Book Review
Science for Health Professionals
Kevin Robards and Moira Welch
ISBN: 0063121247; 1991; xiii+456 pages; Harper Educational, Artarmon NSW;
Gordon Cochaud
School of Pure and Applied Science, University of South Australia, Salisbury SA
This well-written basic text book covers all of the areas of physics and much of the chemistry likely to be needed by students doing a preregistration nursing course. Further information would be needed for a sufficient introduction to pharmacology. In terms of 'science' there is no attempt to treat biological topics such as microbiology or molecular genetics.
Most of the text is about the fundamentals underlying everyday concepts such as heat, electricity atomic structure and chemical bonding, and ionising radiations. The value of a study of elementary science to a modern professional nurse is continually emphasized by indicating which aspects of nursing are better understood by each explanation presented. The explanations for each topic are extensive and allow plenty of scope for a lecturer ( or student) to pick and choose aspects which they see to be relevant to their course. The sentence structure used by the authors is not complex. For this reason, students who have not studied science at matriculation level should find the explanations relatively easy to follow. The diagrams are clear, devoid of excess information and each helps to clarify some point in the adjacent text. Of particular value is Chapter 2 on units and measurements. This chapter includes an introduction to the units used in modern science and some basic mathematical processes such as those dealing with fractions, percentages and proportions.
Science for Health Professionals is appropriate for tertiary courses which require some knowledge of science as a prerequisite for a deeper understanding of aspects of other professional practices.
Advocates of courses for health professionals which do not emphasize the value of science for an understanding of contemporary practices will find the content of this text of no value; which is unfortunate for they are the very people who should be studying this and similar books.
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