Books I'm reading before I start

Well, as I have previously said (I think...), I'm a mature student and so I haven't studied or looked at science for a wee while...8 years to be exact, eek! So before I start the course (and make a bit of a fool of myself) I am aiming to learn as much anatomy and physiology as possible and to do that I have recently purchased the Ross and Wilson books. I've heard/read a lot about these books and was very intrigued by them. I must say, what people say is true - they are fab! So detailed, great pictures/diagrams plus the added bonus of giving you access to some online content via a code in the front cover of the text book. I also purchased the colouring and work book which is very good. There are so many different interesting tasks to complete which help to shape your learning and prevent it from becoming as monotonous as it could. So far I haven't done anything too strenuous - a little bit of how the body is made up and some processes. I surprised myself a little with what I have retained from school...then I went a little further into the book and discovered that was the extent of my knowledge, ha! Oh, well, I suppose I can only get better.

A friend of mine, who is now a qualified midwife, gave me a thing called "The Visible Man". It's a model of the human body that you have to put together, including bones, muscles and organs. It looks pretty complicated so I think I'll do a bit more reading and revising before I tackle that!

Aside from A&P (Anatomy & Physiology), I've been flicking through some other books that I'll list below:

The Student Nurse Handbook (2nd Edition) by Bethann Siviter. So many students have raved about this book and I definitely support their raves. This book is so helpful. Before purchasing it I had so many questions and this book more or less answers them all...except for University and course specific ones obviously. Other than the fact that it's helpful, this book is also making me more excited to start the course. Only 4 months to go! Anyway, I would definitely recommend student nurses purchasing this one :)

The Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical Procedures (Student Edition - 8th Edition) by Lisa Dougherty and Sara Lister. This book has also been highly complimented by the nursing and nursing student world. It is sooooo heavy and literally has everything in it. Just like the A&P books I mentioned earlier, there are also online resources to go with this book, which admittedly I haven't used yet. When I do, I'll update :) As for the detail in the book, it's very good. Everything is written so that it's easier to understand, with diagrams, step by step guides and quite simplistic language. There's also a handy list of abbreviations and their meanings at the front of the book - excellent given that I have absolutely no idea what all of these daft letters mean!

That's all of the books I have at the moment, and honestly I don't think I'll be purchasing many more. I'll probably be getting a book about calculations and drugs later on when I can actually understand some of what they are referring to. Let's not push ourselves too hard before we start sorta thing ;) My University has an excellent library and given that I've studied before, I have learnt not to make the fatal error of paying £££s for books that you may never use or use very sparingly. I think the best idea is to see which books you use the most and find the most helpful over the course of the 1st year and purchase them as you go. At least that's what I'm telling myself now.

Well, until next time, TTFN!