Prentice Hall Nursing Reviews & Rationals: Maternal-Newborn Nursing [Paperback]

I honestly would not have passed my OB rotation without this book.

This text explained the concepts and vital details of maternal/newborn nursing. By only reading and in some cases answering the chapter questions, my understanding of this subject increased to the point that I went from below passing grades to a star of the class. This should be a required book at my college, and I;m sure that it would be helpful in any program.

So i found out in april this book was coming out on August 1, 2006, and i kept checking to get my copy. dates got pushed to Aug. 25, then sept 6, then finally, it came out on Sept 20. do not like the fact that it did not come out the time predicted but stuff like this happens.

Pros:
Good content like the old edition. nclex pointers which are no longer represented by the nclex word but by something else (nothing fancy).
This edition provides pre and post test like the other edition EXCEPT in addition to giving the rationale, it also gives a test-taking strategy to help with answering the question and choosing the right answer. (really good strategies if you learn them)
This one follows the current nclex test plan in that it contains alternate format questions AS WELL AS diagrams or whatever you call it where you indicate the answer.
The nursing notes that comes with this has the same content as the other one except its of a better quality.
It has an audio glossary on the CD and the terminoly on the CD is matching so it is quite interactive.
I got my library to purchase this book while waiting for this new edition to come out, checked it out a few times and then someone stole it from the reserve desk so i did not get soo much into the content of the old one though i glanced through most parts of it. Hence, i can say this one has nicely formated tables,(in color, may i add) and various diagrams.
The questions are a little harder but i did them before reading the content so i know i'll find the answers in it. (i'm only answering based on information i've learned from other review books such as saunders, nsna, lippincott etc). did well on those tests but hogan has a lot more PERTINENT information based from seing everything i got wrong in the content.

THE NEUTRAL THAT COULD HAVE BEEN MADE BETTER
There is no online thing with an access code this time which is not bad in the sense that just as the online content associated with the other editions had a pretest, 10 practice nclex, 20 exam questions and the 10 ? postest, the CD has the prestest, postest and 30 practice questions so that comes out to the same 50 questions that would have been online. Good part is you get alternate format with the 30 questions as well.
It sucks that the same pre and post tests in the book are the same on the CD-ROM just like it was on the last edition.
I did the practice questions of chapter one on the last edition and so far, one of the questions is the same. But there are some new questions.
The fact that it says 700 bonus questions is quite misleading cuz only 30 of those questions per chapter are bonus. the remaining 20 are the same pre- and post-test in the book.

PART THAT SUCKS: THE CONS
The CD requires quick"bloody"time. I HATE QUICK TIME! (just not an apple person that's all- nothing crazy). The CDs i have had with my old hogan's did not require me to install anything. the little upside is that it allows you to do the interactive termilogy matching.

So, based on content, i give this book a 5 because of good info, great ?s and the test taking strategies which is helpful. The fact that the same pre and post tests are on the CD INSTEAD of new questions kinda sucks but it was the same with the old edition. Needing quicktime for the CD just makes me nauseas (joking). Considering i personally do like quicktime so based on the little cons, overall a 4. there's room for improvement at least with replacing the post and pre test with new questions to the CD . i'm sure most ppl can do with quicktime.

SO CONTENTWISE and helping you study 4 tests and NCLEX, I'LL SAY 5.
If you were expecting the 700 bonus questions not to include the same pre and post test, and you also hate quick time, then you'll agree a 4.5 overall.

I just got this book today. amazon delivered as promised and if i find any new things, i'll add it. If you are looking for a good review book, I SAY GET THIS BOOK cuz it sure is better than the old edition and the hogan series have helped me make A's in my nursing classes (i'm talking older editions) so I'm sure this edition would do better since it includes good test taking strategies with the material. i know people who used the older edition for maternity and scored excellent on their HESI as well as make their A's.
This book is well written and well edited and it is a great resource for nursing students. It's a great improvement from the old edition and it's WORTH every single penny. Quicktime or not, i still LOVE IT.

update: i've been out of school working for some time now and if you read this review, get this book. the reviews and rationales are good but i feel the maternity and medsurg ones are the best. I didn't read a textbook for maternity, everything i know comes from this book. No i would't work in labor and delivery but i seem to have such good knowledge on maternity. I passed the nclex at 75 questions the first time. it's soo worth the money. Pearson publishes this book and they're the ones behind nclex....make the link yourself.

I purchased this book at the beggining of my women's health class. First test out I had a 19 chaper test, with well over 300 pages to read. Probably more.I was totally stressing over all the pages I had to read and how I was gonna retain all this information in such a short period of time. So I started reading this book,which is basically an outline that covers the key information, and gets rid of the "fluff" that's in alot of text books. I did the 50 or so questions for every chapter and made sure it correlated with what was in my text book.A few days later I went to my class , took my test and got a B on it. I was so happy. So now I have another test coming up soon and once again I plan to study this book and eat the NCLEX questions that accompany it. Wish me luck! This book is a GODsend! If you're in Maternal Neonatal Nursing this is the book u should get. It is WELL WORTH the money!

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