Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Covering the issues, themes and principles that explain what it means to be a nurse today, this book provides the theory students need to know and applies it to the diverse patient groups and settings that students will encounter on their placements.

Key features of the book are:

· Introduces the core aspectsof adult nursing

· Anevidence-based approach with discussion of literature, policy and research and suggestedfurther reading for every chapter

· Over 30 case studiesto help students understand the realities of practice across a range of settings including primary care and the community

· Stop and think boxes which challenge assumptions and encourage reflection

· A companion websitewith sample questions for lecturers to use in seminars, multiple choice questions for student revision and free SAGE journal articles

The book has been closely developed in line with the NMC Standards and Essential Skills Clusters and supports students across their entire degree programme as they develop into nurses of the future ready to deliver and lead care.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• About the Editor and Contributors (p. xiii)
• Acknowledgements (p. xix)
• Publisher's Acknowledgements (p. xxi)
• About the Companion Website (p. xxiii)
• Introduction (p. xxv)
• Part 1 Theory and Context in Relation to Adult Nursing (p. 1)
• 1 Essentials of Nursing: Values, Knowledge, Skills and Practice (p. 3)
• Background (p. 4)
• The birth of modern nursing (p. 8)
• So what can we learn from our nursing history? (p. 9)
• Where are we now? (p. 10)
• æProfessionÆ, æprofessionalÆ and æprofessionalismÆ (p. 13)
• How do legal and ethical principles underpin our professional practice? (p. 16)
• The 6Cs of Nursing (p. 18)
• Upholding the professional reputation of nursing (p. 20)
• The challenges to contemporary practice (p. 23)
• Fitness to practice (p. 24)
• The importance of evidence-based practice (p. 28)
• Developing your nursing skills (p. 29)
• 2 Nursing Therapeutics (p. 35)
• Therapeutic relationship (p. 36)
• Moral dimensions of nursing care (p. 39)
• The importance of effective communication (p. 42)
• Verbal communication (p. 45)
• The use of therapeutic touch (p. 48)
• Person-centred care (p. 49)
• The importance of cultural competence in nursing (p. 51)
• Patient-centred care and holistic assessment (p. 52)
• Meeting the needs of a difficult/unpopular patient (p. 55)
• 3 Interprofessional and Multidisciplinary Team Working (p. 63)
• Background to interprofessional working (p. 65)
• Barriers to effective team working (p. 71)
• Team working (p. 71)
• Disadvantages of team working (p. 73)
• Overcoming the barriers to team work (p. 74)
• The importance of record keeping and team work (p. 74)
• Confidentiality (p. 76)
• Disclosure (p. 77)
• An example of a hub and spoke placement (p. 78)
• Integrating into teams (p. 79)
• Interprofessional Education (IPE) (p. 79)
• Advantages of IPE (p. 83)
• Challenges to IPE (p. 84)
• 4 Medicines Management (p. 89)
• Background (p. 90)
• Definition of medicines management (p. 91)
• The adult nurseÆs role in medicines management (p. 91)
• The medicines management process and the nurseÆs role (p. 92)
• Medication devices (p. 96)
• Monitoring (p. 97)
• Storage of medicines (p. 98)
• Patient education (p. 98)
• Prescribing (p. 99)
• Legal and ethical aspects of medicines management (p. 100)
• Categories of medicines (p. 100)
• Ethical aspects of medication management (p. 101)
• Incident reporting (p. 102)
• Pharmacology: what do adult nurses need to know? (p. 102)
• 5 The NMC Essential Skills Clusters (p. 109)
• Background (p. 109)
• NMC Cluster 1: Care, Compassion and Communication (p. 111)
• Microbiological knowledge (p. 119)
• Standard precautions (p. 121)
• Compliance with standard precautions (p. 123)
• Isolation (p. 123)
• Aseptic non-touch technique (ANTT) (p. 124)
• Uniform policies (p. 124)
• The infection prevention and control team (p. 125)
• Drug calculations (p. 128)
• Legal and ethical frameworks (p. 129)
• Underpinning knowledge (p. 129)
• Drug administration (p. 129)
• Record keeping (p. 130)
• Patient Group Directions (PGDs) (p. 130)
• What can help you demonstrate your achievement of NMC Essential Skills Clusters in practice? (p. 130)
• 6 Exposure to Other Fields of Nursing (p. 135)
• Background (p. 136)
• Maternity care (p. 138)
• Children and young people (p. 147)
• Caring for people with learning disabilities (p. 157)
• Mental health (p. 164)
• 7 Clinical Decision Making (p. 179)
• Background (p. 180)
• Clinical decision making (p. 182)
• So how do nurses make clinical decisions? (p. 182)
• Contemporary decision-making theories, models and frameworks (p. 183)
• Normative theories (p. 184)
• Descriptive theories (p. 188)
