Successful Studying for Nursing Students,

"Melanie Hayward’s (editor) ‘Successful studying for nursing students’ book forms part of a series of nursing student support books and online tools, designed to be user friendly, and guide student’s from the beginning of their nursing programme with the focus on key issues that student’s will be faced with during their studies. ‘Successful studying for nursing students’ is the second book in a series of ‘New Notes on Nursing’ and contributions within it come not only from nurse academic authors, but also former student nurses’. It focuses specifically on ‘study skills’, with an emphasis on students getting started with their study skills and critical thinking in their first year of University. It appears to be aimed at any nursing student who will register with the NMC, not only BSc nursing students.

What I particularly liked about this book is the immediate accessible characteristics of the book itself. It seems to have been written to match the wider participation characteristics of the nursing programmes and students themselves. Pages are colour coded, with the colour key available within the contents page to enable readers to access the sections they need easily. Other useful colour keys include: Case studies which are contained in pink clearly marked sections, which add a realistic clinical feature to the information contained in the book. Helpful tips are also provided and contained within yellow sections, and reflections are contained in green sections. The use of colour within the book, I feel, provides the reader with a sense of enjoyment in engaging with the different sections, whilst also aiding accessibility. Some student text books can feel onerous to use, but this book is as it states ‘different’, and this is clearly it’s advantage.

The content of the book is far more than just study skill support. It contains so many different elements that a nursing student needs to know, that it could become the new go-to nursing text. Nursing programmes are never linear courses, they contain several different genres and new skills to be learnt before a student can competently become a registrant with the NMC. This book contains elements which will benefit students throughout every stage of their nursing programme. It includes information about interprofessional working, digital literacy, and evidence-based practice to name just a few of the topics covered, and will even support them when they come to write their third year dissertation. Whilst this book was written by many different author’s it is abundantly clear how well the information was brought together during editing to give the overall content a seamless, and fluent structure throughout.

Overall this book delivers a comprehensive outline of the important study skills required by student nurses, alongside other important elements needed to become a well rounded registered nurse or nursing associate. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to all nursing programmes as core text, and look forward to introducing it to my own modules." --Tracey Hayes – Senior Lecturer in Nursing

"I particularly liked the fact that throughout [the book] walked the walk as well as saying what students needed to do, for example with the mind mapping applied to the book which gave clear examples of how to do the different activities. The book gives a structured approach to starting studying at a university and how to manage themselves alongside their studies. Indeed it would serve most university students well, not just nursing ones." --Sandra Walden, Senior Lecturer Adult Nursing

"I really enjoyed reading it, the strengths and weaknesses for all the different disabilities were really nice to see [...] I think the book is great. It is really logically set out and easy to follow. I think having each chapter written by different people means that the tone is different all the way through which really helps to keep interest. I love that neurodiversity is included as there are so many of us out there. I think it will help all of those coming to study any sort of nursing course. It all links together really well and flows seamlessly. I like how the mind-map is shown at the beginning of each chapter and how it is explained at the beginning. LOVE IT!" --Fiona Clarke, Lecturer Adult Nursing

Pre-registration students of nursing in all years and especially their first year