turquoisefire

Also, if you want to consider it, a lot of places are offering textbook rentals. The main one that I know of is Chegg.com. I personally haven't used it yet, but I've been told by friends that do use it that it is awesome. You are even allowed to highlight in the text if you need to. (They also plant trees for each book you rent!) If you think renting is a possibility, you might want to check it out. It is a cheaper option than buying textbooks, depending on what kind of deals you find at the moment.

When I ordered my ATI book (direct from the ATI site) it arrived really quick, so if that's a concern I don't think you have to be too worried. It only took a couple of days for it to arrive. Also, I haven't taken the TEAS test yet, but from reading the threads here on allnurses I find that most people find the ATI book extremely useful (minus the science section).

I second Baby Catcher if you like midwifery stories. It's by Peggy Vincent. Very quick and entertaining read.

Check out Echo Heron's books. They are older, but I loved her stories and the ease of which they read.

What kind of specialties are you interested in? I have several books that I loved reading, but I'm not sure they'd be entertaining unless you're into the subject matter. Let me know and I'll throw some ideas at you. :)

I third this! I'm in the middle of reading it right now and I find it a very entertaining read. I love how it focuses on various issues of nursing/midwifery through the years. Specifically, I loved how she talked about her time in nursing school and how it was common for women to give birth in a drug addled haze and had very little to no control over their birth. This book is not only informative, but very humorous. I find myself laughing quite often at the stories Vincent tells. Highly recommended for anybody with a nursing inclination, but especially for those interested in OB/GYN, L&D, and/or Midwifery.

Hey all, I'm currently reading Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse by Janice Hudson. I'm loving it right now. I wanted to throw it out here as an option for learning more information about flight nursing or at least for providing some entertaining reading if anybody wanted to check it out. If you've read it, what did you think of it?

I haven't personally read it, but I watch a youtube blog (NurseNacole) and at one point she really recommended The ICU Book by Paul Marino. She worked as a nurse tech and evidently a lot of nurses on the ICU floor really recommended using this book. "The ICU Bible" is what I think she said. Like I said, don't know how it is personally, but you might want to check it out and see if it would work for you. Below is the link to Amazon's page for the product so you can get more information. They also have a "look inside" feature so you can check out a few pages. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...ef=oss_product

This summer I'm taking 3 classes at a local CC. I'm going to be incredibly busy, but I'm so excited. I'm going to be taking Human Anatomy, Interpersonal Communication, and Intro to Psych. I figure I'll probably spend most of my time with the Anatomy. I'm not expecting the other two to be too difficult or time consuming, but I guess I'll find out. Good luck with your classes this summer! I've never heard of a program requiring a logic class before. That's kind of interesting, but I can see the reasoning.

To be honest I would speak to the nursing departments about their specific programs and what they recommend. Each program is different. For example, the one I'm applying to gives 40 points for As (first time), 30 points for Bs (first time), and then the second time around gives 20 points for As and 10 points for Bs. So based on my program you'd be safer to stay with your Bs. However, other programs I know you NEED an A to even be competitive and it would be worth it to take the class over again. Like I said, talk to the specific nursing departments for what they recommend for their programs. As for finding a teacher that wouldn't be terrible, ask around if you have the chance. It's easy if you know people that went to the school or program. If you don't know, perhaps ask an advisor for the program if they could perhaps put you in touch with a current or former student that might be willing to answer questions. Also, if it's a local school see if any of your neighbors, coworkers, relatives etc. are familiar with the program. I also check the ratemyprofessors site, but I do have to say: take those reviews with a grain of salt. You don't know what type of student the reviewer was. They might have been a poor student and gave a bad review because they received a poor grade. You never know. I use it as kind of a guideline. But best bet is to try and talk to somebody. I noticed you said that you work 40 hours a week. Are you also taking a full load of courses or only one or two at a time? I'd recommend either that you cut back on a few hours at work (if you're able to) or take one or two courses at a time so you can focus more energy on the classes. That may help with grades. Best of luck to you in this process. It's a lot of work and energy, but remember: where there's a will, there's a way.

I'm not currently a nurse (still pre-nursing) so I can't say anything from a personal prospective, but I watch a youtube blog (NurseNacole) and at one point she really recommended a book called The ICU Book by Paul Marino. She worked as a nurse tech and evidently a lot of nurses on the ICU floor really recommended using this book. Like I said, don't know how it is personally, but you might want to check it out and see if it would work for you. Below is the link to Amazon's page for the product so you can get more information. They also have a "look inside" feature so you can check out a few pages. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078174802X/ref=oss_product