What nursing magazine should I subscribe to?

[kreaglin100]

I am about to start a nursing program but have no idea what specialty I'll end up in. Can anyone recommend a magazine/periodical I should subscribe to that will help me learn the most about nursing? Thanks.

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

I think it is a waste of money to subscribe as a student. My library has subscriptions to quite a few nursing journals and I have used them. Also, for specific articles we have free access to an online database. So, for some journals, you can subscribe to an email alert (they often give you a summary of the months articles) and if interested I can call up the article free at home.

Some of the articles aren't indexed online immediately but that hasn't been a problem so far.

Take to your school's librarian and/or publication manager.

[breaktime]

So.very.blessed said:

BTW (from an old RN? Once you graduate.... Please get at least 1 year of hospital adult med/surg (Medical/Surgical) nursing under your belt before getting specialized!! Do others agree?

Off-topic from original post, but in response to this ^

I can't speak from experience as I'm still in school, but my mother-in-law, my aunt, and the NP I do research with who is my mentor (all three with over 25 years of experience) said this is the worst advice new grads are so often given. To paraphrase what each said individually, you will get med/surg experience no matter where you work and going into med/surg first can often make it harder to specialize later. The reason being is that most other areas either want new grads or if you have been working as an RN already, they want you to have experience in that area. I have no idea what others on here will say, I'm sure many will disagree as I have heard the get med/surg thing repeatedly myself. As for me, I respect these 3 women as nurses immensely, and trust their advice.

In response to OP, I also like RN. Can't use it as a source for papers, but that's not why I'm reading it anyway.

[allthemadmen]

breaktime said:

Off-topic from original post, but in response to this ^

I can't speak from experience as I'm still in school, but my mother-in-law, my aunt, and the NP I do research with who is my mentor (all three with over 25 years of experience) said this is the worst advice new grads are so often given. To paraphrase what each said individually, you will get med/surg experience no matter where you work and going into med/surg first can often make it harder to specialize later. The reason being is that most other areas either want new grads or if you have been working as an RN already, they want you to have experience in that area. I have no idea what others on here will say, I'm sure many will disagree as I have heard the get med/surg thing repeatedly myself. As for me, I respect these 3 women as nurses immensely, and trust their advice.

Sorry to continue the off-topic trend, but of my professors, only one advises the "year of med-surg" and all others say that's ridiculous - if you know what you want to do, simply do it. There may be advantages to working med-surg for a while, but there are also advantages in starting fresh and being molded into the nurse (specialist) you want to be.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

After getting pretty much every journal out there for a year I have limited it to just Nursing2009.

Nursing Made Incredibly Easy was a little too basic for me.

AJN was ok.

I keep them in the bathroom. :)

Tait

And yes you are busy in nursing school, but to say you are too busy to peruse an article is like saying you are too busy for an ice cream after a big test. PLUS a lot of times you need journal articles for projects in school.

[KateRN1]

I wouldn't subscribe yet. Your nursing library at your school should have all of the major journals, plus probably several of the specialty journals. Take some time to look over them at school and decide which one is best for you.

Regarding the Med/Surg vs. Specialty debate: You may find that if you go straight into a specialty and discover that you don't care for it, you are very limited in what you can do later in your career. If you want mobility for later in your career, try to get some basic experience first. And no, you don't get general med/surg in every specialty.

[Seagate]

You don't need to buy any magazines, get all the info. you need for free online.