Book Review
Child Health Care Nursing: concepts, theory and practice
Edited by B. Carter and A.K. Dearmun
ISBN: 0 632 03689 3; 1995; 550 pages; Blackwell Science Oxford;
Tori Lindsay
Faculty of Nursing, University of South Australia, SA
This British text presents some relevant insights into many of the issues in health care nursing of children in the 1990's. The book is organised in three sections: 1 Professional issues in children's nursing 2 The child and family in focus 3 Dimensions of nursing care The section entitled 'Professional issues in children's nursing' provides an introduction to many of the issues that have and continue to impact on child health nursing and include historical, management and professional perspectives. These perspectives provide some useful grounding knowledge of child health nursing developments and current trends in the provision of nursing care. However, much of the exploration of issues is narrowed to the UK perspective and subsequent policy development.
Though some parallels exist, these are not necessarily reflective of the Australian experience. The second section entitled 'The child and family in focus' considers the psychological and physical needs of children within the family and societal context. While recognising the overlaps that can exist between the content areas covered, the six chapters within this section are independent of each other. The first of these provides an overview of family and social climates that impact on child health outcomes, setting the scene for later chapters.
Subsequent chapters cover issues such as child development, the impact of illness and hospitalisation on the child and family, disability and mental health. Each chapter offers extensive references and further reading lists. While the book addresses the first two sections adequately, its major focus and strength lie in the bulk of the book devoted to 'Dimensions of nursing care'. Encompassing fourteen chapters, this section takes a body system's approach to dealing with nursing practice and care of children experiencing alterations in health, predominantly within heal th care settings.
Each chapter provides an overview of normal functioning followed by specific nursing assessment and nursing interventions related to the identified common disorders. There are significant omissions and deficits within this text that make it less than favourable as a definitive text of child health care nursing. Perhaps the greatest criticism of this text lies with its illness focus to child health. Though there is some minimal discussion of illness prevention at the conclusion of the chapter related to Altered Cardiovascular Function and minor discussion scattered throughout other sections, the concepts of health promotion and health maintenance are largely overlooked.
Additionally, the chapter relating to 'Child development' appears displaced among the more illness focused chapters within section two. The inclusion of a fourth section devoted to normal development and primary health care principles and practice may have provided a more rounded picture of the practice of child health and made the text more relevant to nursing practitioners in more diverse settings. The text focuses on child health nursing almost exclusively from a British can text, making it less relevant as a reference text for Australian nurses.
This is particularly evident with regard to epidemiology, policy development, cultural considerations and identified support groups and resources. Another aspect warranting further exploration is nursing assessment. Though nursing assessment is addressed briefly in each of the identified altered states of health within section three, the text would have benefited from a discussion on general nursing assessment specifically related to children and the unique considerations that need to be addressed when assessing this client group and their families.
eContent Home
