a pocket guide to clinical midwifery: the efficient midwife

MEDIA REVIEW

A Pocket Guide to Clinical Midwifery: The Efficient Midwife

By Lauren Dutton, Jessica Densmore, and Meridith Turner.Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010. 358 pages.$39.95, spiral bound.

Reviewed by: Sarah Cox, CNM, MPH, MSN.

A Pocket Guide to Clinical Midwifery: The Efficient Mid-wife is meant to be a comprehensive quick reference to allthings pertinent to the practice of clinical midwifery. Theauthors are all certified nurse-midwives with graduate de-grees. They report that the book evolved from their ownpocket ‘‘black books’’ created over years of school andclinical practice.

A Pocket Guide to Clinical Midwifery is clearly writtenand easy to use. It is an alphabetic (‘‘abdominal pain’’ to‘‘vulvodynia’’) collection of the day-to-day issues thatface the practicing midwife. Depending on the issue, infor-mation may include any or all of the following sections:definition, diagnostic criteria, treatment or intervention,current clinical guidelines, and expected resolution. Grids,tables, and diagrams are liberally included to make usemore efficient. Sources are listed for each topic to assistthe reader in practicing evidence-based care. While the is-sues covered in the book are listed in alphabetical order,there is also an excellent index that cross-references topics.This allows the reader who is searching based on anotherkeyword to find the topic as listed in the book. The book isfull of useful information; it is hard to open it at randomwithout learning something new or refreshing some oldknowledge. If anything, the authors have included morethan is needed in this book. Sections on ‘‘Political Involve-ment,’’ and ‘‘The ACNM Position Statement on HomeBirth’’ do not provide any clinically useful function butdo make the book longer.

An additional section that is included for many topics is‘‘Resources,’’ a list of Web sites or other materials for pa-tient education. The authors have clearly evaluated manyof the patient education materials available and have se-lected some of the best. This will be a handy section forany midwife who likes to use information therapy withher patients.

Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health � www.jmwh.org

� 2010 by the American College of Nurse-MidwivesIssued by Elsevier Inc.

The book’s many tables include lists of medications withsuggested dosing. These tables are an excellent resource cov-ering a full spectrum of treatment options. Among the med-ication tables included are depression treatments, asthmatreatments, and antibiotic regimens for a variety of infectiousillnesses. Certainly, the lists will become out of date as newmedications are developed and guidelines change, but an-other feature of the book that will help alleviate that concernis the generous allotment of blank pages for user’s notes.

The book also includes several flow charts to aid in themanagement of complex issues such as amenorrhea andectopic pregnancy. Flow charts help with providing con-sistent, evidence-based care in confusing situations, and,in the opinion of this reviewer, could have been moreheavily used in this book. For example, the section on in-fertility would have benefited greatly from this approach.Still, the authors have created a rich resource of informa-tion in an easily accessible written format that is enhancedby excellent charts, tables, and diagrams.

For many issues throughout the book, the authors have in-cluded herbal or other alternative or complementary treat-ments. These recommendations are an excellent additionto a clinical manual. In general, the included alternativeand complementary treatments are those that are not partic-ularly controversial and have stood the test of time in themidwife’s bag of tricks. It is nice to see this lore being passedon in a clinical reference. In keeping with the authors’ focuson evidence-based practice, however, it would have beengood to include the sources for the herbal treatments andthe conventional medications when such sources exist.

A Pocket Guide to Clinical Midwifery provides an excel-lent quick reference for hundreds of issues. Unfortunately,the book is limited by its size. At 5’’� 7’’� 1’’ thick, it isfar too hefty to be easily carried in one’s pocket. In addi-tion, most practicing clinicians are now using pocket-sized electronic information management devices. Anelectronic version that could be loaded as an applicationto a handheld device would be ideal. This reviewer willdefinitely keep this book on her desktop as a referenceand teaching tool. It is a worthwhile purchase!

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1526-9523/$36.00