(Part 3) Top products from r/nursing

Nursing school can be an extremely stressful and can take its toll on ones mental and physical health. Even those who have been passionate about nursing since day 1 can find that they have burnt themselves out trying to succeed. While in nursing school I saw students get IBS, debilitating migraines, anxiety attacks, kidney stones, even hair loss and poor metal health related to sleep deprivation etc. In school you may not have gotten the one on one attention needed to feel confident in your nursing practice, this can leave one feeling anxious and underprepared when entering the workforce. This is common. However, I can say through personal experience that I entered the workforce feeling underprepared but through my employers orientation program and learning how to speak up and ask questions I soon found the confidence needed to be a successful medical surgical RN. Dont be afraid to apply for hospital positions often times if a hospital hires you to be a med/surge, er, icu, maternity or pediatric RN and you find that the floor you are on is not suited to you, as long as you speak up and express your needs to your manager they may look for opportunities to keep you in the organization but cross train you to a position more suited to your personal nursing practice and skills. In the hospital setting you will quickly learn that RN's stick together, you become part of a team of professionals and will soon learn that they are your allies and you are not alone. Nursing is such a vast profession with a wide range of opportunity. If one form of nursing doesn't suit you, try another, you may find that you enjoy the profession after all. I hope this helps. I also suggest reading memoirs such as Critical Care: http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Care-Nurse-Everything-Between/dp/0061791547 and the book From Silence to Voice: http://www.amazon.com/From-Silence-Voice-Communicate-Politics/dp/0801478731. I would start with Critical Care.

She's talking about the whitecoat clipboards. There are different versions though, so think about if she wants the standard nursing one, the pediatric one, etc.

If she doesn't already have one, a good Littman stethoscope is nice, but $$$.

Badgeclips are a cute and cheap present. Etsy has a bunch. I have a cute little felt one with a fox on it that I like, but there's a lot of variety if you just look around.

If you guys are shoe people, nice sneakers that are comfortable would be nice and it's not specific to nursing.

I used these two books to prepare:

• Comprehensive Review for Stroke Nursing is published by AANN and is supposed to cover all of the content that is found in the SCRN exam. The drawback is that it's in outline format, so it's a little more difficult to follow than your typical textbook. A couple of the sections didn't seem fully fleshed out either, especially the chapter on meds. And there aren't any pictures or diagrams, so following the section on anatomy would have been difficult without a different reference to compare. Speaking of which...
  
  
• Clinical Practice of Neurological and Neurosurgical Nursing is a great textbook that covers a lot more than just strokes, but the relevant chapters work well as a companion to fill in the blanks in the Comprehensive Review. My guess is you could probably get away with just studying this textbook, but make sure you check out the test content outline in the candidate handbook to make sure you're not missing anything.
  
  They are a little expensive, especially the Review, so hopefully you can find someone to borrow these from, or check with your unit educator or hospital library to see if they have copies.
  
  Good luck! I found the test itself fairly challenging, but I was able to pass the first time through. The hardest parts for me were the questions about ER and critical care since I work on a med/surg-level neuro floor.

I used this Mosby's Illustrated Study Guide! It's great. I love the format. Easy and simple. Concise. Only about 600 pages and it comes with a CD with a couple thousand NCLEX questions. I graduated with my BSN, then took about 2 months off for summer travels and fun and to take a much needed break from nursing school things. When I got home. I used this book and this book only. I studied it for about 5 weeks and did the questions on the CD that pertained to each chapter I was studying. It really helped and I passed NCLEX after 75 questions. My roommate is also a nurse and a friend I knew from Nursing school. He used that huge ass Saunders book and a few other books and he failed NCLEX the first time. I think he tried to memorize too much info and got overwhelmed with juggling all those study guides. I recommend sticking with one book and knowing it inside and out. I suggested the Mosby's Study Guide to one of the PCTs at my hospital who had just graduated with her BSN. She used it and passed as well. She said the newer edition didn't come with the CD though, it had a link to access the questions online. I guess it's all the same, so long as you do the questions in tandem with the book.

