Books

Over 16,000 medical terms defined in plain language, with pronunciation, word breaks, part of speech and the origin of each entry. Covers anatomy and physiology, diseases, symptoms, drugs and investigations, together with the informal and everyday terms patients actually use, which makes it the book to reach for in a nursing history or a ward round. Includes illustrated pages on the body systems and a pronunciation guide. Fourth edition, reprinted 2007.

An anthology that gathers open sources on body weight, nutrition and movement, then turns on the readings themselves: how medical research and journalism feed and are fed by social stereotypes about bodies, food, and the choices people make inside a system. It is split into an informational half and a theoretical half to make that argument. By Sarah Gilleman, ROTEL, revised edition 2023, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

A hands-on lab manual for upper-division and graduate sports nutrition, built to reinforce the core concepts by measuring them: exercise intensity and substrate utilisation, glycemic responses to selected foods with and without exercise, designing sports drinks and testing rehydration responses, and metabolic health. By Mary P. Miles, Stephanie M.G. Wilson and Morgan L. Chamberlin, TRAILS 2022, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

The lab book for the introductory food preparation course at Iowa State University, usable in the lab and in the kitchen. Each section carries learning objectives, lab problems to solve, the recipes, questions, and observation charts where you record your own data. By the Iowa State University Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, 2025, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

For anyone who wants to understand health and fitness rather than inherit slogans: goal setting, physical activity and exercise, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, body composition, flexibility, nutrition, stress management, self-care and sleep. It carries self-assessment assignments and reflection prompts, so the reader measures themselves instead of only reading. By Jessica Alsup, ROTEL 2024, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

The course textbook for Personal Wellness at Fanshawe College, working through the eight dimensions of wellness — physical, emotional, social, financial, spiritual, occupational, intellectual and environmental — from a practical, evidence-informed angle rather than as a list of resolutions. By A.J. Stephen, Fanshawe College Pressbooks 2025, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

Written for a one-semester psychiatric-mental health nursing course at both two- and four-year institutions, for students specialising in psychiatric nursing and for other health disciplines. It pairs evidence-based practice with concrete communication strategies so students can build a therapeutic relationship with a patient and their caregivers, organised thematically rather than as a list of disorders. By Rebecca Puchkors, Jeanne Saunders and David Sharp, OpenStax 2024, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

A study guide built from more than twenty years of teaching animal nutrition. It covers the six fundamental nutrients — their structure, digestion and metabolism — then bioenergetics, feed additives, nutrient analysis, the digestive organs and processes of monogastric and ruminant animals, and how nutrient utilisation is measured. Each chapter carries a new-terms box and key points. By Gita Cherian, Oregon State University 2020, CC BY-NC licence.

Prepares nurses to design the interventions, policies and practices that move health equity and outcomes across the whole delivery continuum. The social determinants of health carry the argument, and the perspective stays holistic: health behaviour is read as the ongoing interaction between the person, social factors and the physical environment around them. By Jessica Ochs, Sherry L. Roper and Susan M. Schwartz, OpenStax 2024, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

Introductory pharmacology for nursing students: 40 chapters in 11 units. The first unit covers the broad principles of drug action, then each body system is worked through with a review of the pathophysiology of the disease processes and the medications used to treat them, so the nurse understands why the drug is on the chart and can give it safely. By Tina Barbour-Taylor, Leah Mueller, Donna Paris and Dorie Weaver, OpenStax 2024, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

An overview of population health for advanced practice nursing, with the health promotion strategies you would actually use. The resources are examples rather than a complete list — the point is to introduce approaches you can practise while still in graduate school and then carry into a clinical setting. By Kathy Andresen, University of West Florida Pressbooks, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

Twenty chapters in nine units, written so nutrition can be taught as its own course or folded into an existing nursing unit. It stays evidence-based and assessment-led for pre-licensure students, and builds the clinical judgment to spot when nutrition is the thing driving a patient's outcome. By Emerald Charity Bilbrew, Jody Vogelzang and Kelli Whittington, OpenStax 2024, CC BY-NC-SA licence.