What books should I purchase?

[Imperfect_beauty]

Hello I'm starting nursing school in the fall of 2017 and wanted to know what nursing books to purchase. I was looking at the NCLEX-RN books by Saunders but not sure which edition or editions to get(what's the difference besides being up to date?). I was also looking at drug books to start learning about all the different drugs I should know about for pharmacology. I plan on going into the ICU after I get my BSN since I want to go for my masters as a nurse anesthetist. Is there any books that would prepare me for the ICU? I haven't looked into that yet but it just came to mind right now. Please list any other books you think would be beneficial to have.

T.I.A!

[MyAimIsTrue, BSN]

Just wait. We were told to buy the "bundle" for nearly $2000, but it includes everything we will need for the three year program.

[verene, MSN]

I second waiting as well. Your program will likely have a NCLEX prep book and a drug guide that they either require or strongly recommend. Also wouldn't recommend studying much pharmacology beforehand. You aren't expected to know much if anything before coming into the program.

If you really want to do some light prep you can look up the WHO list of most commonly used drugs or something like that to look up names, but don't put much time into it. Your instructor(s) will let you know which drugs they want you to learn and to what extent they want you to be familar with them. (Some drugs my instructor just wanted us to know the drug class existed and told us if we end up working in a specialty where they are used then we can learn more. Other she wanted us to know inside and out everything about them.)

I've enjoyed (before program and after starting) reading nursing/healthcare memoirs for fun. Something that is related to school but a are also just good reads.

Most recently I've read "The Quiet Room" by Lori Schiller which is a memoir about her own experiences being diagnosed with Schizophrenia and experience as a long-term psychiatric patient.

Next up on my list is "Better: A surgeon's notes on performance" by Atule Gawande.