Instant Nursing Assessment

From The Critics

Reviewer: Cheryl Laskowski, DNS, RN, CS(Daemen College)
Description: This book focuses on nursing assessment of clients with psychiatric disorders. The first section of the book describes the mental status exam, while subsequent chapters highlight diagnostic information pertaining to common psychiatric disorders. This book is one from a series providing nursing assessment information in an easy-to-access format.
Purpose: The book is focused on providing immediate, relevant information on important aspects of the psychiatric nursing assessment. Given the rapid pace of the current healthcare delivery system, this is a worthy objective. The book does meet the objective of providing important psychiatric assessment information; however, nursing interventions are not included in the text, This limits the practical function of the text in active clinical settings.
Audience: Written specifically for nurses, from students to more experienced practicing psychiatric RNs, this book will be especially useful to RNs who are now to the field of psychiatric nursing. The author, a doctorally prepared clinical nurse specialist, is credible as an expert in this field.
Features: The book contains useful charts and highlighted information. The reader is likely to find the Questions to Ask and Nurse Alert sections to be especially helpful. A Suicide Screening Questionnaire is another unique feature. References are included in several chapters and provide up-to-date suggestions for more extensive reading on topical areas.
Assessment: This first edition psychiatric nursing assessment text provides the novice psychiatric nurse with useful client assessment information. The section on Mental Status Exam and the Suicide Screening Questionnaire are especially helpful parts of the text. One problem with the book is that it does not describe nursing interventions (these are listed in another book from the series).

Cheryl Laskowski

This book focuses on nursing assessment of clients with psychiatric disorders. The first section of the book describes the mental status exam, while subsequent chapters highlight diagnostic information pertaining to common psychiatric disorders. This book is one from a series providing nursing assessment information in an easy-to-access format. The book is focused on providing immediate, relevant information on important aspects of the psychiatric nursing assessment. Given the rapid pace of the current healthcare delivery system, this is a worthy objective. The book does meet the objective of providing important psychiatric assessment information; however, nursing interventions are not included in the text, This limits the practical function of the text in active clinical settings. Written specifically for nurses, from students to more experienced practicing psychiatric RNs, this book will be especially useful to RNs who are now to the field of psychiatric nursing. The author, a doctorally prepared clinical nurse specialist, is credible as an expert in this field. The book contains useful charts and highlighted information. The reader is likely to find the Questions to Ask and Nurse Alert sections to be especially helpful. A Suicide Screening Questionnaire is another unique feature. References are included in several chapters and provide up-to-date suggestions for more extensive reading on topical areas. This first edition psychiatric nursing assessment text provides the novice psychiatric nurse with useful client assessment information. The section on Mental Status Exam and the Suicide Screening Questionnaire are especially helpful parts of the text. One problem with the bookis that it does not describe nursing interventions (these are listed in another book from the series).

3 Stars from Doody