Essentials of Gerontological Nursing

Essentials of Gerontological Nursing presents the best practices needed to care for older adults. Its brief, yet comprehensive, grasp of issues in elder care is a refreshing addition to the current literature, which is more commonly focused on theory than on clinical practice. Designed primarily for students in gerontological nursing courses in BSN and graduate programs, the book provides:

• Essential clinical information and "best practices" needed to care for older adults
• Current research and new patient approaches in gerontological nursing
• Overviews of rarely discussed issues, such as elder abuse, cultural considerations, and restraint alternatives
• Clinical specifications and practical applications
• Content designed to fit into a one-semester course

Essentials of Gerontological Nursing presents the best practices needed to care for older adults. Its brief, yet comprehensive, grasp of issues in elder care is a refreshing addition to the current literature, which is more commonly focused on theory than on clinical practice. Designed primarily for students in gerontological nursing courses in BSN and graduate programs, the book provides:

• Essential clinical information and "best practices" needed to care for older adults


• Current research and new patient approaches in gerontological nursing


• Overviews of rarely discussed issues, such as elder abuse, cultural considerations, and restraint alternatives


• Clinical specifications and practical applications


• Content designed to fit into a one-semester course

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Lori L. Popejoy, PhD, APRN, BC(University of Missouri-Columbia)
Description:The book offers a brief overview of issues related to aging, from theory or ideas about aging to end-of-life care.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide current evidence about geriatric nursing to practicing nurses. The book has no illustrations, and dense text with few useful tables. I found it difficult to use for the stated purpose.
Audience:It is written for practicing generalist nurses. Some of the chapters, such as the one on Medicare, are quite good, but overall, the organization of the book makes it difficult to use as a reference.
Features:The book covers a wide range of topics, including demographics of aging, the impact of healthcare policy on older adults, normal aging, pathology in aging, and ethical issues of aging. Other books cover the same topics more thoroughly and in a more user-friendly format.
Assessment:This book has limited utility for use in the practice setting. It may be useful for nurses who desire to teach themselves more about gerontological nursing, and are looking for book that is not so packed with information.

Meredith Wallace, PhD, APRN-BC, is currently the Elizabeth DeCamp McInerney Chair of Health Sciences and Associate Professor at Fairfield University School of Nursing in Fairfield, CT, where she teaches gerontological nursing, community health, and nursing research. In September 2007, she will be moving to Yale University. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Wallace was coordinator of the Adult Nurse Practitioner trace, and she has maintained her ANP role by working in an assisted living community and other settings, currently in a primary care practice with a physician.

Her undergraduate degree (BSN) is from Boston University, her master's in medical-surgical nursing with a specialty in geriatrics is from Yale University, and her PhD in nursing research and theory development is from New York University. While at NYU, Dr. Wallace received a predoctoral fellowship at the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing. In 2004, she received the junior investigator award from the Eastern Nursing Research Society/John A. Hartford Foundation. She has served as managing editor for the Journal of Applied Nursing Research and research brief editor more recently, and she was associate editor of the Geriatric Nursing Research Digest.

Dr. Wallace is a cherished Springer Publishing author, having co-edited (with Lorrie Powel) Prostate Cancer: Nursing Assessment, Management, and Care (2002) and co-edited (with Joyce J. Fitzpatrick) the Encyclopedia of Nursing Research, now in its second edition (2005).