AORN JOURNAL DECEMBER 1988, VOL. 48, NO 6

Book Reviews

NURSING PRACTICE

Current Surgical Diagnosis and Treatment, eighth ed. Edited by Lawrence FK Way 1988, 1233pp $34.50 paperback

Published in six languages and updated biennially, this book is a superb resource for nursing and medical practitioners. The intended audience includes students pursuing an introduction to surgery, and house officers and practicing surgeons confronted with problems outside of their daily specialized practice.

The first 16 chapters lay a solid foundation for students learning about the surgical patient. They include information on perioperative care, anesthesia, and wound healing. The reader also will find a valuable review of infection control, fluid and electrolyte management, and the ramifications of specific medical problems for the surgical candidate, such as cardiac disease and pregnancy.

The balance of the text is divided into 20 readable chapters organized by organ system. Each chapter is augmented by useful references gleaned from current literature. Medical faculty members of the University of California at San Francisco coauthored the majority of the text, which is reinforced with excellent illustrations and photographs. The appendix offers complete data on chemical constituents of blood and body fluids, normal laboratory values, and useful conversion tables.

This book should be included in the library of every health professional who cares for surgical patients. The reader’s appreciation for this

reference will increase with each reading.

25 Van Zant St, East Norwalk, CT 06855. The book is available from Appleton and Lange,

MARY JANE C. EDWARDS, RN, BSN ASSISTANT HEAD NURSEIOR

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH MEDICAL CENTER SALT LAKE CITY

The Primacy of Caring: Stress and Coping in Health and Illness By Patricia Benner, Judith Wrubel 1989, 425 pp $29.95 paperback

The authors of this book, who are both professors of nursing, have done extensive research on health, stress, and coping. Their thesis is that knowledge is dangerous if it is divorced from caring and that human existence requires caring and caring practice. Their premise is that nurses can and do make a difference in how a person experiences an illness. They also emphasize that nurses establish healing relationships by helping patients hope and embrace recovery by appropriating social, emotional, and spiritual resources.

From the first chapter, which defines caring and its use in this book, to the last chapter, “Coping with Caregiving,” this is an excellent book.

The authors take the phenomenological (embodied intelligence) stance rather than the Cartesian (mind-body split) throughout the book. They describe coping mechanisms associated with coronary illness, cancer, and neurological illness.

The many paradigms by clinical nurse specialists reinforce the theme of the interpretive theory of nursing practice as it is concerned with helping people cope with the stress of illness. The authors, by articulating these paradigms, hope to make

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AORN JOURNAL DECEMBER 1988, VOL. 48, NO 6

them more accessible to nurses in comparable situations as bases for new visions of practice.

The book can be obtained from Addison- Wesley Publishing Co, Nursing Division, 2725 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025.

PEARL M. TORRESYAP, RN, CNOR

BOSTON VA MEDICAL CENTER THORACIC CHARGE NURSE

The Process of Patient Education, sixth ed. By Barbara Klug Redman 1988, 354pp $22.95 paperback

The format and organization of this edition remains the same as previous editions. The content, however, has been updated and expanded.

The text progresses logically through the elements of the teaching-learning process: assessing need and motivation, objectives, learning, teaching, and evaluating teaching and overall programs. Each chapter has an introduction, a summary, study questions, and references. Appendixes provide answers to the study questions, additional questions and answers, case studies, abstracts of some research studies, and further examples.

The layout of the chapters and the use of clear, bold type for section headings help the reader locate specific content and make the text easy to read. Examples and graphics are located close to the text, which also facilitates reading. The graphics add greatly to the presentation of principles and concepts discussed in the text.

All of the sections include new theories and concepts, and additional examples of teaching materials have been included. Some of the study questions at the end of the chapters have been changed and others added.

The trend to self-care and its effect on teaching and learning is discussed in several sections. The section on teaching tools now includes computer- assisted learning and the use of package inserts. There also is additional material on teaching children.

The intended audience is health care providers who want to know more about how to teach patients and families. The concepts, however,

would be equally applicable to other areas of teaching-learning such as staff development or orientation. Some background on the teaching- learning process, would be helpful, though, because the authors assume the reader has some understanding of the subject. Overall, this edition is an improvement over the last, and it is a valuable addition to teaching-learning materials.

The book is available from The C V Mosby Co, 11830 Westline Industrial Dr, St Louis, MO 63 146.

PAULA ANNE LATZ, RN, MSN, CNOR NURSING INSTRUCTOR/OR

MINNEAPOLIS VA MEDICAL CENTER

Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses By Judith H Deglin, April H Vallerand 1988, 739pp $18.95 clothbound

The update of the 1950 version of this guide is in tune with the challenge of today’s new pharmacology and also with the growing responsibility of nurses. The coauthors have written on the same subject before, and both teach at the college level.

This heavy-duty handbook provides accessible, easy-to-understand information on the most commonly prescribed drugs for clinical use. It is visually easy to consult. Each generic drug, followed by an alphabetic list of popular trade names, appears in a highlighted box. Boldface, regular, and italic type are used throughout to identify generic names, trade names, and classifications. Diverse page colors mark different sections. A comprehensive index at the end is followed by blank note pages for personal data.

In addition to current pharmacokinetics and dynamics information, this book provides the tools nurse practitioners need to administer drugs with an awareness of their potential effects and side effects. Those interacting directly with patients and families will benefit most from the “Nursing Implications” section for each drug. This section was developed to help apply the nursing process to pharmacotherapeutics and assist in patient teaching.

The chapter on dosage and the additional

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