Med-Surg Success: A Q&A Review Applying Critical Thinking to Test Taking (Davis's Success) 2nd Edition

This is a fantastic book and one that I would recommend for any nursing student concerned about doing well on the exit HESI. This book is designed to assist the student not only in preparing for Med/Surg exams, and the exit HESI (if your school utilizes it) but also preparing you exceptionally well for the NCLEX licensure test. The questions most closely resemble the HESI format and will definitely prepare you for that exam. The book is divided into 20 chapters, the final chapter contains the comprehensive final exam along with the correct answers and rationales. Each chapter contains keywords, abbreviations, and concepts at the beginning, followed by practice questions covering the specific topic, rationales and correct answers follow. Each chapter concludes with a comprehensive examination covering the content along with the correct answers and rationales. Test taking hints and strategies are found throughout each topic. Chapters 2 through 18 are further divided into disease processes to help you identify specific content and a test-taking hint is provided for every question in the content area. A CD is included with the book containing 265 questions that you can select and prioritize to design additional tests online, another more realistic way to practice for the NCLEX or HESI.Continuous practice coupled with reviewing textbook and lecture material contributed enormously to my confidence in test taking this semester, enabling me to complete the semester with As and Bs for Med/Surg. I will continue to utilize this book as I prepare for next semester's exit HESI and the NCLEX.

This book does a good job of providing everything a new nurse needs to know and understand about med-surg nursing. There are great summaries in each chapter, with quizzes, and excellent tables to help synthesize a lot of information. However, I really like the interactive question and answers that helped me estimate my understanding of the material and prepare for the NCLEX. The companion takes just a few minutes to set up and is even quicker if you already have an account with the company because then you just log in and put in the code you receive. You can access the material anytime and there is no expiration date. Great resource for years to come.

I used this previous edition for both my medsurg I and medsurg II classes. If you are on a tight budget like me, save your money and buy a used previous edition. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND all the Davis Q&A Series books while in nursing school to help ensure your test success. I love that every question has the rationale provided for both the correct and incorrect answers. I love that each section is further broken down into subsections; i.e., Gastrointestinal Disorders --> GERD --> IBD --> PUD --> Colorectal Disease --> Diverticulosis/Diverticulitis --> Gallbladder Disorders --> Liver Failure --> Hepatitis --> Gastroenteritis --> Abdominal Surgery --> Eating Disorders. This makes it so much easier to focus and find the exact sections you want to utilize for studying and prepping for tests.

Nursing students: I bought this as a study aid to help study with med surg content and while it doesn't completely coincide with my classroom material, it was still a very good supplemental book. Now while on summer break I am using the computer program to do some questions everyday. The book has very helpful outlined reviews of concepts followed by the questions and the FULL rationale for the questions is provided at the end. I like the way its organized, its very easy to walk yourself through. The questions are good and are at an appropriate level of difficulty.If you are using this in addition to your classroom material- you may run into the same problem I had. If I was on respiratory in class and decided to do some questions in the respiratory section of this book, some of the concepts presented in the book's questions were not always applicable to my classroom content so I would say I had to skip about 20% of the questions while studying for my college's exams. HOWEVER, this does not apply if you are using this book for NCLEX prep since everything is basically applicable for the NCLEX. Also, compared to other resources, skipping 20% of the questions really isnt that many.The reason I am only giving four stars is because I think the computer software is a little outdated and could be upgraded to a more modern layout. The software is very easy to install and use. Its easy to navigate through the questions, and you can even see the rationale for the questions if you take tests in "study mode". But it looks like it was developed at least 10 years ago, so for that reason I will give 4 stars.

Absolutely need if you are in nursing school

Nursing exams are no joke, and one of the best things you can do for yourself in preparation is crash through as many NCLEX-style practice questions as possible. I found no better resource than the "Success" series.The Med Surge book is very easy to navigate by body system and condition, and does a fantastic job of honing in on the essential concepts you need to know as an RN related to interventions, complications, and patient teaching. Most importantly, the rationales behind why certain answers are either incorrect or correct will prepare you for any kind of nursing school exam trickery that may come your way!