Book Review
Community health nursing: primary health care in practice, 2nd ed
Anne McMurray
ISBN: 978-0443042102; 1993; 280 pages; Churchill Livingstone;
Winsome St John
Associate Professor, Research Centre for Clinical and Community Practice Innovations, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University, Gold Coast QLD
This book was primarily written to provide an introduction to community health nursing. The first edition was released onto an Australian scene largely devoid of such literature and has since been widely used by undergraduate student nurses and referred to by postgraduates. Since this time there have been welcome additions to the community health nursing literature in Australia. However, with the improvements made in the second edition, this book should remain an important Australian introductory community health nursing text.
McMurray provides a good overview of the major areas related to community health nursing practice and those wishing to explore particular areas in greater depth will find direction for further reading. She has tightened up the conceptual focus of the book and addressed the tendency of the first edition to try to cover too many areas, by deleting peripheral content and strengthening core material. This edition includes substantial updating, with reorganisation of content resulting in a more consistent focus on the practice role of the community health nurse. It is interesting to note that McMurray has included a list of domains of community health nursing practice based on her exploration of the literature and validated by her own research. She has also included examples from her own research to illustrate discussion of practice, which has added interest. The section relating to primary health care has been updated and greatly improved, providing a good analysis of current thinking relating to primary health care and the nursing role. The section on health promotion has been updated by incorporating approaches from the Ottawa Charter and including material on 'healthy cities'.
This has provided a clearer population focus which was not as apparent in the first edition. There has also been inclusion of material related to Aboriginal health. However, perhaps this would have had more impact had a chapter exploring culture been included in the section relating to 'The Context of Practice'. The section examining trends, issues and the future has been completely rewritten to address pressing current issues confronting community nurses such as ethics, AIDS, the environment and resource allocation.
McMurray has retained the community assessment tool, family assessment tool and the ACCNS standards for community nursing practice in the appendices and added a glossary of terms. The index has also been developed to make it more comprehensive. Another change includes study exercises at the end of each chapter. Although these take the form of very general questions, they are a welcome addition for the student and teacher of community health nursing. I have found that this book is written at a suitable level for undergraduate students studying community health nursing and covers appropriate content.
eContent Home
