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Becoming a nurse offers the opportunity to help and care for people who are ill or injured. However, in order to become a nurse, you’ll need to undergo intense study to learn the knowledge and skills that you need in order to perform this job effectively. Some people may be surprised to learn that while nursing school might seem expensive at first glance, free open source books can help you save money and make your career path more affordable. Here’s why it’s important to use free, open source books when you’re studying to become a nurse.
Why Is This Important?
In a time when people are paying more and more attention to what goes into their body (and rightly so), why not take control of your medical education by getting information directly from those who know best? If you want to learn about nursing but don’t want to pay a fee or load up on textbooks that will collect dust at home, all of these free, open source books are available right now. You can read them online or download them to read later. They cover everything from anatomy and physiology to pharmacology and clinical practice. You can also search inside many of them before downloading them—which is great if you’re looking for specific topics in certain books.
What Are Some Topics?
We have compiled a list of some nursing topics that are widely available as open source. To be fair to newer nurses or people in other fields, there’s also a list of open source textbooks and study guides on non-nursing topics here. That doesn’t mean they can’t be useful (especially if you use them alongside other sources), but it is important to remember that not all information is created equal. When trying to understand something like disease prevention, it may take more than one try to find an accurate answer—and we think that sounds just fine. Don’t be afraid to reference both open source books and more traditional texts; with so much information at your fingertips, there’s no need to limit yourself when finding resources that work best for you!
Where Can I Get These?
Fortunately for nursing students everywhere, free and open source books are easy to come by. The Organization of Nurse Leaders is a nonprofit that offers an extensive collection of resources. You’ll also find tons more in university libraries. A quick Google search will reveal even more options. Most books can be found online and downloaded directly to your computer or mobile device. If they can’t be, you may still be able to borrow them from a local library using their interlibrary loan system—just ask! When choosing your resources, prioritize those that are current (the most recent version possible) and those with high ratings on sites like Amazon and Goodreads so you know they’re great reads.
How Can I Share/Find These?
The easiest way to access open source books on your phone is through Google Play Books. Just search open access nursing or open source nursing textbooks and add a few book titles that you are interested in reading. Download these open source textbooks on your Android device and enjoy free learning! Not sure if it’s completely legal? If you’re using these books for research purposes then go ahead and download them onto your devices — just know that downloading may violate any copyright laws at your school. Many colleges say it’s okay as long as you only use it for personal study. And if you’re not able to download them onto an e-reader, try going to your local library or Barnes & Noble to check out some great quality open access books about nursing topics!
