470 NURSE EDUCATION TODA\

Nurses signing up for the Project, and who return

the DLP questionnaires, receive feedback from the

Prqject Office. The Project ‘Team ultimately hope to

award 15 Level 2 CA’FS points to successful students.

KEITH HURST

RCN PhD Nufji‘etd iastilulr ftir Health

The Child and Family. Contemporary Nursing Issues in Child Health and Care Bruce Lindsay

Bailliere TindalI

1994 2 18pp illus ISBN: 7020-1646-2 f IO.95

This collision of delights held my attention and

stimulated my interest in a way that few child health

orientated books have done in the last decade - a

respite for my jaded paediatric pallet. This ‘reader’

rather than an exhaustive text, has stated aims to

‘inform . stimulate discussion and generate

controversy’, aims which I feel it fulhls. No mean feat

for such a small book in a genre in which other books

usually seek to provide the reader with every available

detail of a child and family’s life and health career in a

text too heavy to carry and in a style which is

informative but indigestible.

The book is somewhat arbitrarily divided into three

sections: ‘The Child in Society, Contemporary Care

Issues and Moving Forward. Sections can be taken as a

whole or in part with equal profit. The editor has

amassed contributors who have approached mostly

well trodden areas pertaining to children’s health. in

its widest sense, in an innovative and creative manner.

All contributors have the inestimable advantage of

being able to write, some with considerable art. by no

means a universal attribute of all who write for nurses!

The controversy angle arises, as forecast, in content

issues such as Power and Children. ‘rhe Changing

Family and a Future for Child Care Nursing. Indeed

this is so in sections of other chapters, not so much a

swipe at orthodoxy but certainly a considerable nudge,

which is welcome in a branch of the profession which

might well consider the terms radical and Child Health

Nurse mutually exclusive. ‘This book would sit ideally

as a central text for pre-registration diploma students

undertaking sociological threads and should be essen-

tial reading for all Child Branch students. Its academic

level, discursive nature and sometimes demi-radical

style is ideal for stimulating the sort of mental and

actual debate which can result in intellectual growth.

One of the intrigues about this book is that it is

difficult to state with any exactitude a definitive topic

content. It contains surprising glimpses, and inspired

glances into the world of child care. Read it.

Blackwell’s Dictionary of Nursing Blackwell Scientific

1994 ISBN: O-632-03561-7 f13.99

A useful nursing dictionary in a full sized book as

opposed to the more ubiquitous pocket variety. The

print is clear and the headings are presented logically.

All the entries examined were detailed unambiguously

and were easy to make sense of. Anatomical diagrams

and other tables are presented alongside appropriate

entries and add to the written explanation.

The appendices also add to the fund of knowledge

found in this book. However, 1 was somewhat puzzled

to understand why such a wide range of suejects was

included in the appendices. The nature of the book

requires that the appendices are brief. Therefore,

inevitably some of the information is sketchy to say the

least and the rationale for including it in this publica-

tion is unclear.

As a general dictionary for nurses I would recom-

mend it highly, it should be found in any nursing

library and it is not beyond the price range of any

student or qualified nurse.

ALISON SMI~I-H

Principal Leclurer Canlertnq Christ Church Cullegc

Nursing Diagnosis and Care Planning, 2nd ed B J Taptich, P W Iyer 8c 1) Bernocchi-Losey

W B Saunders

1994 ISBN: O-7216-5196-8 fll.50

This book is intended as a reference manual for those

students and practitioners in nursing who already

have a basic knowledge of nursing diagnosis and care

planning. It accompanies another, more comprehen-

sive, text on nursing process and diagnosis by the same

authors, and is designed for easy and rapid access to

specific information on approved nursing diagnoses.

An initial overview of the care planning process is

offered which includes a useful guide to writing

nursing diagnoses and a small bibliography. .rhis is

followed by a description of each approved nursing

diagnosis, those which commonly arise from medical

diagnoses and differential nursing diagnoses.

The book is compact with an easy to read format and

a modest number of illustrations. It also contains a

number of case studies relating to the interpretation of

assessment data, which could be used for teaching

purposes. Apart from the bibliography provided in

the first chapter. no other references are used in the

text. It offers very little new information or analysis

related to developments in nursing diagnosis activity.

‘TONY HARRISON Its potential, as tile authors have intended, is to act as

BA RNT RGN RSCN an cl& mc,moirc, for clinical practice.