I'm studying for our first Pharm quiz right now (anybody else blown away by how much, how fast?) and found myself reaching for one of the most useful books I've used throughout all of my biology courses. I thought I'd post it in case anybody else thought it might be helpful.
I thought perhaps we could add to the comments section any other materials that anybody finds helpful.
Here are my first two:
1) Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms by Donald Borrer - I have found this book to be invaluable and it's a small book in which one can quickly find the information.
2) Stedman's Medical Dictionary - I'm using an older edition which I got for $20 off of Half.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Computer Tidbits
Introduction
Fiddling with with my computers (BTW, this is Bruce) has long been a bit of a hobby. While I'm by no means an expert, I have come across various tools and techniques that work well for me. My intention is to share of them here in the hopes that some of you might find them useful. If you've got any questions or comments, feel free to talk to me or e-mail me at my SeaWolf account.
By all means, if you have something that works better, speak up!! Likewise, if you have other tips, tricks, or software to recommend, please share that as well.
Full disclosure: I am NOT a Mac guy at all. Neither am I computer expert; these are just some things that work for me.
Backups
Something that many of us don't do enough is back up our data files. There are myriad approaches to backups and everybody's got to figure out what works for them. Here are some things that I do which work for me.
I'll add that Cheryl shared some advice from on the cohort 2 folks that we keep all of our electronic files well organized because we need them later. Having them backed up in the case of a computer malfunction seems wise.
There are two primary components of a backup system: (a) Backup medium, and (b) Backup software.
Backup Media
There are several choices for the medium onto which you do your backups: (a) optical discs, (b) hard drives, (c) online backup site, or (d) free online e-mail account. Optical discs (CD or DVD) have the advantage of being very portable, fairly rugged (DVDs not so much as CDs), pretty cheap, and that most computers these days have CD and/or DVD burners in them. The downside to optical discs are that they have a fairly limited capacity (~700 MB and ~4.7 GB). You also need to be careful with them While they are pretty rugged, I've lost a number of them over the years to scratches, cracks, and corrosion. (Note: Music CDs will sometimes continue to play with damage that would render a data file unrecoverable to a computer). If you don't have a ton of information, though, optical discs can work pretty well. I prefer to do my backups onto hard drives. They just hold a lot more information and are a bit more rugged (and harder to lose). I added a second drive inside of my desktop computer but I use an external USB drive to back up both my desktop and my laptop. For about $130 you can get either a large (500 GB) external USB drive or a smaller (250 GB), portable one. You can get them at Costco, Best Buy, or online (for a bit cheaper). The large ones require an external power source; the small ones do not - they draw their power through the USB port. You can also build one of the larger ones pretty easily and save $50 or more (especially if you have an old drive available). All of the online backup sites that I'm aware of charge for space and my connection is not fast enough to backup large volumes of data. I do, however, use a dedicated G-mail account for occasional backup of individual files.
Backup Software
If you want to share documents or want to be able to read them on any computer, a PDF file (for example, Adobe Acrobat) is the way to go. If you want to create your own PDF files, there's a free program called CutePDF that works really well. You can get it here.
Virtual CDs
As I'm sure you've noticed, most of our books come with CDs. It is possible to copy your CD onto your hard drive and then have the computer "see" it as a virtual CD. That means that you can 'carry' all of the CDs on your laptop without having to carry the actual disc. The 'virtualization' program is called "Virtual CloneDrive" and can be found at www.slysoft.com Virtual CloneDrive requires the source CD to be "imaged" onto your hard drive before it can be 'virtualized.' SlySoft has a commercial program which can do that called CloneCD (they also have a free trial version which appears to be fully functional). There is, however, a free alternative program which should work. It is called DeepBurner Free and is found here. DeepBurner can create an ISO image of most CDs which can then be 'virtualized' using Virtual CloneDrive.
