Book review

The Asthma Educator’s HandbookBy Christopher H. Fanta, MD; Elaine L. Carter, RN,AE-C; Elisabeth S. Stieb, RN, AE-C; Kenan E. Haver,MD, The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2007, 412 pages. Pa-perback $52.95, ISBN-00-0714-4737-9.

Although it is a good first attempt to provide a comprehensivetext for asthma educators, this book misses the mark. Theauthors have a book that is already outdated because theNational Institutes of Health released the new asthma guide-lines (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/asthma/asthgdln.htm) in October 2007 and the book does not address thechanges. For example, level of control, which is to be eval-uated at each encounter, is not even mentioned in the book. Inaddition, the distinctions in evaluation and treatment between0- to 4-year-olds and 5- to 11-year-olds are missing.

The medication section, which can change rapidly and isdifficult to keep current in a textbook, is confusing at times.Although the text clearly states that floating a canister is nolonger acceptable, directions with a diagram of floating acanister to predict how much medication remains are in-cluded. Adding medications to treat chronic obstructive pul-monary disease is unnecessary and possibly confusing to thenew asthma educator.

The book focuses much more on medical diagnosis andtreatment and on the role of the physician, nurse practitioner,and physician assistant. There is no section on education, theasthma educator’s primary role. Asthma educators, particu-

larly those new to the discipline and perhaps hoping to usethis book to prepare for the National Asthma Educator Cer-tification Board (NAECB) examination, will not need thisdegree of diagnostic information. What they will need ismore help with educational techniques, learning styles, psy-chosocial and economic issues, and program developmentand evaluation (eg, the NAECB Candidate Handbook [http://www.naecb.org/documents/NAECB_Handbook.pdf]). Al-though the authors mention the NAECB and the examinationin the foreword and suggest that one of the motivations forwriting the book was to help prepare for the examination,none of these issues are addressed.

The writing vacillates between chatty and authoritative,which makes reading difficult at times. The lack of footnotesand numbered references is bothersome as well. I would haveliked to have had references for several statements made inthe book. The abundance of allergy information is excessive,and the degree of detail is unnecessary for an asthma educa-tor. In all, I suggest that people who want to learn more aboutasthma diagnosis and allergies might find this book helpful,but if you are studying for the NAECB examination or tobecome a competent asthma educator, other resources will beabsolutely critical.

CHRISTINE W. WAGNER, RN, MSN, CPNP, FNP-BC, AE-CComprehensive Asthma CenterChildren’s Medical Center of DallasDallas, Texas

222 ANNALS OF ALLERGY, ASTHMA & IMMUNOLOGY