Saunders Student Nurse Planner: A Guide to Success in Nursing School

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I initially found the idea of a student nurse planner, packed with so much information, very appealing. The presentation was pleasing and the content looked very promising. I found as I used the planner, certain aspects were valuable and comprehensive. Much of the information given was relevant for a student before they started their course or placement, and provided useful preparatory information. This was simple to read and only needed to be read once, in order to grasp the content. However this also meant that some of the information contained in the planner quickly became redundant. The purpose of the planner/diary is that it is portable and easy to carry around as a quick reference guide. However I believe that a substantial proportion of the material soon becomes less relevant, and therefore could run the risk of becoming a dead weight in ones bag! This could make the student less likely to carry it on a regular basis.

I also found that as much of the information provided was specific to the North American context, it was sometimes difficult to apply in a different context. As a result, specific information about nursing and placements were not relevant to my nursing experience as a student, where education pathways are quite different. As a first year student, this caused some difficulty, as I was unable to determine what information was relevant and what was not. I therefore became reticent to use this text as a primary source of reliable information while in the clinical setting on my placements. I experienced further difficulty placing any trust in the information contained in the planner, as ways of working in nursing, described in the book appeared quite different in the U.S.A. to what I have experienced in my early placements.

Although there were very many extremely helpful charts and graphs provided, these tended to be scattered throughout the book, as if they were intended to be used when reading it as a book. It would have been helpful if these were all in one place, so when a student was in urgent need of them, they could be located in seconds. I found that when I used the planner on my placement, and needed information (such as blood pressure and older people) I could not locate that information quickly. Then when I later found the relevant section it did not contain sufficient guidance.

While the planner contains interesting elements, and I did find it useful, I would not recommend purchase for UK or Irish students. A more user friendly planner would be more specifically applied to the UK context; be streamlined and in ring binder form; have all charts in one place and itemise relevant elements according to year of study. One of the main reasons I would not purchase it, is that it weighs too much to carry in my already overloaded bag! After all, we nursing students need to look after our backs!