Book Review
Introduction to breast care
Carol Bird
ISBN: 978-1-861563-57-6; 2003; 293 pages; Whurr Publishers Ltd;
Annette Summers
Associate Professor (Midwifery), Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, SA
This is an in-depth text by Carol Bird, an English district nurse, that covers all aspects of the nursing care of the female breast and includes the physiology of the breast; breast awareness and screening programmes; several chapters on benign and malignant breast disease from diagnosis of disease to treatment: Bird also includes psychological and psychosocial aspects of breast disease, diet and complementary therapies, concluding with brief discussion on male breast cancer.
The text is written in a way that engages the reader using unsophisticated language which many nurses and nursing students may find useful. I believe it would have been in enhanced by some diagrams/pictures especially when describing the anatomy and physiology and certain aspects of the disease process.
The text is very much set in the English health system which detracts from its usefulness in Australia. Whilst certain aspects of the text are general as may be of interest to the Australian nurse and nursing student chapters on screening and referral strategies that also tend to be interwoven throughout the text are not applicable to the Australian health care system.
Overall an easy to read text on a specific topic but has limited use in the Australian context.
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