It's currently September, and that means a cohort of nurses have just graduated and started working in areas across the country- in hospitals, in the community, in research, and more. And most importantly, new nurses will have just started working in ICU- congratulations and welcome! In this post, I'm going to give you a rapid fire tour through all my favourite resources that have saved my life as a student nurse, and now as a nurse. This includes books, videos, podcasts and websites.
I will be updating this post periodically to add in any new resources I come across- any edits and updates will be made and dated at the end of the post.
People often warn students against buying textbooks- and for the most part, I agree. Your university or hospital library should have practically every book that you might need and if they don't, many libraries are open to suggestions and might be able to get the book for you!
However, there are a few books that have been absolutely invaluable for me as a student and as a newly qualified nurse, and I've really appreciated having my own copy of them which I can scribble in, dog ear, and generally carry around with me to read in a moment of boredom. I'm also definitely a person who likes to write in, highlight, and draw additional pictures in books to help me get a fuller understanding of whatever I'm trying to understand and to keep track of new bits of information that I get taught.
I've complied a list of books that I have found useful in my short time as an ICU nurse. The majority I bought off Amazon or Ebay, most often a pre-owned copy and generally not the latest edition (I would say that for most books, the latest edition is not essential- a lot of things in nursing and medicine haven't changed for a long time, so it's unlikely to be very different in the 6th vs 7th edn of a textbook) and that's how I managed to keep costs low.
So, my favourite books... (with pictures below, to show which edition I have and therefore where my information comes from!)
ECG interpretation made incredibly easy! [Shank Coviello, J. (ed), 2016, 6th edn]
Fluid and electrolytes made incredibly easy! [Willis, L. (ed), 2020, 7th edn]
Assessment made incredibly easy! [Rushforth, H. (ed), 2009, 1st edn]
(as you can see, I like books that make things incredibly easy... but unfortunately, I'm deviating from this theme here)
Oxford handbook of critical care nursing. [Baid, H., Creed, F., Hargreaves, J. (eds), 2016, 2nd edn]. This book has literally been my bible. If you buy one book for your ICU journey, I cannot recommend this one highly enough!
Netter's Anatomy colouring book. [Hansen, J. 2019, 2nd edn]
Human anatomy and physiology. [Marieb, E., Hoehn, K. 2016, 10th edn]
Some books were lifesavers as a student, particularly around dissertation time, but less relevant as an RN- I'll list them here anyways!
Doing a literature review in health and social care. [Aveyard, H. 2014, 3rd edn] If you're doing a dissertation, particularly a lit review as an undergrad, you NEED this book. Honestly, it saved my life in 3rd year.
A beginners guide to evidence based practice in health and social care. [Aveyard, H., Sharp, P. 2017, 3rd edn]
Fortunately, the internet is also chock full of useful resources (like say... this website? maybe? Do I count as useful???) which are available for free and often can explain concepts in different and/or simpler terms than a textbook can. The downside is that the information isn't always vetted as strictly, so should be taken with a pinch of salt at times- my advice for this would be look at multiple sources, and see if you can get a consensus- also worth trying to check in a different source, like a textbook or official policy/guideline. These are some of my favourite sites for learning, and also some journal websites (many journals are moving online only now, rather than offering printed copies)-
Life In The Fast Lane. https://litfl.com/. A comprehensive EmCrit care with a huge range of topics, explained clearly.
LITFL ECG Library. https://litfl.com/ecg-library/ Sort of self explanatory?
StatPearls. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430685/. They have an article for nearly everything.
clinicalskills.net I used this religiously as a student (who doesn't love seeing clinical procedures with super clear instructions and pictures for each step!!) but haven't been able to get my Open Athens/Shibboleth access to work after leaving uni so haven't been able to access it for a while (sad times)
RCNI Learning. https://rcnilearning.com/. You need a subscription but you can access a wide selection of e learning modules (which will give you CPD hours towards revalidation) through this site.
Nursing Standard. https://rcni.com/nursing-standard I think you're able to access a few articles a month for free without a subscription/account, but I would really recommend signing up- they have a broad range of topics, both directly related to bedside nursing but also covering things happening in the wider world of healthcare.
YouTube is another fantastic resource and can appeal to more visual or auditory learners with the content being presented in a different way. Podcasts, similarly, can be really useful for auditory learners and are so easy to have on in the background (learning without being conscious of your learning is my favourite kind of learning). Here's some of my favourite YouTube channels and Podcasts-
Khan Academy https://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademymedicine . The Medicine section of Khan Academy covers a huuuuge range of topics. Sometimes they go pretty fast, but the beauty of YouTube is that you can rewind and watch it over and over again until you get it!
Armando Hasudungan https://www.youtube.com/user/armandohasudungan We were introduced to Armando in our very first seminar at uni, so he'll always have a special place in my heart. Great videos, great guy.
The Resus Room https://theresusroom.co.uk/ Podcasts are available through their website or iTunes and look at EmCrit medicine from an A&E and prehospital perspective.
Fortunately with the explosion of FOAMed (Free Open Access Medical Education) there's a huge range of resources freely available for anyone working in healthcare. This is why being on Twitter is also so great- the number of Tweetorials and threads from specialists in their areas that I read through in a week must be astronomical, and my camera roll is fill with screenshots of them so I can go back and read them again (although, I never really do...).
A huge amount of knowledge will obviously come from your practice- lived experience of situations is most definitely a valuable way to learn. However, at the start of your career, basically everything is a new experience, you won't necessarily be exposed to everything straight away, and it can be really overwhelming when you start realising how much you don't know. I truly believe in 'see one, do one, teach one' as the best way to learn something new, so it's super important to get involved in any experiences or opportunities you can whilst at work or on placement.
Having said that, I also really like having some theoretical knowledge before entering any situation which is why I spend so long reading around such a wide range of nursing topics. For example- one year into being a real nurse in ICU, and I've still not seen an intubation, yet alone taken part in one. I know, ridiculous. The timings just haven't been right. But- that hasn't stopped me from studying our unit policies, reading up on the drugs used, familiarising myself with the airway trolley equipment, and learning about the theory behind intubation- and because of that, I feel reasonably confident that when my time comes to help with intubating a patient, I won't be entirely lost (but rest assured- I'll make sure I have enough experienced help and that they know that I've somehow managed to dodge every intubation so far!!!)
So- the take home advice is basically to take the time to read up on unfamiliar concepts, study the theory surrounding tests, procedures and results, and learn the rationale behind clinical decisions to help you feel more confident as a nurse- by having the solid theoretical foundations, you're making it 100x easier on yourself when it comes to the real life situation!
As always, you should make sure to seek senior support and advice in unfamiliar situations, and work within your scope of practice- just because I've read about intubation doesn't mean that I'm going to grab a laryngoscope and some roc and go to town next time a patient crashes!!! That doesn't mean I'm going to stop learning about those aspects of care though.
I hope you find the above resources useful- and please let me know if you have any other favourites that I should check out or add to the list!
Love, Christie x
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