Laurelai

Awesome.. thanks for all the extra info! I'll definitely be looking all that up! Anyone have more suggestions/reference books?

Hi guys, So after taking a year off after graduation (family illness, etc) I finally took the boards, applied for jobs, and got a job! In all honesty, med/surg wasn't my first choice... but I can't imagine a better place to start my foundation as a new nurse. And who knows, I might end up loving it! Nurse patient ratio is 1:4 (high acuity), I met most of the RN's already and they're extremely helpful and nice, and the nurse manager is really involved and and seems like a good team leader. Now my dilemma is... because I took a year off, I feel unprepared and panicked. I've been reading my textbooks and trying my best to refresh my memory on everything I've learned. What kind of reference books/materials did you guys use when you started working? I've seen those pocket reference med/surg books and I wonder if they really help. I'm thinking reference materials I can carry around with me either in a pocket or locker. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! :)

Hey guys, I graduated from the Truman Nursing Program in May and want to help you all out with questions. I haven't read through the entire thread but I saw something about making copies of records. THIS IS A MUST. I cannot express enough have important this is. I think I submitted my HepB form like 4 times throughout the 2 years of school because it just happened to disappear from my medical file. Please make copies of all forms and documents to save yourself from having to stop by your doctor's office like I did multiple times. Don't stress about the background check. I know students that submitted that as late as during the 2nd week of school. Don't procrastinate on it though, you'll just stress yourself out. (Plus the people in the nursing office may get annoyed with you.) I do not like Beck's bookstore because they are overpriced. On the other hand, you really can't do anything about it because the nursing books are bundled for the first year. Honestly, there are a couple books in there that I never opened, but like I said, its a bundle. I recommend just getting the bundle or finding a recent grad to buy or borrow their books. I think the bundle was over 1000$. Second year you'll also be buying books for each rotation, just fyi. Truman will never get rid of HESI. HESI is why Truman gets hundreds of thousands in government grants... because if you pass HESI, you'll most likely pass the NCLEX. This is why we have a 100% passing rate. In all honesty, that money has given us an awesome lab. My first year we had all this horrible old equipment that barely worked. Now the lab is totally remodeled with meti-mans which are amazing learning tools that breathe, have pulses, and can even go into cardiac arrest (I hear they cost like $200,000 a piece). If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. I was lucky enough to talk to a Truman grad before I started the program. I also spent a lot of time finding information about instructors and clinical sites, extra learning tools, and so on. Congrats to everyone that got accepted Enjoy the last few weeks of break before the semester starts. Really.