I used Saunders and dominated the Exit HESI, which is allegedly supposed to be more difficult than the NCLEX. I loved it, it had tons of questions, and really helped me go through each system and point in the lifespan to come to logical conclusions during my test.

http://www.amazon.com/Saunders-Comprehensive-NCLEX-RN%C2%AE-Examination-Nclex-Rn/dp/1437708250/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335203614&sr=1-1

Other people will recommend Mosby's.

http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Nursing-NCLEX-RN%C2%AE-Examination-Nclex-Rn/dp/0323078958/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335203661&sr=1-1

Both are supposed to be great, just make sure you get one with a CD included, otherwise you will miss out on tons of questions that are not included in the book. Good luck to your wife!

I used AACN's Core Curriculum Review and nothing else. I figured what better resource than the one written by the administrators of the exam. I found it comprehensive and concise and highly recommend it. You can find it on amazon here. Good luck!

Good idea. Like I said to the other poster, I think Saunders is much too easy. Even the priority questions are very obvious. I really liked the Lippincott book. Their questions were harder and helped me more. Lippincott also has a questions book with ALL alternative format questions.

The AACN has a lot of textbooks in regarding to nursing and CVICU things. Also, I have heard good thinks about this reference book, but it is more of a general ICU handbook. I haven't personally used this book before, but I have gone to the authors lectures and I feel as though he has a lot of good wisdom.

I like this little flip book:

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Care-Notes-Clinical-Pocket/dp/0803620845/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367938830&sr=8-1&keywords=critical+care+notes

I'm not in critical care (yet?) but it's a great resource for telemetry nurses as well.

[This book has nursing diagnoses, and interventions listed. The best part is that every intervention listed has a citation to a reference, so you can just plug in the "rationales" in your care plan.] (http://www.amazon.com/Nursing-Diagnosis-Handbook-Evidence-Based-Planning/dp/0323071503/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1319717408&sr=8-7.) My program makes a huge deal about "evidence based practice" so this book was a life send!

My preceptor suggested and I bought [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Critical-Care-Pocket-Guide/dp/1284023702/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1492245808&sr=8-4&keywords=ed+nursing+pocket+guide). it was very useful for me at least. Also study up your focused assessments. The Ed was a fantastic place to learn so enjoy!

this one is pretty good and basic





of course you can never go wrong with Brunner & Suddarth , Ignatavicius and others. if you're not looking for brand new editions you can save a ton of money on older editions or if you search hard enough you can torrent some of them for your ebook reader

A drug reference guide is helpful. This clipboard I loved https://www.amazon.com/WhiteCoat-Clipboard-Pink-Nursing-Edition/dp/B00GWSPT9Q
Lastly, a massage or spa day is nice after she takes her boards.

Things I learned for studying.

1. Do plenty of test questions. I used AACN's study guide and Pass CCRN.
   
2. Laura Gasparis Vonfrolio's DVDs are damn good.
   
   I went through the whole Pass CCRN book, but in hindsight, that was a HUGE waste of time. If I did it all over again, I'd take test questions, then review specifics with the Pass CCRN book and do all of Vonfrolio's DVDs.
   
   Good luck to any planning to take the CCRN. It's a bitch, but manageable.
   
   Cheers!

The big red flag to me is that she is a bad test taker. If this is the case the NCLEX will be your worst nightmare.

Probably she isn't thinking right to take the test, this is not regurgitation testing. But let me put something in perspective: the NCLEX is 75 minimum but around 15 are ungraded trial questions, of the remaining 60 graded the books usually say both people who pass at 75 only get 50% right so that's a total of 30/75 questions needed to pass.

Getting freaked out because the questions are getting harder is a sure way to fail but saying "I only need 30 of 75" sounds much better.

