Textbooks? E-books?

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi, classes start in 2 weeks and I'm super excited. However, nervous as well. It's been a long road with pre nursing pre-reqs and children. Now that I'm finally here, it's hard to believe it. Even though I already have a bachelors, I opted for the ASN degree simply because I must continue to work full time. I cannot put the hours needed for a full BSN program so I'll do that once done, or hope to get an accelerated master's program.

None the less, I'm looking at textbooks. I haven't bought any, because the size of them are daunting. I am planning on taking stuff to work with me to study and 21 textbooks for one semester seems a bit impossible to lug around (especially that med/surg book!). I see that a lot of textbooks are offered in e-book format now. Has anyone done this before? I know Barnes and Nobels has a e- version of some textbooks but you have to download Nook Study and it's only viewable from that pc. Work doesn't like us bringing full blown laptops and we are not allowed to browse the internet from the work computers, but they don't mind something small like an iPad or tablet PC when the patients are asleep (as long as we drop what we are doing when call bells go off, of course and tend to our patients). We have a great night staff that works together and as a result everyone has some down time, even if they don't take an official break. I'm considering buying as many e-textbooks as possible so I can access my studies in little snippets when possible. (I will be sleeping at school one night a week just to be able to get to work and in class or work 7 days a week so cutting down my load is essential).

Has anyone else done this? Gotten any of their textbooks as an e-book instead of the hard copy?

I know the Nook Study is like someone scanned the book in page for page and it works well, but I'm more curious about the kindle e-books than Nook, since they aren't tablet friendly yet.

My comment is more to do with the associate degree and working full time.

Is it a part time program? Because the commitment to a full time associate program is pretty serious. The people in my class who tried to work full time while attending school full time plus have children all failed out.

I'm not saying it can't be done and putting you down--I'm saying don't be naive about the time commitment involved. Your friends and family take a back seat while in school and you'll need a lot of help. Its not going to be a smooth ride, it's pretty strenuous.

Make sure you've got lots of help if this is a full time program!

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If you are looking for the cheapest way simply buy older editions of the books. I wish I had done this and spend less than $100 instead of over $500 (and I bought used books online, buying them from the bookstore at school would have been over $1k). Or you could just buy the current editions online and save a ton of money if you are worried about using older editions. I personally have not jumped on to the ebook craze, especially for textbooks. I like to sell my books back when I am done with them and that isn't possible with ebooks.

Also as AMRC6713 mentioned an ADN program really isn't all that different as far as studying/work then a BSN program. You are basically doing the first three years of a BSN program with an ADN program (the first year is pre-reqs, just like you had to do) and they generally start their nursing classes in their sophomore year. It's definitely not less intense. I am in an ADN program and when I talk to BSN students it sounds like our workload is similar. Just as AMRC6713 said, I am not trying to put your down but nursing school is really tough. Be prepared for quite the ride.

Good luck to you!

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I used my ipad for all my books. Between vitalsource and coursesmart I was able to get all the books. I could use my ipad or any computer with internet. They both have phone apps also.

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I'm not afraid of the work. I simply need to set myself up to be able to study at any given opportunity. Lugging twenty books with me is not going to do that. My husband is working his schedule around mine to help me. However, I've done all pre-reqs (and some pre-med before determining what I really want to do can be done as a Nurse Practitioner anyway) while working 2-3 jobs at any given time plus volunterring once a week for a 12 hour shift with our ambulance crew. I maintained a 3.8 GPA during that time until the last two courses, when I became sick and moved in the same semester (losing some textbooks to packing boxes right at exam time so I could not study for a few unit exams). Even with those poor exams, my GPA was still a 3.72 at application time.

I have since found a job that pays enough to cut down to one job. I've quit the others. And I just resigned as an EMT with my volley unit. They understand and get the time constraints and although I will miss my time with them, I recognize I need to focus.

I'm lucky enough to work nights and only work 3 nights a week to be considered full time. When the patients sleep, we have down time and many of us study then. (as long as your patient call bells are being answered, and you help when your coworkers may have a busy set of patients, our education is very much so encouraged and they allow us to study in the middle of the night). I will definitely be in a full time program, however, I already have a bachelor's degree, plus multiple sciences and I know, it's simply a matter of time management. Sleep will be my biggest issue on my work days. Barring that, I can do this.

However, to do this, I need to reduce the physical load that I carry with me, as I need access to all my textbooks at any given time. You study every snippet of time you get. You schedule family time meticulously. During the time scheduled for family, you are with your family and no one else. They are your priority. However, after that time is over, you move on to the next item on the to do list and allow dad to take over. It can be difficult, but not impossible. And I am so blessed to have a husband that does laundry, loves putting kids to bed and enjoys cooking when he has the time. He also prefers to grovery shop as he says stuff like "you spend money on food we don't eat". No. You cannot have him. :)

Oh...and I have learned to love the crock pot. Make it the night before, turn it on when you walk out the door the next morning. BANG! Dinner is ready when you get home. And you have left overs for lunch the next day. Win win! Woo hoo!

Now, let's lighten my back pack a bit and get this show on the road! :)

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I used my ipad for all my books. Between vitalsource and coursesmart I was able to get all the books. I could use my ipad or any computer with internet. They both have phone apps also.
I am looking at the vital source website thanks to your input. It looks a tad confusing at the moment. Give me a second! LOL
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I bought my drug guide on my kindle and I love that I can copy and paste, highlighter, and bookmark without having to drag one more book around! Also, I had my med/surg beast, I mean book, hole punched and binding removed for $5 at a local office supply store. I store the whole book in a three ring binder and just removed the chapters I need for the material I am working on and place it in a smaller binder. It's a life and back saver!! Just keep your big binder in your car...just in case you forget to switch your chapters out...been there done that!! ;)

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Now that's a good idea too! Our med surge book this edition was split into two paperback volumes. All the students in the book store were sighing in relief when we nursing 1 students saw it and compared it with nursing 2's Larger and HEAVIER hardback version.

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Elsevier offers digital texts though their Pageburst service. It's a free app called VitalSource for Android and iOS devices. There's also an app for the Kindle Fire, but it's not in the app store.

Pageburst Store - Digital Textbooks and Educational Materials That's the digital text store, so you can see what texts are available.

I'm getting digital texts. I can kinda understand why someone would want print texts, but there are few benefits to me. I can carry all of my texts FOREVER on my Kindle. It's better for the environment - no wasted paper. It's better for my back - no longer carrying 75lbs of books. It's more convenient - I can read whenever and wherever I have a spare moment. It's cheaper - I save almost $300 by getting digital over print.

I used to rent print books, but Elsevier also offers digital text rentals through Pageburst.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

I love my kindle and I convert a lot of files into kindle format including pdf's even though you can just load pdf's to the kindle directly because you can alter the text size.

I'm not a big fan of most textbooks on the kindle because it's hard to skim and flip through the way you can with a regular book. But for carrying a lot of information all at once it's excellent.

Maybe get the hard copy of your main text and ebook the rest. Better yet buy an old hardcopy for a few bucks and have the up to date etext.

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Specializes in Psych Nursing.

I love my Kindle Fire and highlighting, note taking, and bookmarking pages is super easy! Plus there are usually free "samples" of health care related books to try and see if you like before you buy!

While in nursing school I did use a flight attendant style wheelie bag though.

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