Priorities in Critical Care Nursing

Priorities in Critical Care Nursing succinctly addresses all the topics crucial to students or beginning critical care nurses. Designed for 9-13 week critical care classes, this new edition prepares readers to integrate the technology of critical care with psychosocial concerns in order to provide high-quality nursing care. Discussions of medical and nursing management are evidence-based wherever possible, incorporating the most recent references. Covering everything from the foundations of critical care nursing practice to nursing management, the text helps readers easily identify essential information with the help of special callout boxes. Each nursing management plan incorporates nursing diagnosis, etiologic or related factors, clinical manifestations, and interventions with rationales, all liberally cross-referenced throughout the book. Instructor resources are available; please contact your Elsevier sales representative for details. Organized into four units: Foundations, Common Problems, Body Systems, and Nursing Management Plans of Care. Features Nursing Diagnosis Priorities Boxes. Diagnostic Tables accompany each diagnostic procedure discussion. Includes average length of stay (LOS) for each disorder. Unique! Includes Collaborative Management Priorities boxes in nursing management sections. Web-active review questions for each chapter focus on key concepts and nursing priorities. Features separate chapter on sedation (Chapter 9). Contains end-of-life content in the legal/ethical chapter as well as in each nursing management section. Boxes on the neutropenic patient, the immunocompromised patient, smallpox, and anthrax appear in appropriate sections of the text. Features information on safe medical devices act and safety initiatives in the legal/ethical chapter as well as new boxes on patient safety priorities in each therapeutic management chapter.