeks. I have purchased all the "required" materials, uniforms, books, medical equipment, etc and also am all set with a terrific planner, huge tabbed binder, clinical notebook. I have an IPad mini and a laptop as well. So my question is what else do you recommend I get to be prepared? Computer programs for papers? Apps for the IPad? Organizational materials? Other support or reference books? I want to be beyond prepared HaHa! Thanks so much for the feedback. :-)

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A dry erase marker and a sharpie.

A couple Care Plan books (although I highly recommend checking these out from the library first to see which ones you like).

NCLEX review books, such as Saunders. This is a great study tool to use before tests.

A laser printer. A cheap one is fine, around $99. Buy a generic, not name brand, replacement cartridge, they sell them on Amazon. You do not want to print on ink jet, you will spend way too much in ink.

Get Amazon Prime for students. 1/2 price. Love it.

Make sure you have a back up alarm. I use an alarm clock and my phone every single night. Being late is not acceptable in nursing school.

Good luck!

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This is what I used (in addition to my required stuff)

a binder and a planner. In the binder I put the power points, which I had printed out and wrote the notes on.

in the planner I put when readings needed to be done, when exams were, when stuff was due etc

you have so much stuff i'd be overwhelmed just thinking about how to organize all my stuff v organizing for school

sometimes less is better

however, I do recommend a saunders book (I have the new one, not using it anymore if you're interested -- hope that's not against the TOS to say that). It helped me in school more than it's helping me for the NCLEX

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Everyone is different but heres what helped me and what I used for my first semester,

My tablet was my life I looked anything and everything up right away and had my powerpoints from the course available at the tip pf my finger. I did not take many hand notes, I sat in class and listened then I would read over content later and make note cards. I did not try to over think things I made it as simple as possible to help me understand. The app micromedex is a drug guide app, this will help a lot especially in clinical and its free! a lot of the content you learn is actually interesting so it may allow you to remember it better. Do not overstudy, give yourself breaks in between as be sure to make time for yourself. Do not procrastinate it will not help lol. I also did not group study, personally I study better alone and can focus better alone.good luck! And congratulations!

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I used a daily planner, a binder for ppt printouts and took handwritten notes, had a few folders in the binder for more organization. I used my iPhone voice memo recorder for recording lectures- just upload files to iTunes and you have better control over rewinding, FF, etc. I also recommend Ackley (book) for care plans. My advice is to not purchase textbooks until you know you really need them, otherwise you may end up with them collecting dust and depreciating in value on bookshelves.

I agree with the PP that less is better!

For writing papers, just google Purdue OWL for APA specifics, which is very helpful and straight forward. No need to purchase the APA writing manual.

If you like to study by doing practice questions, I would recommend the books from the Success series, especially Med Surg Success. There is also a Peds, Maternal Health, Fundamentals version. The Reviews & Rationales series are also good, they also have different topic areas like the Success books. I only used the Fundamentals and Med Surg Success books and found them to be helpful if/when I had the extra study time to fit them in.

I also agree with PP that the Saunders NCLEX prep book is good for topic area review. It's a comprehensive outline of different topics with a practice question cd. I used it for NCLEX but while I was reading it, I really wished I had cracked it open during school!

Looking back, I feel like so much of school seemed a lot more overwhelming than it really was. Just take it day by day, and one step (assignment/careplan/test) at a time. Also please know that care plans are a slight departure from reality. They are made to make you think critically about your patients, but know that when you hit the floor, the thinking that is prompted by careplans comes naturally and is not as complex and involving as careplans seem while you're in school.

Advice for clinicals: ask questions and volunteer yourself to do certain skills if the need comes up, don't be scared! Use your time as a chance to practice, especially starting IVs.

Make sure you have a good school/life balance. You DO have time for fun even though it may seem like you don't. Just make time for yourself to have nights off from studying and a free weekend day here and there.

Lastly, be sure to develop relationships with your clinical instructors because they are the best reference sources for when you go to apply for jobs. I needed 4 refs for my current job, 2 of which were past instructors.

Good luck to you!!

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I love PERRLA software for all those APA papers!!! It made my life so much easier!!! They have a demo video on their site and a free 30 day trial. I tried it for one paper and was hooked.

I didn't have a separate planner because I keep everything on my gmail calendar (so I can share them with my man so he knows when he needs to watch the baby), but I totally see the benefit to a paper planner.

Prior to first semester, bought a lot of stuff I wish I had waited to purchase. I had every recommended additional book, etc for first semester and didn't use them at all. So this semester I think I'm waiting to buy anything until I know for sure. Amazon prime can get you whatever you need in 2 days. :-)

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Don't buy an NCLEX book yet. There are new versions every couple of years. They just updated it for 2013, and there's a good chance it'll happen before you graduate. Focus on school, and the NCLEX you can deal with when it's a few months away.

A good app to have handy in clinicals is Epocrates (free!).

I just use Word for papers. Never had an issue. You'll likely be writing your papers in APA format, and this website is a great resource:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

I have a hard folder thing that I use for taking report and keeping my patient info handy. I like that it's hard for a writing surface, and closes to protect pt privacy (most people turn a clipboard upside down).

I like having a planner, so I can write in all of my assignments, my son's school stuff, my husband's work commitments, etc, all in one place. I find it easier than anything I've seen online.

Totally agree about the backup alarm- especially when it comes to those early clinicals!!

I use a ton of notecards. They help me to study. But that's me.

I also TOTALLY agree about waiting and seeing what you need. Every time I've loaded up on organizational materials and such, I've ended up not using half of it. I know you're excited and anxious, but save your pennies. If you know what you've used historically to study, load up on that stuff, but don't spend a bundle on a bunch of things OTHERS find useful that YOU may not.

PS- I've never purchased any extra books (believe me, my classes have me reading PLENTY), and I've been getting As in every class (and I'm entering my final semester). Don't waste your money. If your books don't explain something in a way you get, you can always look it up online (you'll be very familiar with Dr. Google in no time!).

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Don't buy an NCLEX book yet. There are new versions every couple of years. They just updated it for 2013 and there's a good chance it'll happen before you graduate. Focus on school, and the NCLEX you can deal with when it's a few months away. [/quote']

I disagree. The majority of your test in nursing school are going to be NCLEX style questions. Get a book first semester and use it to study along with your lecture and book. It is great to have practice questions along with he rationales. Saunders is a great book. The newest edition just came out but you can buy the old edition off of Amazon.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I disagree. The majority of your test in nursing school are going to be NCLEX style questions. Get a book first semester and use it to study along with your lecture and book. It is great to have practice questions along with he rationales. Saunders is a great book. The newest edition just came out but you can buy the old edition off of Amazon.

THIS...

I also recommend the Success Series, PharmPlash cards for pharmacology .

Buy books cheaper on Amazon for less; pay full price for recommended books, which many are books that can be used for nursing clinicals and beyond one you are licensed.

Epocrates is a free app for drug reference for iPad or iPhone; I used this during clincials and still use it today as a nurse. :yes: Has free updates! Medscape is another good app to use as well that is free for resources.

For care plans, there is the NANDA diagnosis book; look it up on Amazon.com.

I always suggest Critical Thinking and Nursing Judgement-you can find this book on Amazon as well. Great guide on thinking like a nurse.

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Very good suggeestions from everyone.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Agree with what's already be posted (especially the laser printer recommendation) but I'd just add that we use the Skyscape app in my program and I've found it to be really helpful. It includes the Davis Drug Guide, Taber's and a number of other reference resources and has been really useful whenever I needed to look something up quickly during clinicals or sim lab.

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