Priorities in Critical Care Nursing

AORN Journal,  June, 2007  by Vickie Snyder

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Priorities in Critical Care Nursing Linda D. Urden, Kathleen M. Stacy, and Mory E. Lough 2004, 530 pages $64.95 softcover

This book is an educational resource that is formatted around alterations in the functioning of the human body. It draws on a multidisciplinary approach to managing the critically ill patient. Patient safety and nursing diagnostic priorities are emphasized throughout the book, with boxes in each chapter in which the authors prioritize patient safety considerations and the most urgent potential nursing diagnosis to be addressed in a given situation.

The book is divided into logical units. Unit one presents some of the foundational aspects of critical care nursing, including an overview of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses' standards of care and professional practice and the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association's approach to the nursing process. In addition, this unit discusses ethical and legal issues in critical care nursing and patient and family-member education.

Unit two examines common problems in critical care nursing from a holistic standpoint, which is an approach that nurses sometimes gloss over when caring for critically ill patients. This unit offers some concise information on subjects such as caring for geriatric patients and patients with nutritional alterations as well as assessment and management of pain and sedation.

Units three through six cover the "meat" of the text: cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, renal, gastrointestinal, and endocrinological alterations. Information is given on assessment, diagnosis, and therapeutic management of problems related to each system. This organizational format permits readers to easily access each system on a "need-to-know-now" basis. For instance, readers can thumb through the unit on pulmonary disorders and easily find the section on pulmonary embolus. The etiology and medical management of pulmonary embolus appear on facing pages that feature boxes in which nursing diagnostic priorities and multidisciplinary approaches for collaborative management of the condition are highlighted, thereby emphasizing important aspects of treatment. There are excellent visual charts on conditions such as doll's eye reflex and decorticate and decerebrate posturing that are easy to use as a quick reference.

Other units discuss multiple body systems and cover topics such as trauma, shock, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. In addition, there is a unit on "Nursing Management of Care" that is organized in a nursing care plan format. The book also includes a handy appendix with commonly encountered hemodynamic and oxygenation formulas as well as calculations that are broken down in easy-to-understand terms.

Accompanying the print edition is access to a companion web site (ie, Evolve), which includes quizzes on the student resource portion of the web site. Students who have read the book can test their knowledge and review key issues using this helpful tool. The web site also includes links that allow direct access to hundreds of active web sites related to each chapter. These links are constantly updated to provide up-to-the-minute access to key information in the field of critical care nursing. The web site even has handy dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia links.

This book is an excellent reference for critical care nurses, nursing students, or anyone who deals with critical care patients in clinical settings such as the emergency room or OR. The companion web site is very interesting as well, and both nurses and students will find it a very useful tool.

This book is available from Mosby, 11830 Westline Industrial Dr, St Louis, MO 63146.

Editor's note: Evolve is a registered trademark of Elsevier, Inc, in the United States and other jurisdictions.

VICKIE SNYDER

RN, CNOR

STAFF NURSE

ST BERNARD'S REGIONAL

MEDICAL CENTER

JONESBORO, ARK

COPYRIGHT 2007 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning