Clinical Decision Making for Nurse Practitioners : A Case Study Approach

From The Critics

Reviewer: Susan K. Chase, EdD, RN, CS(Boston College School of Nursing)
Description: This is a collection of case studies useful to students and new nurse practitioners. Cases are predominantly for adult clients, but there are also pediatric and geriatric cases and one related to pregnancy. The initial presentation of the case presents baseline data and poses questions related to data collection and differential diagnoses. After this section, data are presented in an organized, helpful fashion.
Purpose: The purpose of this book is to help nurse practitioner students develop skills in clinical judgment. The book fills a gap between health assessment books that teach how to collect data and management books that teach what to do once a diagnosis has been made. The book provides rich case data.
Audience: It is intended for nurse practitioner students and possibly recent nurse practitioner graduates. The level and scope is appropriate for this audience. The author is' all FNP and has assembled cases from a long list of NP's
Features: The book has no illustrations. Case data are organized in logical tables. References include recent journal articles, U.S. Government guidelines for practice, and textbooks. The table of contents and index are accurate and useful. The book's size and appearance are attractive and portable.
Assessment: The data available to the case studies are rich in the "medical model" sense. It is lacking in providing a rich nursing data base. This means that to be useful in a nursing context, family and cultural issues need to be added. One case lists demographics as "Vietnamese" but nothing in the case takes cultural background into account. I would also like to see a stronger emphasis on family issues. With that exception, the book is very useful and I would recommend its use in courses for nurse practitioners or by individuals.

Susan K. Chase

This is a collection of case studies useful to students and new nurse practitioners. Cases are predominantly for adult clients, but there are also pediatric and geriatric cases and one related to pregnancy. The initial presentation of the case presents baseline data and poses questions related to data collection and differential diagnoses. After this section, data are presented in an organized, helpful fashion. The purpose of this book is to help nurse practitioner students develop skills in clinical judgment. The book fills a gap between health assessment books that teach how to collect data and management books that teach what to do once a diagnosis has been made. The book provides rich case data. It is intended for nurse practitioner students and possibly recent nurse practitioner graduates. The level and scope is appropriate for this audience. The author is' all FNP and has assembled cases from a long list of NP's The book has no illustrations. Case data are organized in logical tables. References include recent journal articles, U.S. Government guidelines for practice, and textbooks. The table of contents and index are accurate and useful. The book's size and appearance are attractive and portable. The data available to the case studies are rich in the ""medical model"" sense. It is lacking in providing a rich nursing data base. This means that to be useful in a nursing context, family and cultural issues need to be added. One case lists demographics as ""Vietnamese"" but nothing in the case takes cultural background into account. I would also like to see a stronger emphasis on family issues. With that exception, the book is very useful and I would recommend its usein courses for nurse practitioners or by individuals.

3 Stars from Doody