Preparing for FNP School

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Specializes in ICU, Military.

I begin my FNP program in Fall 2017. I am going to have alot of spare time in the coming months (stationed on a ship and we will be out to sea alot) and would like to begin prepping for the program.

I've been out of nursing school for 13 years, and its been longer than that since I've had A&P, stats, etc. With classes such as advanced patho and advanced pharm coming up, in addition to having to write APA-style papers (I am not a pro at this by any means), I would LOVE some recommendations for textbooks I could buy and start reviewing to help get me ready for my program. Any suggestions?

P.S. Since I am underway on a ship I need to buy textbook references since our internet is pretty crappy; so no online references please.

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Hi Anchor. Good for you for going back to school! I am a nerd and would be the perpetual student if I could :geek:

In my situation, I cannot say that my program used advanced patho or advanced pharm textbooks that I was satisfied with. They felt pretty dumbed down, and I complained to the heads of the department. They had their own explanations for choosing the textbooks that they did and recommended some others to me. Now that I'm past those classes, a friend of mine who is an anesthesiologist fellow gave me books that he used while he was in med school and I have been using those. The internal medicine one is probably five inches thick and weighs a ton. But it has been extremely helpful. My friend also sent me a couple of references/books in PDF form. I don't know if you'd be interested in them since they are for medical students, but if you are interested in the names, please let me know.

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Specializes in ICU, Military.

Yes please that would be great. We have a medical reference library here on the ship and have several primary care books, just not sure which would be best. Onboard we have books such as "Harris Principles of Internal Medicine vol 1&2, "Family Medicine Principles and Practice" by Taylor, ACP Medicine vol 1 and 2, "Procedures for Primary Care by Penninger and Fowlers", and a plethora of other texts for the physicians on board to reference since our internet is crap most of the time. I'm looking to build my own personal library for references while in school also so any suggestions would be awesome!

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He gave me these (PDF)

robbins and cotran pathology 8th ed part 1 Gen patho

Lippincott Pharmacology 2ed

Harrisons_17th_Retail (also the five-incher I mentioned previously)

Bate's_guide_to_physical_examination+MCQs

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Specializes in ICU, Military.
He gave me these (PDF)

robbins and cotran pathology 8th ed part 1 Gen patho

Lippincott Pharmacology 2ed

Harrisons_17th_Retail (also the five-incher I mentioned previously)

Bate's_guide_to_physical_examination+MCQs

Awesome we actually have Harrison's 18th edition here on the ship.

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Congrats!

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good for you, and keep us posted!

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robbins is a big one lol. we use it for a reference book in med school but you can get away with a lot less than robbins. Usually I am not a fan of taking shortcuts but for primary care there are a lot more time effective reads than robbins. Plus that one is hard to understand without recently taking biochem, cell bio, anatomy, etc. If you want a reasonable physiology book i would pick up a copy of costanzos newest physiology. its only 500 pages and has more than needed for primary care. In regards to anatomy, greys anatomy for students is pretty helpful and has many common clinical pointers in it. Its 1200 pages but anatomy is very helpful in practice esp if its been a while since you have had it.

for pathology, goljins path review is good as is robbins basic pathology book.

harrisons is also a good reference book but again overkill and you prob wont have time to read the whole thing. for FNP school I would probably pick up a volume of swansons family medicine review, current medical diagnosis.

Unless required I would stay clear of texts written by APRNs. I have yet found one reliable.

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In reference to APA format try the application PERRLA its well worth the money and formats your entire paper APA style, inserts refernces etc. It has been a life saver for me with papers.

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Specializes in ICU, Military.
In reference to APA format try the application PERRLA its well worth the money and formats your entire paper APA style, inserts refernces etc. It has been a life saver for me with papers.

Thanks! I will take a look at this

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Specializes in ICU, CCU, Neurology.

Hello, congratulations on starting the NP program. I will be starting next month and was looking into getting a head start as well. I have heard that advanced patho was rather difficult, so I will be starting there. Also for any online program you want to be very familiar with Microsoft word and pp. Writing in APA format and utilizing proper citations will be very important. I used "APA the easy way" Haughton. It was a lifesaver. available on amazon for cheap. Also I feel your pain being stuck on a ship, I am stuck in the desert at Fort Irwin, CA.. it is terrible, but I have plenty of time for school!!

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