Optional NS Books - help me decide.

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I just got my book list for the fall and I have five optional books on it. I wanted to see if anyone else used them and if they helped you or were a waste of money. Please weigh in on the following:

  • Med Surg Nursing (clinical companion) Dirksen
  • How to Survive & Maybe even love NS Dunham
  • Techniques in Clinical Nursing Kozier
  • RN Notes: Nurse's Clinical Pocket Guide Myers
  • Test Success... Beginning Nursing Students Myers

The reason I am asking is, since books are uber expensive as it is, if these are optional and perhaps not helpful, I'd rather save the money. All added they equal $195 for all five. If they really help me, that's a small price to pay for success in NS. As it stands right now just looking at the list I will get the Test Success one for sure. So please tell me what you think. :o)

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I just got my book list for the fall and I have five optional books on it. I wanted to see if anyone else used them and if they helped you or were a waste of money. Please weigh in on the following:

  • Med Surg Nursing (clinical companion) Dirksen
  • How to Survive & Maybe even love NS Dunham
  • Techniques in Clinical Nursing Kozier
  • RN Notes: Nurse's Clinical Pocket Guide Myers
  • Test Success... Beginning Nursing Students Myers

The reason I am asking is, since books are uber expensive as it is, if these are optional and perhaps not helpful, I'd rather save the money. All added they equal $195 for all five. If they really help me, that's a small price to pay for success in NS. As it stands right now just looking at the list I will get the Test Success one for sure. So please tell me what you think. :o)

I would get the RN notes, Techniques in clinical nursing, and test success if any, all the others might just be a waste. I had a ton of recommend books and most of them i never used.

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I would go to the bookstore and skim through them if they're not shrinkwrapped, and then if any look useful go online and try to find used copies or older editions. I've gotten some recommended books for around $2 that way.

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Specializes in Cardiac Care.

Most definitely, the RNotes will be a big help to you in clinicals. It's spiral bound, and pocket sized so you can take it everwhere, and the tabbed pages make it wasy to locate information. I like it a lot.

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hm. do you have time to type up the books that you are going to get? that way we can go from there. if a good clinical book is on that list; that would eliminate some of these books. you do need a good clinical book that goes over skills, etc.

the test success and how to love nursing school-- if it were me and i had to do it over again, i would not have bought them.

in fact, the only book i'd really get off of that list would be the rn notes. i have the program in my pda and love it.

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hm. do you have time to type up the books that you are going to get? that way we can go from there. if a good clinical book is on that list; that would eliminate some of these books. you do need a good clinical book that goes over skills, etc.

the test success and how to love nursing school-- if it were me and i had to do it over again, i would not have bought them.

in fact, the only book i'd really get off of that list would be the rn notes. i have the program in my pda and love it.

my required are: kozier n erbs fund. of nursing w/ sg & hb

davis drug guide for nurses

nursing care plans by gulanick

clinical calculations by kee

med sug nursing sg by lewis

med surg nursing w/ cd by lewis (text)

med dictionary by miller (which i had from last semester's med terminology) or the one by taber's. would you get the tabers or keep the miller and use instead of the tabers. gosh such questions!

another question, they are requiring us to have the ati nclex bundle ($459!!!) published last year. i bought the very same bundle (11 books and some odd number of dvds) for $50 on ebay. same isbn, etc. they are saying it's not the same as they are selling. :idea: so i have to call and talk to the bookstore manager to get his take. which i have a feeling i already know what he'll think.

again, thanks for any help you all can give me. ;)

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Something else I am batting zero on is I bought a Palm TX brand new when I got accepted to NS. Loaded it with a lot of the programs I found suggested here. Come to find out, they don't allow them at my school. I could just scream!! :angryfire

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my required are: kozier n erbs fund. of nursing w/ sg & hb

davis drug guide for nurses

nursing care plans by gulanick

clinical calculations by kee

med sug nursing sg by lewis

med surg nursing w/ cd by lewis (text)

med dictionary by miller (which i had from last semester's med terminology) or the one by taber's. would you get the tabers or keep the miller and use instead of the tabers. gosh such questions!

another question, they are requiring us to have the ati nclex bundle ($459!!!) published last year. i bought the very same bundle (11 books and some odd number of dvds) for $50 on ebay. same isbn, etc. they are saying it's not the same as they are selling. :idea: so i have to call and talk to the bookstore manager to get his take. which i have a feeling i already know what he'll think.

again, thanks for any help you all can give me. ;)

oh girl, that ati thing sounds like a huge money maker. i would just about bet they are the same exact bundle. instead of talking to the manager, do you know of a senior that you can ask? from what i've found, seniors are the most reliable sources. they don't have anything to profit or gain-- they just want to help. if anything, you can try these boards-- i'd go to forums--> location --> state and see if anyone has graduated from your school within the last few years.

i think you definitely need that optional techniques in clinical nursing. imo-- you need a good clinical book to review skills for your clinical work.

i've never seen or used millers, so i can't really give you an unbiased opinion on that. i do know that i use tabers a lot; it even has handy-dandy nursing diagnoses in the back. the most current edition is the 20th ed., but i have the 19th, saved 15 bucks and it works just as well.

i'd also get that rn notes to bring to clinical with you. i really like that program. you can also use it when you're done with school and working the floors.

if you don't get all of the optional texts-- you have the option to purchase them later if you feel like you need them. i built my collection up a little at a time instead of buying everything at once.

good luck!

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Thanks for getting back to me, I really appreciate it. I think you're right on the ATI, I just have to find a senior to ask. The thing is it's not something we'll use in class but more of a companion item to work with as we do our regular classwork. Preparatory type thing for the NClex.

I hope the ATI is the same as I bought, that alone saved me over $400 and that would go a long way towards buying gas/lunch for my commute, you know what I'm sayin, right? lol My Yukon LOVES the gas but where I live I can't be w/o a 4x4. The optional Techniques book is $79 through the school, I snagged it for $15 on ebay and it's the right edition so I saved a bit there. :)

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Specializes in Neuro.
something else i am batting zero on is i bought a palm tx brand new when i got accepted to ns. loaded it with a lot of the programs i found suggested here. come to find out, they don't allow them at my school. i could just scream!! :angryfire

same here. i got a pda also, after seeing the posts on here about how great they are to have, and we aren't allowed to have them or any electronic device, including recorders. :o kind of bums me out since i got it loaded with all kinds of programs for nursing!

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I would get the RN notes, Techniques in clinical nursing, and test success if any, all the others might just be a waste. I had a ton of recommend books and most of them i never used.

I would get the RN notes too. The rest is probably not necessary.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

I used to bring RNotes with me.. but never used it.

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