'Office' Suite (Word Processor, Spreadsheet, etc)
Perhaps everybody's got what they need. If not, I encourage you to take a look at the Open Office suite from OpenOffice.org. It's a very good piece of software and it's totally FREE (don't worry, Bill Gates will be OK without your money). Apparently, it also runs on a Mac under OS X.
Fiddling with with my computers (BTW, this is Bruce) has long been a bit of a hobby. While I'm by no means an expert, I have come across various tools and techniques that work well for me. My intention is to share of them here in the hopes that some of you might find them useful. If you've got any questions or comments, feel free to talk to me or e-mail me at my SeaWolf account.
By all means, if you have something that works better, speak up!! Likewise, if you have other tips, tricks, or software to recommend, please share that as well.
Full disclosure: I am NOT a Mac guy at all. Neither am I computer expert; these are just some things that work for me.
Backups
Something that many of us don't do enough is back up our data files. There are myriad approaches to backups and everybody's got to figure out what works for them. Here are some things that I do which work for me.
I'll add that Cheryl shared some advice from on the cohort 2 folks that we keep all of our electronic files well organized because we need them later. Having them backed up in the case of a computer malfunction seems wise.
There are two primary components of a backup system: (a) Backup medium, and (b) Backup software.
Backup Media
There are several choices for the medium onto which you do your backups: (a) optical discs, (b) hard drives, (c) online backup site, or (d) free online e-mail account. Optical discs (CD or DVD) have the advantage of being very portable, fairly rugged (DVDs not so much as CDs), pretty cheap, and that most computers these days have CD and/or DVD burners in them. The downside to optical discs are that they have a fairly limited capacity (~700 MB and ~4.7 GB). You also need to be careful with them While they are pretty rugged, I've lost a number of them over the years to scratches, cracks, and corrosion. (Note: Music CDs will sometimes continue to play with damage that would render a data file unrecoverable to a computer). If you don't have a ton of information, though, optical discs can work pretty well. I prefer to do my backups onto hard drives. They just hold a lot more information and are a bit more rugged (and harder to lose). I added a second drive inside of my desktop computer but I use an external USB drive to back up both my desktop and my laptop. For about $130 you can get either a large (500 GB) external USB drive or a smaller (250 GB), portable one. You can get them at Costco, Best Buy, or online (for a bit cheaper). The large ones require an external power source; the small ones do not - they draw their power through the USB port. You can also build one of the larger ones pretty easily and save $50 or more (especially if you have an old drive available). All of the online backup sites that I'm aware of charge for space and my connection is not fast enough to backup large volumes of data. I do, however, use a dedicated G-mail account for occasional backup of individual files.
Backup Software
- Disk Imaging: Disk imaging means using special software to make an exact duplicate of your hard drive. The duplicate includes the operating system (Windows), all installed software, fonts, documents, settings, history, etc. It permits an exact replication of the disk (or part thereof). The advantage of disk imaging is that it allows you to completely restore your computer to its previous state, even if you have to replace the hard drive. The two downsides of disk imaging are: (a) the backup files are large, and (b) the software must be purchased (~$50). I do image my drives on a regular basis and it has saved me a couple of times over the years. I use a program called Acronis True Image (Check it out) and I recommend it highly.
- File Backup Software: There are many programs that will back up your document files. In fact, Windows itself comes with one installed (check out Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools). I've never used it so I can't really comment on it. I use a free program from Microsoft called SyncToy (Download). It allows you to 'mirror' folders from one location to another (a second hard drive or a folder to be burned to an optical disc). There are plenty of commercial backup programs but SyncToy has always worked well for me. There are some other free programs available; check this out for some reviews. (I'll point out that True Image will also let you recover individual data files.)
If you want to share documents or want to be able to read them on any computer, a PDF file (for example, Adobe Acrobat) is the way to go. If you want to create your own PDF files, there's a free program called CutePDF that works really well. You can get it here.
