Nursing books now on CD-ROM

Monday, Nov. 28, 2005 | 8:21 a.m.

Nevada State College nursing students have gone digital.

Most of their textbooks are now available both in print and in a computer CD-ROM version that allows them to search all of their books at once for specific information.

The digital textbook also allows students to cut and paste text information directly onto note cards and allows their professors to copy charts and other information from the texts directly onto power point presentations.

"They don't have to carry around 25-pound textbooks," said nursing instructor Wallace Henkelman. "They can search approximately 15 textbooks just by putting in a phrase like Strep throat."

Nevada State College is one of 20 colleges across the nation utilizing the new technology this fall, offered through a partnership between Elsevier and VitalSource Technologies. Elsevier has been providing about three-fourths of the college's nursing textbooks since its inception, said nursing program director Connie Carpenter.

The digital books cost about 20 percent more than the print texts alone, and are meant as an educational supplement, said Sebastian Vos, Elsevier's vice president of e-education.

Although most students still prefer to do most of their reading the traditional way, the digital books offer a powerful study tool and means for preparing for clinical rotations, both Carpenter and Vos said.

"I think this really has the ability to help our students," Carpenter said.

There also is the added convenience factor in that students can tote around a laptop instead of a pile of books, or just insert the CD into any computer, college officials said. Most of the college's computers already have the digital textbooks installed.

The digital textbooks are among the first to be offered in the health care arena but are part of a growing trend in which textbooks are offered online or in a computer format, Vos said. The University of Phoenix, for instance, has a large online library.

Both UNLV nursing and dental students use some digital textbooks, but on a limited basis, said spokesman Joe Cockrell. Nursing faculty at the Community College of Southern Nevada are still looking into the textbooks, said Fran Brown, dean of health science.

Nevada State nursing student Marianne Jackson said digital textbooks have helped her study and prepare for clinicals. If she has a patient with a certain condition or who needs a particular drug, she can quickly pull all of the information from her textbooks on that topic.

"It's just phenomenal how much information is there," said Jackson, who is in the college's accelerated nursing program for students who already have a bachelor's degree. "It cuts your time in half for what you have to study."

Jackson said many of her fellow students are still getting used to the digital textbooks, but she sees more students using them as they learn about the time-saving advantages. Other students, she said, covet the study cards that she has made using the digital textbook.

"It's worth the money," Jackson said. "You get CDS with lots of books but nothing like this. This is like a bonus."

Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@lasvegassun.com.