I have been going through all these posts to find what items are the best things to have for nursing school. The posts are all scattered so I thought I would start a post that will contain all the info for the new incoming students.
I would like to know what I should spend my money on when it comes to study guides, NCLEX review books, NET review books, best nursing shoes (without a logo), stethescope, misc nursing items you have to have, etc. Any new students/senior students/graduate nurses have any info they can share? What were the items you couldn't live without???
I use a PDA strictly for reference and I can't imagine not having it. It saves tons of time and back strain (books I don't have to carry). Well worth every penny I spent on it and Skyscape.com offers trials on most of it's products that usually will last through a clinical rotation.
Specializes in General Surgery & Open Heart Teams; NICU.
I put everything in a 3 ring binder. I get a big one for everything. I use tabs to seperate notes by test...Test 1, Test 2.....And I keep labs notes in the back along with extra notebook paper. I also keep the syllabus in there too. That way I always have everything. Then as we get notes or any other sheets Input them with the correct test section. We get a list of what's on each test for the semester
I have a PDA for clinical with Tabers, Mosby for labs, some of the free porgams such as epocrates, diagnosaurus, and archimeds. I am planning to buy Davis' drug guide before I start the summer session wehen I get the money. I also bought a 1 gb memory card to keep all my programs in.
I have a digital recorder to tape all lectures to listen to later. That way I don't have to try to take notes in class, I can do it at home at my own pace. I also keep all lectures in my PDA, so I can keep them all long as I want.
Highlighters, many, many, ink pens, index card for drug cards, a good calender to carry and one in my study area, a good hole puncher, notebook paper, a cd case to keep all the cd's fomr the textbooks with me so if I have a few minutes, I can put them in the computer at school, and I have purchased several other books such as Maternity and ECG made easy, straight A's in med/surg and maternity, Kaplan NCLEX book...and I am going to buy the NCLEX new format book tomorrow. I heard form one of our graduating students, our instuctors like to use that book as a question bank for tests
Why the excessive amount of red/black pens?? are you required to write in red for some things and black for others....??????
We're not *required* to write in specific colors (may be different for others) but I find it's really helpful to take notes in more than one color to emphasize different points. I also have five colors of highlighters, and a bunch of colors of little post-it flags. Those books have many, many pages!
Specializes in PICU, NICU, Peds LTC, Case Management.
I would HIGHLY reccommend buying the HESI NCLEX-RN review. It doesn't have NCLEX questions- it is divided into chapters that you might cover in various nursing classes (i.e. pediatrics, L&D, med-surg, psych, critical care). The chapters basically summarize all of the main topics you will cover and the info that you REALLY need to know... it is the most amazing book I own. It has caused my test grades to improve dramatically!!! Like A's and B's on tests... easily.
Also, I would reccommend a "pocket size" drug book for clinicals. I have Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide 2006. It fits into your pocket and has the main points about each drug.
Basically... these 2 things have saved me so far in nursing school! Any book that summarizes, gives you the main idea, or puts it into simplified terms will help get the info into your brain alot easier and the material will become much more familiar to you!
dividers (l like to divide my binder into sections such as "alterations in endocrine function" "clinicals" "care plans", etc. make you binder organized for you so you can easily find your notes and review for tests.)
pencil pouch
tote bag for clinicals
rolling back pack for lecture/lab
insulated lunch box
prepaid gas cards (i buy them when i get my money from my loans. then i know i always have gas money.)
# 2 pencils lots and lots
loose leaf college ruled paper
stethoscope
penlight
bandage scissors
clip board
folders
organizer either paper or electronic there is no way to keep everything in your head you've got to write it down.
Just from my experience from working in a nursing home, I would guess for clinicals you would need scrubs with large pockets (if your school doesn't provide uniforms like mine does), comfy sneakers, a small notebook, several pens, and a willingness to be everywhere at once. lol
Just a guess on my part, though. I don't start clinicals until Spring 2007.
Seriously jealous of y'all who are already starting!
Why the excessive amount of red/black pens?? are you required to write in red for some things and black for others....??????
Most (all of ours) hospitals want everything in black ink. You need to have extra's cause you will use them in school as well. Someone will forget theirs, your favorite will get lost, etc...lol. I have only used a red pen twice, once in clinicals and once at school. I can't remember why, but I do remember being thankful I had it. I always carrried extra in my clinical bag, just in case, and I have been very glad of that on several occasions.
Most (all of ours) hospitals want everything in black ink. You need to have extra's cause you will use them in school as well. Someone will forget theirs, your favorite will get lost, etc...lol. I have only used a red pen twice, once in clinicals and once at school. I can't remember why, but I do remember being thankful I had it. I always carrried extra in my clinical bag, just in case, and I have been very glad of that on several occasions.
Oooh, and a clickable sharpie. Labelling water bottles, and, um, other stuff I can't think of right now. But I loved mine, and always missed it when I forgot to bring it to clinicals...
roll backpacks are the best! Lots of pens, have backups for the backups. a mini recorder, high lighters, lots of extra folders to keep things in at home. A file cabinet works great. And one thing nobody has said, a new iron just for ironing uniforms. Nothing can be more fustrating than getting ironing your pants the morning of clinicals and your iron drops rusty water on your pants and leave a stain. And you know you cant wear those.
i have been going through all these posts to find what items are the best things to have for nursing school. the posts are all scattered so i thought i would start a post that will contain all the info for the new incoming students.
i would like to know what i should spend my money on when it comes to study guides, nclex review books, net review books, best nursing shoes (without a logo), stethescope, misc nursing items you have to have, etc. any new students/senior students/graduate nurses have any info they can share? what were the items you couldn't live without???
thanks for your input!
start off right from the beginning putting each subject into a seperate folder that is labeled by semester and subject so that later when you need it you don't have to search through everything to get to the one you need.
i learned this the hard way when 4th sem rolled around and i needed to reference things from previous semesters and jeez what a mess i had made...:selfbonk:
a container for the car or house to drop all your clinacal stuff in name badge, sissors etc so that on clinical days you don't show up unprepared.
index cards are the right size to fit into your pocket to write down stuff and not have to carry around a clipboard, which we were not allowed to do anyway.
also index cards that you have laminated with info that you have a hard time remembering that comes up often. for me it was the pt ptt values for heparin dosages, and a narrative for the head to toe charting that would flow and not seem so choppy as well as reference to remember everything that needed to be covered.
LadyStar42, LPN
57 Posts
I use a PDA strictly for reference and I can't imagine not having it. It saves tons of time and back strain (books I don't have to carry). Well worth every penny I spent on it and Skyscape.com offers trials on most of it's products that usually will last through a clinical rotation.