Virtual CDs
As I'm sure you've noticed, most of our books come with CDs. It is possible to copy your CD onto your hard drive and then have the computer "see" it as a virtual CD. That means that you can 'carry' all of the CDs on your laptop without having to carry the actual disc. The 'virtualization' program is called "Virtual CloneDrive" and can be found at www.slysoft.com Virtual CloneDrive requires the source CD to be "imaged" onto your hard drive before it can be 'virtualized.' SlySoft has a commercial program which can do that called CloneCD (they also have a free trial version which appears to be fully functional). There is, however, a free alternative program which should work. It is called DeepBurner Free and is found here. DeepBurner can create an ISO image of most CDs which can then be 'virtualized' using Virtual CloneDrive.
'Office' Suite (Word Processor, Spreadsheet, etc)
Perhaps everybody's got what they need. If not, I encourage you to take a look at the Open Office suite from OpenOffice.org. It's a very good piece of software and it's totally FREE (don't worry, Bill Gates will be OK without your money). Apparently, it also runs on a Mac under OS X.
Book Bundle for Semester I
- Fundamentals of Nursing 6th Edition by Potter & Perry
- Clinical Companion for Fundamentals of Nursing 6th Edition by Potter & Perry
- Leading and Managing in Nursing 4th ED by Patricia Yoder-Wise
- Mosby's Manual of Diagnostic and Lab Test 3rd Ed by Pagana & Pagana
- Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: An Evidence-Based Guide to Planning Care 8th ED by Ackley and Ladwig
- Mosby's Drug Guide for Nurses 7th ED by Skidmore
- Pharmacology and the Nursing Process 5th ED by Lilley, Harrington, & Snyder
- Mosby's Nursing Skills CD-ROM 2.0 Student Version by Potter & Perry
- Evolve Select: there's an Easier way to Study-DVD
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Ombudsman and the Student Representative
We have 3 candidates for 2 (technically 3) positions. Polls will be open until January 25th. These individuals submitted their name for the following:
Student Representative to the Faculty
Duties are to attend Faculty/partner Facility Meetings, take notes, and report back to the cohort. According to the last cohort, these meetings happen Quarterly (about 7-8 times over our program). However, Melissa said meetings will be monthly.
We also need an Alternate Student Rep to step in when the other is not available
Candidates (Top Vote gets the Position, Second gets the Alternate Position):
Bruce Gittings: "...I am very interested in being the person who attends the faculty meetings. My primary reason is that my career goal is to become a university-based nurse educator as soon as I've accumulated sufficient clinical experience. Watching the inner workings of the faculty meetings might help strengthen or reduce my enthusiasm for that path." See Below for More Information
Cheryl Bingaman: Cheryl is interested in being involved with the faculty and the cohort...A paragraph from her is coming
Ombudsman:
The ombudsman is our cohorts' liaison with Melissa, who is responsible for taking issues and questions to her and relaying that information back in a timely fashion.
Candidates:
Cheryl Bingaman: Cheryl is interested in being involved with the faculty and the cohort...A paragraph from her is coming
Branden Nelson: Besides the name Ombudsman sounding pretty sweet, I would like to help out where I can. I can relay and summarize information well and look forward to working with each of you and our faculty. Part of my desire to serve in the role is to develop resources for our cohort and the next generations of cohort. Perhaps as result of this position, I could work with Melissa to develop processes to accumulate and disseminate information for our benefit and that of students to come. For instance, I would like to use this blog, in part, as a Q&A forum for all of our benefit.
More on Bruce for Student Representative:
I've long had an interest in education and have several times considered becoming a teacher. One factor in my decision to become a nurse and specifically to apply to the DEMSN program was the potential to one day perhaps become a nurse educator. I would, therefore, consider it a valuable addition to my education to be able to peek inside the inner workings of the department at their faculty meetings
Like everybody, I'm also very interested both in getting the best education that I can and seeing the SSU DEMSN program get better and better. I'd therefore be excited to be able to provide a student's perspective to the faculty at their meetings.
