Wise to purchase an old edition?

[HeyYogaGirl]

Hello!! First post, yay!!So I am thinking that buying older editions of most textbooks is a bad idea because it may have different questions that could be given as a class assignment (i.e., answer questions on page 20 but the old version has a photo on page 20) and I have heard that procedures change a lot. However, I am looking into purchasing an old edition of a medical terminology textbook (version 6 from 2008 ~$7 vs 7 from 2012 ~$75) This book would be for personal reading not for a class, I just want to make sure that I won't go to the hospital talking like in olde English or something hehe Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

[IndyElmer]

For those purposes, I think you'd be fine with one edition older med-term book.

But I'm biased. I believe that one-edition-older is OK for a lot of classes (dependent on the specific instructor/course). I know for a fact that you can get by just fine in a lot of classes (yes, even nursing classes) with a one-edition-older than is listed on the syllabus, but again, it completely depends on the specific instructor / class format. (Strangely, I've had people tell me "yes, get the current edition listed on the syllabus" then almost immediately after that "but I pretty much never used my textbooks.") The main exception is that even those who used one-edition-older whenever practical, all used current edition drug guides.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community.

For terminology that would be fine. For fundamentals/nursing courses I would be more careful. Care plan books and NANDA nursing diagnosis books are time sensitive.

Good Luck in shcool!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

terminology is largely (though not exclusively) based on greek and latin.

none of that has changed much since the last edition.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

My only caution would be about abbreviations. Medical abbreviations, and those that are approved for use, change quite frequently. So if your older edition contains a section about abbreviations (such as QD for daily or SC for sub cutaneous) make sure to compare it to a recent list of which abbreviations are still approved for use by the JC, and which are no longer acceptable for practice.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Courses that I think need current editions include care plan/NANDA books, pharmacology (drugs often change before the current edition is updated!), and nursing fundamentals possibly. Medical terminology should be fine with an edition that is one or two behind the current (with the exception of abbreviations but a current acceptable list can easily be found on Google and printed out for reference)

[freeornearly]

I always buy older versions of textbooks. I have not had any problems. So, yes I would encourage it :)

[IndyElmer]

freornearly, did you do this for your nursing texts too?

I had no problems with pre-req texts being older, particularly for classes where there was no homework to turn int, but even with knowing friends who are nearly done with their program and used almost exclusively one-edition-older, I'm a little nervous about buying my nursing texts that way. I've already to get a current edition drug guide and current edition nursing diagnosis book, but my assessment text that just arrived is nearly identical to the current edition. As is my concept map one-edition older text.

[HeyYogaGirl]

Thanks everyone for your help!! I went ahead and purchased the one version older and will check the net for up to date abbreviations! What great tips! I would hate to memorize anything that's obsolete bc there is already so much to learn!Ps sorry im just now replying, my emails were going to spam so I just found this!

[Horsebytes]

Books are included at my school so I should never have to worry about this I thought. Well, long story short – I guess the publisher had a couple of older versions they wanted to get rid of and a few of us in class got them instead of the new edition of the text. What a huge inconvenience and headache for us with the older versions!

The text bank questions were from the newer edition and it was a class long headache! Whenever I wanted to challenge a test answer I couldn’t say – “Look on page 124,” because the instructor didn’t even have the text I had. I spent hours looking for things that were simply not in my text.

I could have never imagined how significant the differences ended up being in the long run.

It was more than a couple hundred bucks worth of aggravation!

If I'm going to be tested on it - I want the book I will be tested from.

[IndyElmer]

Ugh! I can't imagine what a pain the behind that must have been for you, Horsebytes!

I always find it interesting how differently each instructor approaches their lectures and exams (even at the same school!). Many people (though certainly not all) in my program only open the textbooks for clarification of something covered in lecture. For the most part, they study from their lecture notes. Overall, those who don't have the current editions don't seem to be having any significant problems. Your experience is so different that it sounds like it's best to talk to others who have had the same professor(s) for the same class(es) before deciding which you think you will need. I'll certainly keep your experience in mind when talking to those ahead of me about their textbook/instructor experiences!

[ImKosher]

I wish that was the case for me. My school has made their own "custom" editions, and it's crazy how expensive it is.