Kate Curtis, Trauma, Clinical Nurse Consultant, St George Hospital, Sydney, Australia
Clair Ramsden, Masters in Health Service Management. Masters in Health Care Ethics Area Director of Nursing Southern NSW Local Hospital Network, Queanbeyan Hospital
Publication: 15.08.2011
Imprint: Mosby Australia
ISBN: 13: 978-0-7295-3982-1
Type and scope of book
This book is a big book comprehensive guide to Emergency Nursing in 2011. The book is a large rewrite of the previous successful Trauma and Emergency Nursing by two of the previous co-editors. This version includes sections for Prehospital emergency care for paramedics.
It is a very large text book with many chapters covering the breath of Emergency Nursing. The book is written by and for an Australasian audience. The authors are leaders in the field of Emergency Nursing and this is evidenced in the comprehensive quality of the work in the chapters.
The book covers these sections devoting space for anatomical and physiological explanations. This provides the book with a sound background knowledge base for treatment programs. It gives the reader a clear pathway to the correct assessment and nursing intervention.
The book also attempts to cover aspects of paramedic operations but is very much geared to emergency nursing. Its focus on accurate and correct assessment and treatment though has merit to all frontline healthcare workers.
Contents
Section 1 – Overview of emergency care
Emergency nursing and the practice environment
Prehospital care overview in Australia and New Zealand
Section 2 – Professional practice
Clinical ethics for emergency healthcare
Emergency care and the law
Cultural considerations in emergency care
Management and leadership
Section 3 – Systems and clinical fundamentals
Professional Development
Research for emergency care
Patient education
Scene assess, management and rescue
Pre-hospital clinical reasoning and communication
Major incident preparedness management
Emergency nursing triage
Patient assessment and essentials of care
Resuscitation
Stabilisation and transfer
Clinical skills
Minor injury and management
Pain Management
Physiology for emergency care
Section 4 – Emergencies
Respiratory emergencies
Cardiovascular emergencies
Renal and genitourinary emergencies
Endocrine emergencies
Infectious and communicable disease
Pandemics and environmental emergencies
Haematological emergencies
Toxicological emergencies
Envenomation
Dental, ear, nose and throat emergencies
Ocular emergencies and trauma
Gynaecological emergencies
Section 5 – Unique populations
Obstetric emergencies
Paediatric emergencies
Mental health emergencies
People with disabilities
The older person
Violence, abuse and assault
Alcohol, tobacco and other drug use
Section 6 – Major Trauma
Overview of trauma
Mechanism of injury
Major trauma initial assessment and management
Traumatic brain injury
Faciomaxillary trauma
Thoracic and neck trauma
Abdominal and genitourinary trauma
Spinal trauma
Major orthopaedic and neurovascular trauma
Blast injury
Burns injury
Section 7 – End of Life
Death and dying
Organ and tissue donation.
Strengths
The books strength is in the diversity of the information that is written. Emergency nursing covers all health problems and this book attempts to cover all of the disciplines.
The authors are all leaders in their fields in Australia. This adds weight to the information that is delivered. The style of writing uses Australian terms and language. The reader is easily able to digest and understand information.
The book uses an extensive range of diagrams, pictures, drawings and flowcharts to emphasis points of information. This is a highlight of the book. The diagrams drawings and flowcharts are accurate and up to date. They complement the text information greatly.
The sections mainly follow an ordered pattern allow the reader to access individual pieces of information. This suits a reader wanting information on topic as a reference point. Thus the book could be used as clinical educational tool.
The reference section of all the sections was impressive. It evidenced a wide range of reading to best practices. This is very suitable for a student wishing to read deeper for further analysis.
Post reading and absorbing the knowledge presented in this book, the emergency nurse should be more confident in their knowledge, skills, applications and adaptations in clinical practice.
Deficiencies
The book is really for emergency nurses. Its attempt to cover the work of paramedics is scant. Although there is much cross over in the skills and knowledge is hard to cover both aspects in the same book. More devotion to pre-hospital paramedic work would have balanced the scales, but this was not achieved.
The book is extremely heavy. The book is so heavy; it is hard to carry around. The cover is soft so would be easily damaged if left in the clinical area as a reference book.
The book uses over 80 different authors to write the section. Thus different styles and lay outs of the chapters occurred. This makes it difficult to find some information when using the book as a clinical reference aid. Though does not deter from its overall usefulness.
Recommended readership
The book appeals to both novice and expert emergency nurse alike. The readability of the book ensures that. It is a book that inspires reading, a great departmental reference guide, despite its size and weight.
It is a great reference book for students wanting to study at a higher level. It would give the student insights into variety of emergency nursing subjects and essay topics.
It is a good read for a Paramedic but would have to use this in conjunction with other pre-hospital medical published works. Its limitations are that it does not cover enough of their valuable work.
Overall Rating
The book rates highly due to the comprehensive approach to emergency nursing. It sets Australian standards of care in emergency nursing for 2011 and beyond. Only the books weak attempt to link the Prehospital care prevents it from receiving full marks. It is a book I would like to have on my shelf.