The degree to which this role is interactive at the meetings is not clear. If appropriate, I am quite comfortable candidly sharing my views and those of others. Likewise, I can be a good listener and simply document what's taking place.
For several years I served as a secretary to a locally elected board of directors. In that capacity I took detailed meeting minutes for public distribution within the community. I am an excellent typist and an expert user of various documentation software. To the degree supported by the faculty, I would commit to posting appropriate meeting minutes to the DEMSN blog or Blackboard site within 24 hours of the meeting. I would also post PDF documents which could be downloaded for later review.
If appointed to this role, I will do my best to exceed the expectations of all concerned, both my classmates and the faculty with whom I'd be interacting.
Student Representative to the Faculty
Duties are to attend Faculty/partner Facility Meetings, take notes, and report back to the cohort. According to the last cohort, these meetings happen Quarterly (about 7-8 times over our program). However, Melissa said meetings will be monthly.
We also need an Alternate Student Rep to step in when the other is not available
Candidates (Top Vote gets the Position, Second gets the Alternate Position):
Bruce Gittings: "...I am very interested in being the person who attends the faculty meetings. My primary reason is that my career goal is to become a university-based nurse educator as soon as I've accumulated sufficient clinical experience. Watching the inner workings of the faculty meetings might help strengthen or reduce my enthusiasm for that path." See Below for More Information
Cheryl Bingaman: Cheryl is interested in being involved with the faculty and the cohort...A paragraph from her is coming
Ombudsman:
The ombudsman is our cohorts' liaison with Melissa, who is responsible for taking issues and questions to her and relaying that information back in a timely fashion.
Candidates:
Cheryl Bingaman: Cheryl is interested in being involved with the faculty and the cohort...A paragraph from her is coming
Branden Nelson: Besides the name Ombudsman sounding pretty sweet, I would like to help out where I can. I can relay and summarize information well and look forward to working with each of you and our faculty. Part of my desire to serve in the role is to develop resources for our cohort and the next generations of cohort. Perhaps as result of this position, I could work with Melissa to develop processes to accumulate and disseminate information for our benefit and that of students to come. For instance, I would like to use this blog, in part, as a Q&A forum for all of our benefit.
More on Bruce for Student Representative:
I've long had an interest in education and have several times considered becoming a teacher. One factor in my decision to become a nurse and specifically to apply to the DEMSN program was the potential to one day perhaps become a nurse educator. I would, therefore, consider it a valuable addition to my education to be able to peek inside the inner workings of the department at their faculty meetings
Like everybody, I'm also very interested both in getting the best education that I can and seeing the SSU DEMSN program get better and better. I'd therefore be excited to be able to provide a student's perspective to the faculty at their meetings.
The degree to which this role is interactive at the meetings is not clear. If appropriate, I am quite comfortable candidly sharing my views and those of others. Likewise, I can be a good listener and simply document what's taking place.
For several years I served as a secretary to a locally elected board of directors. In that capacity I took detailed meeting minutes for public distribution within the community. I am an excellent typist and an expert user of various documentation software. To the degree supported by the faculty, I would commit to posting appropriate meeting minutes to the DEMSN blog or Blackboard site within 24 hours of the meeting. I would also post PDF documents which could be downloaded for later review.
If appointed to this role, I will do my best to exceed the expectations of all concerned, both my classmates and the faculty with whom I'd be interacting.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Cohort Representatives
If you are interested in being our Cohort's Ombudsman or Student Representative to the Faculty, please go to the provided link to submit your name. I have emailed Cohort 2 to get more information regarding these positions such as time commitment, description of activities, etc.
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/319671
Name submission will close Wednesday, January 16, 2008. Afterwards, I will repost a voting poll on this blog and each candidate--if interested--can write a little blog about themselves and interest in the position.
http://www.misterpoll.com
Name submission will close Wednesday, January 16, 2008. Afterwards, I will repost a voting poll on this blog and each candidate--if interested--can write a little blog about themselves and interest in the position.
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