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Book Review
Nursing Older People: Issues and Innovations
R Nay & S Garratt
ISBN: 0-864331-39-8 1999 MacLennan & Petty
Wendy Moyle
Professor of Nursing, Research Centre for Clinical Practice Innovation, Griffith University, Nathan campus, Nathan QLD
This book addresses issues, which the authors believe are challenges for the nurse working in aged care. The editors stress that this book is not a text-book to consult about particular "diseases, systems, functions and clinical responses to physical ailment" (p.xi). The book has been written however to provide examples of aged care nursing practice.
The book is divided into four parts. Part 1: Policy and Practice Issues, provides an overview of issues such as casemix funding, the experience of chronic illness and transcultural issues. Part 2: Care Contexts and Related Issues, addresses social perspectives on community nursing practice, ageism and staffing. Part 3: Specific Practice Issues, is possibly the most practical part of this book with, for example, chapters looking at issues such as sexuality, challenging behaviours, physical restraint and palliative care. Part 4: Professional Vision and Change addresses the need for the profession to consider issues such as education, evidence-based nursing and research. A number of authors, who are either clinicians or academics, present chapters in each part. Most of the material they present either draws upon their own research or research literature.
The main strength of this book is that it is written within an Australian context. This is particularly important when a considerable part of the book discusses aged care policy and practice, such as casemix funding, funding and policy in residential care, legal issues, euthanasia, medication, mental health, and public participation. The expertise of specialists such as Stephen Duckett, Rhonda Nay and Megan-Jane Johnstone help to give this book a highly polished presentation.
Both a strength and a weakness of this book are its multi-focal approach. The book reads like a set of journal papers without clearly established links. As an academic the potential of particular papers that I may use in either research or teaching is recognised, but I also concede the difficulty of prescribing this book as a set text for gerontological nursing programs. The material is too diverse to ask students to purchase this text when they may only draw upon one or two papers. The $55.00 price tag further excludes this book as a handbook for interest only.
The strength of this book is its use of clinical vignettes, which allow the reader time to reflect not only on the vignette but their own clinical practice. The vignettes could be useful in discussion groups to avoid the confrontation of initially asking nurses to reflect upon their own practice situation. Overall this book would be a useful addition to a university or clinical facility library.
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