Here are the areas I would personally focus on:
Med Calcs

Leadership (scope of CNA, LVN, RN, when to call the MD - never on the NCLEX!)

Drug classes - learn the classes not the individual drugs and learn their endings - http://www.amazon.com/Mosbys-Pharmacology-Memory-NoteCards-ebook/dp/B0052KDP9G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343659846&sr=8-2&keywords=mosby%27s+pharmacology+memory+notecards

Labs - http://www.amazon.com/Mosbys-Fluids-Electrolytes-Memory-NoteCards/dp/0323067468/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1343659846&sr=8-3&keywords=mosby%27s+pharmacology+memory+notecards

And know assessment findings as well as possible

NCLEX is going to throw nothing but curveballs no matter how many times she takes it. And it should - I didn't appreciate it at the time but I deal with making decisions when I don't know the answer all the time. There is no way she can prep for all the possible questions but knowing normal well is pretty doable.

My last advice is have her know the basics of the big managable disorders in all areas - adult (diabetes I & II, heart disease, smoking/respiratory, stroke, normal aging vs diseases), infant/peds (whooping cough, asthma, diabetes I, developmental stages by age, sickle cell), pregnancy timing/stages/complications.

Try getting some of her friends who are more experienced to throw her curve balls from real life.

I'll bet that the problem is she got freaked out when the questions looked really different from the Kaplan. Strategy > knowledge.

I just read this a few months ago and found it poorly written. The book just kind of...ends after many chapters of a forced narrative structure between Cullen and another nurse he works with that eventually turns him in.

IMO, and better book is "Blind Eye" by James Stewart. Story of a similar situation of a healthcare worker who went from hospital to hospital killing pts, but it's a doctor not a nurse.
Still an awesome read, and waaaaaay better.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0684865637?pc_redir=1407651825&robot_redir=1

If she's practical, I'm assuming you mean something she'd use and not something she just wouldn't buy for herself? If that's the case, I would get her something to use on the job. If she didn't get herself a good quality stethoscope through nursing school, do that. Some nice, tough sheers/scissors are always welcome too. If she already got those for school (and likely did) try something for her to use as she gets used to nursing.

I started (and will likely retire from) ER, so this was probably one of my favorite gifts: http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Critical-Care-Pocket-Guide/dp/1284023702/

It's got drip rates for critical drugs, and the way they list meds in the back is actually useful, rather than flipping through four pages of tiny printed info just to find out what a drug is for. They make a version for OB/GYN, Peds, ect, just search for her intended field. I know it seems underwhelming, but she'll think of you every time she references it.

No one has mentioned this yet. I picked up this sunrise/sunset alarm clock, and it's amazing.

This book. Totally worth the money.

http://www.amazon.com/Straight-As-Medical-Surgical-Nursing-Springhouse/dp/1582556946
Though me and my study partner both prefer this series..which you can buy on the apple book store

http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Surgical-Nursing-Demystified/dp/0071494502/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371781142&sr=1-1&keywords=med+surg+demystified

I also work on a neuro unit (neur & tele) and am a new grad. I was looking at getting this book...

Clinical Practice of Neurological & Neurosurgical Nursing https://www.amazon.com/dp/1451172672/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_aIKvyb6YZDP5G

I'm using Saunders and Kaplan. I also suggest Lippincott's Q&A:
http://www.amazon.com/Lippincotts-Review-NCLEX-RN-Nclex-Rn/dp/1608311252/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

This is it

I guess what I was asking is what semester are you on? Is this a peds final? Med-surg? Exit exam from nursing school?

We used "Basic Arrythmias".
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Arrhythmias-7th-Gail-Walraven/dp/0135002389

http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Critical-Nursing-Second-Edition/dp/0071664424

Not really what you're asking, but I do use a light alarm clock to help wake up. I find it hella useful to get my ass out of bed when it's pitch black. I use the Philips Wake-Up Light and my room gets so ridiculously bright.