Kelli Dunham

Kelli is the author of two humorous nonfiction nursing career guides published by FA Davis.

How to Survive and Maybe Even Love Nursing School

Kelli’s first book, How to Survive and Maybe Even Love Nursing School, was originally published in 2002 and is now in its third edition. It’s popular not only with individual students but also with nursing schools: it has been adopted for use in hundred of beginning nursing classes nationwide. In 2005, it was the American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year.

Chapters include:
Yes, You Can Avoid…
1. Confusion, Acute, Related to Multiple Choices
2. Powerlessness Related to Excessive Stress
3. Role Confusion Related to Juggling Multiple Tasks
4. Impaired Memory Related to Information Overload
5. Anxiety Related to a Life Built Around Multiple-Choice Tests
6. Fatigue Related to Being Perceived as “Different”
7. Fear Related to the Start of Clinical Rotations
8. Anxiety, Severe, Related to the Upcoming NCLEX
9. Confusion, Chronic, Related to Changing Issues and Trends in Nursing
10. Sleep Pattern Disturbance Related to Occupational Worries

The third edition:
Features new section, “staff nurses speak,” with quotes from staff nurses currently advising nursing students.
Covers the use of podcasts, voice recorders, and CD-burning technology for recording and preserving lectures.
Offers new, illustrative quotes from current nursing students and faculty members.
Advises on respecting patient autonomy and dealing with end of life issues.
Includes a new section on the nurse and media advocacy.
Highlights financial aid and alternative ways to pay for education.
Offers updated NCLEX coverage, including changing pass rates and tips for foreign students.

Sample chapter from How to Survive and Maybe Even Love Nursing School

How to Survive and Maybe Even Love Your Life as a Nurse

Because of the success how to How to Survive and Maybe Even Love Nursing School, Kelli teamed up with with fellow RN Staci Smith, a 20-year nursing veteran to write How to Survive and Maybe Even Love Your Life as a Nurse.

Together they interviewed over 200 nurses, getting tips on everything from how to organize your time as a new grad to planning for retirement.

Chapters include:
1. After Nursing School: Now What? Taking Stock
2. Job Search Workout
3. Looking for Jobs in All the Right Places
4. What’s In It for Me: Considering Opportunities
5. The First Month: Dive on In, The Water’s Fine
6. Fostering Healthy Relationships
7. Diversity in Nursing
8. You’re Not the Boss of Me (Well, Actually…)
9. Legal and Ethical Issues
10. The Mess That Is Stress
11. The Long and Winding Road: Don’t Forget About Your Future

The book also includes worksheets and tools for managing time, handling clinical situations, and coping with stress, with step-by-step algorithms to help novice nurses prioritize efficiently and also includes a comprehensive lists of print and internet resources point nurses in the right direction to find additional helpful and interesting information.

Sample chapter of How to Survive and Love Your Life as a Nurse