• Evidence-based nursing and clinical judgement (p. 194)
• Involving patients in decision-making processes (p. 200)
• What can you do to develop your clinical decision-making skills? (p. 200)
• Top tips ensure safe and effective clinical decision making (p. 202)
• 8 Leadership and Management (p. 205)
• Background (p. 206)
• What are management theories? (p. 209)
• What are leadership theories (p. 210)
• Leardership and management styles (p. 211)
• Leading and managing people (p. 215)
• Improving your own delegating abilities (p. 216)
• Managing difficult situations (p. 218)
• Managing quality (p. 221)
• Clinical effectiveness (p. 222)
• Measuring quality (p. 223)
• Managing risk and patient safety (p. 223)
• Tackling poor performance (p. 227)
• Patient experience (p. 228)
• Leading and managing change and service improvement (p. 228)
• Resistance to change (p. 231)
• Strategies to enhance change (p. 232)
• Part 2 Caring for Adults in a Variety of Settings (p. 243)
• 9 Promoting Health (p. 245)
• Background (p. 246)
• Levels of prevention (p. 252)
• Health needs assessment (p. 256)
• Prisons (p. 259)
• Travelling communities (p. 259)
• Policy and health promotion (p. 260)
• Lifestyle and public health (p. 261)
• Obesity (p. 263)
• CVD/CHD (p. 264)
• Risk factors (p. 265)
• Sexual health (p. 266)
• 10 Supportive Care: Caring for Adults with Long-term Conditions (p. 275)
• Background (p. 276)
• Heart and circulatory disease (p. 278)
• Cancer (p. 280)
• Respiratory disease (p. 281)
• Diabetes (p. 282)
• Chronic liver disease (p. 283)
• Chronic kidney disease (p. 283)
• Long-term neurological conditions (p. 284)
• Chronic Muscular Skeletal Conditions (MSK) (p. 284)
• Living with a long-term condition: the patient experience (p. 285)
• Fatigue (p. 286)
• Chronic insomnia (p. 287)
• Mental health issues (p. 287)
• Social isolation and loneliness (p. 289)
• Supported self-care (p. 290)
• Case management (p. 292)
• Patient empowerment and partnership working (p. 294)
• How can we work to empower patients? (p. 296)
• Providing health information (p. 297)
• Tools and self-monitoring devices (p. 298)
• Skills training and support networks (p. 299)
• Personalised Care Planning (PCP) (p. 300)
• The role of carers (p. 302)
• Integrated care (p. 303)
• Effective discharge planning (p. 304)
• 11 Caring for the Acutely Ill Adult (p. 313)
• Background (p. 314)
• Acute medicine (p. 316)
• Surgery (p. 317)
• Assessing individuals in an acute care setting (p. 320)
• Taking a patient history (p. 320)
• Recognising patient deterioration (p. 322)
• Track and Trigger systems (p. 323)
• Critical care (p. 326)
• Assessment of the critically ill or deteriorating patient using the ABCDE approach (p. 327)
• ABCDE principles (p. 327)
• Evidence-based interventions in acute care (p. 332)
• SBAR communication tool (p. 335)
• Pain management (p. 336)
• Caring for a patient with an artificial airway (p. 342)
• Medical technology (p. 344)
• Legal and ethical considerations in acute care (p. 345)
• Caring for a group of patients (p. 349)
• Acute hospital care of the older person (p. 349)
• Supporting the families of acutely ill patients (p. 350)
• Enhancing the patient experience (p. 351)
• 12 Caring for the Older Person (p. 361)
• Background (p. 362)
• Dispelling myths and stereotypes (p. 363)
• The challenges of caring for older people (p. 365)
• Maintaining dignity for the older person (p. 366)
• Compassion, choice and empowerment in healthcare (p. 369)
• Biographical approach to care (p. 370)
• Promoting person-centred care with older people and those with dementia (p. 371)
• Implementing person-centred care (p. 372)
• Understanding frailty in the older person (p. 374)
• Promoting the health of older people (p. 377)
• Promoting physical activity in older people (p. 378)
• Falls prevention for older people (p. 381)
• Dementia and delirium (p. 385)
• 13 The Provision of Effective Palliative Care for Adults (p. 395)
• Background (p. 397)
• Contemporary end of life policy and standards (p. 397)
• Principles of palliative care (p. 398)
• Diagnosing dying (p. 400)
• Disclosing sensitive information (p. 401)
• Breaking bad news: where things go wrong (p. 403)
• Policy context: Advanced Care Planning (p. 403)
• Advanced Care Planning 1: integrated care pathways (p. 404)
• Advanced Care Planning 2: The Gold Standards Framework (p. 404)
• Advanced Care Planning 3: Preferred Priorities of Care (PPC) document (p. 405)
• Legal and ethical issues (p. 406)
• The quality of care: enabling patients to experience a good death in hospital (p. 406)
• The importance of communication (p. 409)
• The role of the nurse providing palliative care (p. 409)
• Developing competence in palliative care (p. 411)
• Glossary (p. 417)
• Index (p. 421)

Author notes provided by Syndetics