I have a big problem. Well good in some ways but not in others. I'm a HUGE packrat. I graduated with my bsn 2 years ago and I still have every nursing book, general ed, phys ed class books and notes. So I have a big collection of stuff even from high school.
My question is how many kept their notes or what have others done after school?
I plan to keep my books. If I ever look anything up it's usually right in the book not hunting in my old notes. I'm taking out handy diagrams and handouts given by my professors but still feel like I have to keep my written notes. I really have to get rid of stuff but feel like if I throw it out may need it again. But as I said if I ever go back I look up the books. Anyone feel like this? Do most of you just throw out the notes or if you keep them use them or do they collect dust?
Wow! I am tossing out my notes as soon as I've passed the NClex PN! I use the internet a lot and I will keep some of my more helpful textbooks for a while. It's just too much space taken up! With a family of 6 in a 1600 sq ft home, I need all the space I can get! :chuckle
Toss them. You learn more in one year on the floor than in all of the years of nursing school. I kept some of my books, path/phys...but only books I can use for reference. Everything else went bye-bye long ago.
Although I'd probably keep as much of my notes and texts I had space for, it would be nice at the end to have a bonfire and dance around it in jubilant celebration of my victory!
I believe what I wanted to burn the most was my awful white nursing student uniforms. They are so WHITE!!!
Toss them. You learn more in one year on the floor than in all of the years of nursing school.
After taking NCLEX this morning, I'm inclined to agree. I'm starting my 4th week at my job, and much of the school stuff already seems "quaint" compared to what I'm dealing with now. As soon as I get my NCLEX results, if I've passed, almost all the notes are going in the trash.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
My question is how many kept their notes or what have others done after school?
Keep your books. I'd be very suspicious of anyone who admits to not ever opening their nursing textbooks again. That is closed thinking and probably why some nurses end up having bad habits in their nursing practice. No one knows everything or can remember everything they studied. In my first years of nursing I was constantly going back to my nursing textbooks to refresh my memory on various things that had come up at work. About every 10 years or less I've bought a new Med/Surg or Nursing Pathophysiology text to add to the collection. After awhile it gets very interesting to go into the old books to see how some things have changed. Before I went to nursing school in 1973 there was a older lady I knew from a community group I belonged to who let me look at her nursing textbooks from the 1930s when she had gone to nursing school. She had them prominently displayed on a bookshelf in her home. What interesting stuff was in them! It definitely showed how times have changed. I also have a lot of my notes. It's interesting to read them now. Keep your books and notes. They are irreplaceable. However, if you move a lot you will have to lug them around. Take it from someone who has done a lot of moving, protect the books by placing them in heavy plastic bags inside their box so they won't get damaged by water.
Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
Thanks for the advice. I think my problem is all the clutter. I can't stand it! Whenever I look something up it's just my books anyway not my notes. I'm going to keep handouts but I can't even read some of my notes at times! Plus there is no way to search them as I can in an organized index book. So back to throwing out some again. I'll probably change my mind again!
I believe what I wanted to burn the most was my awful white nursing student uniforms. They are so WHITE!!!
melissa
I actually did burn mine. A friend and I drove to the beach with a 6 pack our whites and a can of lighter fluid and burned them. It was very therapeutic, a coming of age ritual...
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
i actually did burn mine. a friend and i drove to the beach with a 6 pack our whites and a can of lighter fluid and burned them. it was very therapeutic, a coming of age ritual...
well, i have to comment to a statement like this. it speaks volumes about the kind of disrespect people have for education and learning. all those hours of note taking used to learn, study and give someone a profession reduced to ashes. . .childish attitude, fascist thinking. could nursing school have been that horrible an experience?
i know people are going to want to respond to that, so bring it on!
Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.
Well, I have to comment to a statement like this. It speaks volumes about the kind of disrespect people have for education and learning. All those hours of note taking used to learn, study and give someone a profession reduced to ashes. . .childish attitude, fascist thinking. Could nursing school have been that horrible an experience?
I know people are going to want to respond to that, so bring it on!
They were burning their WHITE school uniforms silly!:)
As soon as I get my NCLEX results, if I've passed, almost all the notes are going in the trash.
pricklypear
1,060 Posts
I've looked up lots of stuff in my books over the years. The downside is the books are about 200lbs to lug around when you move!!