Nursing Download

With information overload a challenge in all of our lives, why should anyone read this book? The answer is simple—this book is not only informative, covering the major issues facing advanced practices nurses (APNs), but it is also vital to understanding the past, present, and future of advanced practice. This effort weaves together historical views of APNs with present-day issues and trends. The contributors have masterfully analyzed the issues so that the reader will come to know both the larger policy issues facing APNs and how these issues translate into day-to-day care of patients. The critical examination of financing, values, politics, and intraprofessional education and practice as well as interprofessional relationships combines to bring APNs into sharp focus. The evolution of APNs has been a major event in the history of nursing. While each of the four APN disciplines—clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, and nurse anesthetist—has a unique...

It is important to appreciate that assessment is fundamental to all procedures that a patient may undergo. It does not happen just once but is an ongoing process repeated at regular intervals depending on the patient’s condition. The most usual time for a thorough assessment to occur is when a patient is admitted to acute or continuing care, but there may be other times when further detailed assessment is necessary. Assessing a patient involves both formal and informal assessment. Formal assessment includes the gathering of objective information about the patient’s condition by interviewing him or her and obtaining answers to questions. Informal assessment includes the things that you notice about a patient while you are talking to them, and may include physical signs and subjective information such as their mood or behaviour. The structure of these assessments will be discussed in more detail in this chapter. Assessment of physical vital signs is also undertaken and these are desc...