REVlEWS

Material for the Review section, including books, monographs, reprints of articles, and audiovisuals, should be sent to Sego Matsumiya, R.N., Infection Control Nurse, Veterans Administration Medical Center, 500 Foothill Blvd., Salt Lake City, UT 84148.

BOOKS

Practical approaches to patient teaching Donald A. Bille, Editor. Boston, 1981, Little Brown & Co.; 348 pages; tables, diagrams, references; paperback; $11.95.

This text will serve as a reference for any hos- pital, health care agency, or individual practi- tioner interested in starting a new patient edu- cation program or in refining an existing pro- gram. The book discusses important aspects to consider in the revision or development of a patient education program.

The author has divided the book into four sections: (I) The structure for patient teaching, (II) Patient teaching activities, (III) Roles and settings for patient teaching, and (IV) Appen- dix. At the beginning of each chapter, teaching objectives are stated, which are met in the con- text of the chapter. Following each chapter, ex- tensive references are listed. The appendix dis- cusses teaching plans for specific illnesses and special considerations for developing the teach- ing plan.

Mr. Bille has selected specific authors to write chapters that relate to their fields of expertise, making the text up to date, informative, and au- thentic. It was enlightening to note the involve- ment of each department in the development of teaching strategies and their responsibilities to the overall patient education program. Many educators are not aware of these interactions when they plan and implement a program. Our hospital recently received, evaluated, and re- vised our patient education program and found that each department had its own program. Several of the programs overlapped and no one knew what the other one was doing. Several programs fell apart after the initial enthusiasm wore off. We used this text as one of our refer- ences when we reorganized our program to build in the appropriate support system.

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This text, with its multifaceted content, of- fers the ICP excellent background information to assist her to develop a program and integrate it into the total medical facilities program.

Ada Nordquist, R.N. Salt Lake City, Utah

Working with orthopedic patients. Nurrlng photebeok (Nursing ‘82 Beoks) Patricia K. Lawson, editor. Springhouse, Pa., 1982, lntermed Communications, Inc.; 160 pages; hard cover; $13.95.

Orthopedic equipment and techniques have always aroused a certain amount of apprehen- sion and sometimes sheer terror in the begin- ning practitioner. The pulleys, cords, splints, and weights associated with orthopedics are certainly impressive to the onlooker and bog- gling to the patient. Fortunately for us, Working With Orthopedic Patients lays bare the mys- teries of orthopedic practice.

The book begins with a basic and clear re- view of anatomy and physiology. (Knowing the name and location of the affected body part is, to say the least, imperative.) Basic orthopedic terminology is presented with concise defini- tions and illustrations. Abduction, adduction, circumduction, protraction, retraction, etc., are all explained simply. In addition, the book provides an extremely thorough orthopedic as- sessment. It gives a joint-by-joint description of each limb as well as a discussion of the normal physiology and various deformities and in- juries that may occur.

The authors contend that orthopedics is not just a matter of casting a broken bone and then forgetting about it-a fact that this book makes abundantly clear. Neurovascular checks, posi- tioning, and skin care are vitally important to

Volume 11 Number 2

April, 1983

the proper healing of the affected part. Photo- book provides a step by step process for de- termining a precise neurovascular assessment using “the five P’s” -pain, pallor, pulse, paral- ysis, and paresthesia. It also goes into detail in specifically assessing nerve damage in the casted limb.

Photo essays detail the mechanics of traction and the application of various types of splints, slings, and halters. The authors show their sensitivity to the needs of the patient who is immobilized by traction or other equipment. They emphasize the importance of listening to the patients’ needs and of providing stimuli from the outside to reduce his possible feelings of isolation. One section of the book is devoted to knee and hip replacements, arthroscopic ex- amination of the knee, and reconstructive surgeries. In this section, terms specific to joint surgeries are defined and nursing care of the postoperative patient is outlined. The last chapter deals with possible complications of trauma in surgery: malunion, nonunion, infec- tion, gas gangrene, fat emboli, immobility, and pain control. A section on improvising position- ing aids to enhance patient comfort was espe- cially helpful. It is extremely useful to know how to make various positioning items out of a cardboard box and a folded towel.

The book offers very little in the way of in- fection control information. Two pages are de- voted to the possible complications of osteo- myelitis and gas gangrene and their treatment. However, infection control is not the focus of the book. Working With Orthopedic Patients provides an excellent broad base of information for the beginning practitioner and a good re- view for the seasoned orthopedic nurse. It should certainly be a part of every orthopedic floor library as a ready reference guide.

Mary Ev Erickson, R.N., BAN. Salt Lake City, Utah

Lawrence W. Green, C. L. Anderson, authors; Charles K. l-lhch, d&or. St. Louis, 1982, The C. V. Mosby Company; 620 pages inclusive of tables, graphs, appendices, references; hard cover: $18.95.

The preface of this book gives the impression that it is not directed toward ICPs. The authors

state that the book is about commmity health rather than personal hygiene. They state: “Per- sonal health practices are the essential building blocks of community health, but the promotion of such practices through the planning and de- livery of programs for populations distinguishes community health programs from medicine and self-care.” They further address their con- cerns by emphasizing questions of distribution, participation, and organization of community health resources more than biomedical pro- cesses and techniques that relate to individual patients. However, as ICPs, we should perceive patients as coming from one community to the hospital community and as being discharged to possibly a third community. Therefore some parts of the book may be of value to ICPs.

This text emphasizes administrative, educa- tional, and epidemiological concepts and meth- ods. It is divided into four parts: an Overview, Promoting of community health, Environmen- tal health, and Health services. To this reviewer, the most interesting of the twenty-one chapters and two appendices were the following:

Chapter 20. Communicable Disease Control (35 pages). This chapter lightly covers topics ranging from infection and disease to epide- miological principles. The chapter includes new information on the control of communi- cable diseases and bases its recommendations on epidemiological principles.

Chapter 13. Community Water Resources (13 pages). Chapter 13 deals with the identification and control of problems related to infectious agents and toxic materials.

Chapter 14. Community Waste Disposal (17 pages). This covers topics from sewage disposal to solid waste management objectives.

Chapter 16. Community Food Protection (10 pages). Chapter 16 includes a discussion of dis- ease transmission by foods plus controls and regulations.

Chapter 17. “Other.” This chapter describes rodent and vector control. It provides a listing of the Environmental Protection Agencies in the USA.

Other chapters of the text are more general in nature, covering a wide variety of topics from community geriatrics to personal health ser- vices. Of additional interest is a list of projec- tions of the reduced incidence of many infec-