optional books the professor recommended, are they worth it?

[IUstudent]

First question.. we are required to get a drug referenced book: davis's drug guides for nurses or mosby's nursing drug reference? Which is the better?

Then my professor mentioned some optional books that could be beneficial... have any of you used these and were they helpful? or should I not spend the money ?

Student laboratory manual for Mosby's guide to physical examination. (6th ed.

* Medical, Nursing & Allied Health Dictionary.

Any advice would be very helpful, thank you!!:)

[Lifeofanurse]

if i could make a suggestion, it would be this: laboratory and diagnostic tests with nursing implications, by joyce lafever mckee. you will be sooo ahead of the crowd with this one. used to recommend it to my students and i could always tell who read it because they actually knew why tests were done, how to prep the patient for them, and what the results mean. does this sound like something a nurse ought to know? (hint: nclex certainly thinks so...) i still use it myself. (disclaimer: no financial interest in book, author, or publisher to disclose)

love love love this book!!!

but rather than spend the $30-$40 for a tiny book (worth it or not..) i got mine at a book resale store. and found an online coupon for an additional 50% off...so i paid less than $10 for it!!! brand new, never opened! gotta love those kind of finds!

i recommend you really start looking for books everywhere. garage sales, thrift stores, etc...

i scope out my half priced books around the corner from my house. when we go to a clinical location i do some internet research to see what thrift type stores/ book resale stores are close by and stop in afterward. i buy anything that looks interesting and is cheap.

i have like 8 nclex books, some are lvn some are rn. tons of nursing diagnosis books (i really think that's what got me a really high grade on my last care plan by using other resources than just their required one book we purchased.), drug cards, medical dictionaries (i have a big stedman's and a tiny pocket one i carry in my purse all the time). i have some great a&p refresher type books and a cool card set that i can just take a few on specific systems and carry them with me to study when i have time in carpool or whatever.

i stay away from text books unless they are really current and really cheap. no point in those really. my school required ones do the job on that.

i have the best reference library of anyone i know...nurse or student!

i agree with the workbooks. i stay away from them. they came w/ our required textbook package and i didn't use them even once. worthless.

anything that has nclex in it is good.

i stumbled on a hesi review book recently, had already purchased the new one (very pricey $64) and so i had one to loan out to someone who didn't pass it 1st try and i kept the older version to study for my nclex.

i say get whatever you can....

it is well worth it!!!!