Should I not buy (or rent) any text books?

TC3200 · Nov 27, 2013

This is my experience and ymmv:

I bought mine. I had Trade Act retraining money that paid for all of it, though.

When we got to care plans and care maps, we had to cite references (page numbers & all) from the textbook(s) for whatever we chose as nursing diagnosis, actions, etc. The reason I was given for that, when I asked an instructor, is that in the real workplace, if challenged or if sued, you must be able to prove that the course of action you chose for patient care has a basis. In other words, you can't just do something because it seems like a good idea. You have to be able to prove that it is appropriate.

If your school has many copies of textbooks available for checkout in the library, you may not need to buy or rent you own copy. If you are working by yourself at 3AM in a desperate time crunch to finish something up, you might want to have a copy of the textbooks on hand.

For exams, most of the successful students in the class (and by nursing IV, I was struggling, totally burned out, and ready to leave), said they didn't read the textbooks nor did they study from them. They just went over and over the Powerpoint handouts. I, on the other hand, absolutely strove to read all of the assignments, learn the information to retain it, and there simply weren't enough hours in the day to even scan-read all of that carp, sit through daily lectures, and complete all paperwork thoroughly and get it right the first time. As time wore on, I never felt prepared for exams. I missed nuances of test questions and thus picked wrong answers. The people who were ONLY studying the Powerpoints might miss the rare question that came from the textbook, but it didn't matter because they aced the questions from the Powerpoint material, and quantity is everything when you need to keep that 80% average to pass.

minniebrown · Nov 27, 2013

I don't think it will be a good idea. Nursing is more than memorization. You can try buying used texts or ordering them. You will also need a drug book, care plan books, etc for assignments that may not be covered extensively in class. You could try it, but it probably won't go well.

MrsComboCurlz, ASN, BSN, RN · Nov 27, 2013

Based on ALL that I've read on AN for the past few years... student testimonies are: NURSING School is a whole OTHER animal. It pails in comparison to pre-reqs and how you would regularly go about passing. Not a great or wise idea to go into this journey with what your NOT going to do! Go into with what you ARE going to do, to be successful. Good luck!

RN9742 · Nov 27, 2013

In past classes I have very often barely touched my textbooks, if I used them at all. However I reference my nursing textbooks often. Here's a few reasons why.

1. There is entirely too much material for the teacher to cover in lecture alone.

2. Many concepts I need to revisit frequently to really absorb them, and as I say connect all the dots

3. The textbooks have online resources that are vital to my success as a student

4. Many instructors do not lecture much, or at all in the case of concept based learning which is all the rage right now

5. Tests are based off the textbook, not what is covered in lecture (Sometimes it is the same, sometimes it varies some. Our instructors are teaching us to be nurses, the textbook is giving us the knowledge to be nurses)

I cannot imagine trying to attempt most my nursing courses without the textbooks. A few of the simpler classes I did not need them as much, but my core classes (Fundamentals, OB, Psych, and Med-Surg), I definitely required them.

BeccaC623 · Nov 27, 2013

I use my textbooks all the time. I agree with what has been said previously: nursing school is completely different than my prereqs were. I was a straight A student with very little studying in all of my prereqs, got cocky after doing really well on the first two tests of my RN program with minimal studying, then failed this last test. I'll still pass the class with a B but it's definitely not as easy as any other classes I've ever taken. Plus, you might want the books after school is over as references.

I'd also suggest to ask the professors if the prior edition of the book would be useful. The "required book" for my fundamentals class was the 10th edition but many students had the 9th and it worked out for them just fine, just some changes in page numbers.

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Nov 27, 2013

In my nursing school, they tend to pull questions from a test bank to be "fair" and then if enough people fail the question, they will rethink the test question. The test bank is usually from the publisher of the book, then usually the context would be found in the text but not always in the lecture. In fact, a friend bought the practice guide because a quarter of the test usually has very, very similar questions to the practice guide. This is a teacher where if you don't read the chapter, you will fail. Every single person in her class last semester failed so due to the backlash, they pulled her up to this campus. My friend is pulling a B in her class because she reads every single chapter multiple times and studies the practice guide. I even gave her my instructor's taped lectures from another semester and my book of powerpoints.

I've had an online psych class where the lectures and powerpoints didn't line up to the test material at all. I had to study the book intensely. However, I did have a peds class where the lecturer used her powerpoints as the basis for the test and skipped over a lot of the peds material. I didn't buy/rent my geriatric book but that's because it's 2 weeks of the material and the other 2 weeks is leadership and I have an A in the class at the moment with one test left.

I recommend at least renting the books so you can reference them. The worst thing that could happen is you find out that you won't get all of the content from the lecturer and instead expected to use the textbook. Some items you may use more than one semester so I'd consider buying those.

So at least rent them and if you find out by the first test you can use the powerpoints to slide by, then return them and say you dropped the class. Usually there is a time frame you can return the books. Also, usually renting is around 50 bucks for a semester and sometimes you can get the same books new or used at that price. I use bigwords.com to compare items.

Also, for some of the stuff like nursing diagnosis handbooks, I used an international version. 50 bucks for a book that cost 200 dollars. It is the same except the paper it is printed on is thinner and the cover is not blue but shows a picture of the cover. It's still hardcover. I did this with some science pre-reqs.

Boxer Mama · Nov 27, 2013

I use my book all the time. Like mentioned in a previous post, there is so much more material in the book you need to know that is not covered in class. In my Health Assessment class, we do have power point presentations to study, but we were then told to read and study the book for physical exam assessment techniques and to learn normals and abnormals. Nursing school is a whole different animal than the pre-req classes!

ThatNursingDude · Nov 28, 2013

Very awesome responses everyone, thanks a ton!

Can anyone tell me this: were there any books you didn't use much/at all? They can't all be THAT important right?

It's just really expensive, and I don't have a job and don't plan on having one throughout the entire 2 years of going to RN school. I also plan on being debt free at the end of it .

Jenngirl34RN · Nov 28, 2013

In my program it would be next to impossible to pass the classes without the textbooks. Our lectures and the handouts only cover the general ideas and most important and/or most difficult to grasp concepts. We are expected to learn everything else (all the little details not covered in lecture) on our own, and we are held responsible for all of the information covered in the required reading for the tests. So far we have needed each of our assigned textbooks.

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Nov 28, 2013

Use Bigwords.com

Each school will be different though. I rented my first semester skills book, kept the patho, bought the adult health book but we used for two semesters, rented psych, didn't buy geri, bought the combined OB/Peds book.

The leadership book I don't know if I bought or rented but I can't find it.

I bought my med book but never use it. I use a free phone app and the Lexicomp on my phone from work. I never used my lab book. I bought an older version of a nursing diagnosis book and I bought a Lipincott nursing diagnosis book from India.

ThatNursingDude · May 9, 2014

Okay, so just a heads up.

In my first semester of RN school, I indeed did not need any books. I did make friends with almost everyone and am able to use their books if I needed to (which was maybe 3x throughout the semester). I will be getting the book for level 2 though, as I'm told it's where the rubber meets the road so-to-speak.

Cheers!