MARCH 1988. VOL. 47, NO 3 AORN JOURNAL

Book Reviews

Recent publications address nursing education, stress and the nurse manager, AIDS

Patterns in Nursing: Strategic Planning for Nursing Education. National League for Nursing, 10 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019, 1987, 160 pp, $22.95 paperback.

Patterns in Nursing: Strategic Planning for Nursing Education is a compilation of the papers presented at the National League for Nursing’s Third National Conference on Nursing Education. The papers were written and presented by deans and faculty of college nursing programs. The topics are quite timely, considering the current and projected nursing shortages.

The theme of the papers is how to keep nursing and nursing education viable, congruent with current societal and health care trends, and competitive for students. The individual papers are concise and easy to read. Although some repetition extends from one paper to another, the ideas are repeated to support each author’s point of view. References are listed at the end of each paper, and many are extensive.

The papers identify problems affecting nursing and nursing education and offer suggestions on how to deal with them. Some solutions are theory oriented and do not address practical clinical issues; others offer specific, practical alternatives to traditional educational methods. Although the feasibility and practicality of some solutions may be debatable, they provide a starting point for discussion and planning.

The principal audience for this book includes those involved in nursing education and those who have input into or control of nursing programs. The authors challenge these people to examine

their curriculums and programs and to make changes. The ideas presented are also important for those in nursing administration because they will be responsible for coordinating the nurses graduating from the education programs with the practice situation.

The text is also of interest to those who practice nursing or who have concerns about the practice of nursing. They also need to be aware of the trends and methods of educating nurses. The book is thought provoking and, hopefully, action provoking for all concerned with the future of nursing.

PAULA ANNE LATZ, RN

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL CENTER MINNEAPOLIS

NURSING INSTRUCTOR, O R

Stress and the Nurse Manager, Peter Hingley, Cary L. Cooper. John Wiley & Sons, 605 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10158, 1986, 229 pp, $25 clothbound.

The authors of Stress and the Nurse Manager provide an overview of stress as it affects our modern world, its sources and costs in the nursing world, and what can be done about it. Each chapter has an extensive bibliography.

The pedantic style and overuse of tables makes this book difficult to read. The tables impinge on the reader’s thoughts, and many offer very little information. The authors also switch back and forth between statistical data from Great Britain and the United States. Because of the vast differences in our health care systems, this is like

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comparing apples and oranges and makes the information more confusing.

The last chapter on stress management makes this book worth checking out of the library. The authors emphasize stress awareness; multidimen- sional intervention involving the organization and the individual; increased training; and support groups for nurses.

MARIA PATTERSON, BSN, MA, CNOR

NAVAL HOSP~IAL FENSACOLA, FLA

LCDR/NC/US NAVY

Computers and Nursing: Application to Practice, Education and Research, Helen C. Cox, Bennie Harsanyi, Lyn C. Dean. Appleton & Lange, 25 Van Zant St, East Norwalk, CT 06855, 1987, 240 pp, $23.95 paperback.

This book contains information on applying computers to nursing. Diagrams and examples complement the easy-to-read chapters. The text can be used as a reference guide by staff members, educators, and nurses doing research as well as by nurses who are deciding which system to incorporate into their units. The authors stress the involvement of nurses in promoting computer use to help control their work environments.

The first section introduces the history, advantages, and future development of computers. Hardware, software, languages, and programming are discussed briefly. The graphics provide a visual reference for printers, discs, circuits, and flowcharts.

The second section focuses on computer application in various nursing disciplines. Research is presented with an outline of research methods and how to apply the computer to each phase. Software packages are referenced along with statistics available in the programs. This chapter is an excellent guide for the nurse interested in doing research.

The use of computers in nursing education focuses on interaction between computers and students, and computers and educators. The computer is offered as an alternative to processing the tremendous amount of information available to today’s nursing students.

In nursing practice, the authors state that the use of the computer to develop care plans, document patient care, generate reports, transmit orders, and allow time for patient care benefits both nurses and patients.

The nursing management chapter gives infor- mation on how to use computers for staffing, budgeting, orienting, quality assurance, statistics, and report generating. In this chapter, special attention is given to choosing and converting to a system, judging software and hardware, and obtaining support for implementation.

The final chapter focuses on ethics in the use of a computer for patient records. Legal issues on the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality are discussed. Safeguards and nursing responsi- bilities are also addressed. The appendices provide a glossary of terms and examples of literature searches available to nurses in various disciplines.

This book is an excellent guide for the nurse interested in incorporating the computer into his or her practice. The graphics allow the nurse to better understand the complexities of computers and their applications.

SOPHIA M. SCHILD, RN, MA, CNOR OR NURSE 111

ST MARY’S HOSPITAL TUCSON

Patient Teaching Manual I , Regina D. Ford, ed. Springhouse Corp, 11 11 Bethlehem Pike, Springhouse, PA 19477, 1987, 564 pp, $19.95 paperback.

Caregivers need the best and most accurate information available to help them achieve an optimal level of patient health. The Springhouse patient teaching manuals were created to help nurses and other health professionals achieve this goal.

Patient Teaching Manual I begins with a mini- course on patient teaching principles. This is followed by a five-section format that includes a patient-learner data base; an explanation of diagnostic tests, disorders, and treatments; and a patient-teaching aid for disorders of seven systems. Systems discussed are cardiovascular, respiratory, neurologic, endocrine, gastrointestinal, genitouri-