Respiratory Therapy Equipment

From The Critics

Reviewer: John L. VanRynen, RRT, RN, CHT(Medical College of Ohio Hospitals)
Description: This is the fifth edition of a respiratory care (RC) equipment book by a well-known author. The book covers conceptual and technical data of equipment in everyday use in the field.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide a current, comprehensive reference source of equipment used in the field of RC for students and experienced practitioners.
Audience: Targeted especially to the RC student and to a lesser degree, the experienced practitioner, this book does a reasonable job at presenting a basic understanding of RC equipment. However it falls short of being current with advances seen in the field during the past 3 to 4 years.
Features: The fifth edition includes many new changes in its format. Key points throughout the text are identified by shaded highlight boxes. Specific learning objectives are at the beginning of each chapter and a glossary of key terms has been added. These changes will assist the beginning student in gaining a better understanding of material that is often difficult and tedious to comprehend.
Assessment: This book will be of most use to the beginning RC student, but it falls short of being a current reference for advanced practitioners. It presents very little new information about equipment advances in the field. Many updates for this edition are simply deletions of obsolete material from the previous edition. In several instances new advances covered in the fourth edition by a short paragraph have not been expanded for this edition, in spite of their widespread clinical use. I am disappointed with this edition, given the quality of past ones, and I believe that it will be of limited value.

John L. VanRynen

This is the fifth edition of a respiratory care (RC) equipment book by a well-known author. The book covers conceptual and technical data of equipment in everyday use in the field. The purpose is to provide a current, comprehensive reference source of equipment used in the field of RC for students and experienced practitioners. Targeted especially to the RC student and to a lesser degree, the experienced practitioner, this book does a reasonable job at presenting a basic understanding of RC equipment. However it falls short of being current with advances seen in the field during the past 3 to 4 years. The fifth edition includes many new changes in its format. Key points throughout the text are identified by shaded highlight boxes. Specific learning objectives are at the beginning of each chapter and a glossary of key terms has been added. These changes will assist the beginning student in gaining a better understanding of material that is often difficult and tedious to comprehend. This book will be of most use to the beginning RC student, but it falls short of being a current reference for advanced practitioners. It presents very little new information about equipment advances in the field. Many updates for this edition are simply deletions of obsolete material from the previous edition. In several instances new advances covered in the fourth edition by a short paragraph have not been expanded for this edition, in spite of their widespread clinical use. I am disappointed with this edition, given the quality of past ones, and I believe that it will be of limited value.

2 Stars from Doody