Reading Nursing Fundamentals prior to NS?

Nomijen · Nov 14, 2010

I also start in Jan, and our school encouraged us to read beforehand. I am all about reading EVERYTHING. I think you will do great in NS!

2ndyearstudent, CNA · Nov 14, 2010

I begin clinicals in January for an ASN program. I am not taking any classes this semester and since I have the free time, I am reading as much as I can about the Nursing Process and related concepts. I just read "Nursing Fundamentals DeMystified" and thought I would also read "Nursing Fundamentals Made Incredibly Easy". Are these books recommended? Any thoughts of what else I might find helpful? I'm looking for material to gain a better understanding of the field and hopefully make the transitions a little less stressful (If that is possible).
Thanks for your feedback!

I still hate my Perry and Potter Fundamentals book and am very glad I didn't read it at all before nursing school.

I don't think I would have got anything out of independent study before starting the nursing program. But if it makes you feel good and you enjoy it, go ahead and read those textbooks!

However, you will soon wistfully recall "free time" as a concept as it may not exist in your universe during nursing school. Here are some activities I would suggest as an alternative to reading textbooks before school:

1. ANYTHING.

(Of course, you should do any activities your instructors assign the week or two before your program starts)

Saysfaa · Nov 15, 2010

any of Atul Gawande's books

pitaya · Nov 15, 2010

I still hate my Perry and Potter Fundamentals book and am very glad I didn't read it at all before nursing school.
I don't think I would have got anything out of independent study before starting the nursing program. But if it makes you feel good and you enjoy it, go ahead and read those textbooks!
However, you will soon wistfully recall "free time" as a concept as it may not exist in your universe during nursing school. Here are some activities I would suggest as an alternative to reading textbooks before school:
1. ANYTHING.
(Of course, you should do any activities your instructors assign the week or two before your program starts)

I completely second everything you just said. Seriously. Do ANYTHING but read textbooks before school starts and you hate your life.

flyingchange · Nov 15, 2010

I read a great deal of my Potter & Perry text before first year. I didn't get much out of it but it was very exciting to look at all of the fun things I could do in clinicals.

To the OP: if it floats your boat, go for it. It's hard to "study" since you don't really know how the courses will go until you are in the middle of them. I didn't retain very much/anything from my pre-NS browsing.

Count me among those who can barely remember a time when they read for fun, and that reading didn't include ANYTHING AT ALL to do with nursing.

BacktotheBeach, ADN, BSN, RN · Nov 15, 2010

I read and did the practice questions in Prentice Hall's Reviews and Rationales, Foundations of Nursing. I am finishing up my first quarter of NS and it was very closely aligned with what we studied. I worked on this a couple times a week during the summer before I started.

thatsthekeyRNC · Nov 15, 2010

I don't start clinicals until next fall, but I think I will feel the same way as you over the summer - wanting to at least SEE the information beforehand. I've watched some nursing youtube videos over the past few months and that might be a good thing to try just to be familiar with basic skills and how to act. I'm not really taking the time to LEARN the things, but it's interesting to know and I think it'll be easier to understand later. Again, I don't know how this actually related to clinical since I haven't started yet, but I don't think it can hurt!

At my orientation, the dean of my school made a comment about how nursing students are known to want to "get ahead" and always want to have all of their books and materials EARLY so they can get started and I thought that was so true! Everyone laughed and nodded because we're all kind of the same! haha

Strwbrywne · Nov 16, 2010

I don't start clinicals until next fall, but I think I will feel the same way as you over the summer - wanting to at least SEE the information beforehand.
This is how I feel....just want to get an idea of what to expect when the semester starts. I'm not buying textbooks and trying to study. Oh, no no! Just leisurely looking at different nursing fundamentals material. Thanks for the responses. If anyone else out there has a recommendation, please share!

Christine2009 · Nov 16, 2010

I agree that the Perry and Potter Fundamentals book is useless and contains multiple errors, BUT I am thankful that I took the directors advice and started reading it ahead of time. Once we started school, we had a test the first week over the first 300 pages! Because I had taken the inititive to read ahead of time before school started, all I had to do to prepare for the exam is read over my notes from reading and study the lecture notes.

I think reading up on Fundamentals is an awesome idea...yes, you should spend time now with your family and friends because once you get into school you will not see much of them, but at the same time, taking a couple hours out of your day to read up on the Nursing Process, Critical Thinking, and Basic Patient Care is not a bad idea either.

Best of luck to you...

lilykiss6 · Nov 16, 2010

Instead of reading fundamentals, why don't u work on your Math skills.

semester1kid · Nov 16, 2010

There's no doubt that reading will help you out - heck, we had 5 chapters due as a reading assignment BEFORE our first class ever took place:-) Just read and understand what you can and don't be intimidated by something if you don't understand it because there are certain things that can only be understood via lecture (or even in some cases, via pts in clinicals...and you will have plenty of opportunity to learn and ask as you go)...

Sometimes it's even the easy stuff where the importants needs to be stressed...I recall when I read and even heard for first time in lecture the importance of our pledge not to cause harm. At the time (in my head), I was thinking 'duh - if you like to cause harm, you're in the wrong business'. It took a little time for the true meaning of that to sink in...