Critical-Care Books

Very helpful in terms of understanding child development, children's needs and particularly vulnerable times for them. I liked Phelan's practical approach, very down to earth - there is no way you can make a child have good self esteem. He blows many myths out of the water and hopefully makes it much less threatening to be parents, it is not "all your fault".

This book makes some very accurate and useful observations, chief among them:

Self-esteem comes from tangible experiences, not just touchy-feely, feel-good platitudes mouthed by adults -- children see through those.

Each child has a "Great Evaluator" (internal critic) that is always monitoring the child's performance and pushing for improvement. This is necessary for the child to develop, but sometimes this internal critic can be misled and a child can become too self-critical.

Life is not always supposed to be too comfortable for kids -- some discomfort is necessary for growth. Likewise, a parent's job is not always to make a kid feel good.

The author then goes on to elaborate on each of these and his other observations, giving specific advice to parents on how help the child accurately see themselves and build real, not phony, self-esteem.

The book is divided into three main parts and goes into detail on why self-esteem is important. I felt this was information I already knew. However, the most helpful part of the book was the last section where it discussed how to manage your childs self-esteem.

Have read last two editions they keep getting better but unlike other texts that get morte in depth with each edition, this book is pretty superficial which is great for a resident but wears thin as an attending.

I am not a trauma specialist, but reading many chapters of this book has helped me understand a lot of the principles of this complex aspect of medicine.

The book is very up-to-date and I have never heard a trauma car-giver make bad comments about it. All 3 trauma attendings I have worked with have recommended this book.

For a surgery resident that does trauma rotation, I think this might be too much. Pubmed instead would be more value-for-time, but if you want to study further this is a great book.

This textbook should be the standard for any surgeon taking care of trauma patients. Some of the graphics are poorly reproduced and dated, but the information is current and well presented.

"An excellent review of ECG! Very good for medical students who want to go well beyond Dubin's text. Also includes lots of information on treatment of arrhythmias." (I also recommend challenging ECGs to practice what you learned.)

I'm a paramedic who uses and needs to have an understanding of 12 leads and other electrocardiography skills. This book has proven to be an excellent reference tool. However, I should say this: this book is not for beginners. If you have little or no ECG experience, I would suggest you try a different text. The book makes the assumption that you already have some background in the major points of ECG's and because of this, glosses over or touches lightly the basic topics in electrocardiography. For this reason, I say it is not an ideal source for beginner information, and there are books out there that are better equipped to handle those types of readers. Also, the author writes in a very technical and mechanical way, and if you don't respond well to that method of writing, you will quickly be bored with this text.

However, if you have a background in ECG's, then this book is a wonderful tool to brush up on your skills and further improve your understanding in electrocardiography.

The only problems I have with the book itself is that many of the ECG pictures and illustrations are not well printed and are difficult to read. This may be due to poor printing or the author selected poor examples to include in her text.

This textbook was listed in the bibliography of references for a basic ECG course I recently took. I found this book easy to read and comprehend. It is a good reference text to have in your personal library.

As a paramedic, our protocols require us to do 12 leads in the field and transmit them to the receiving hospital. Time doesn't normally permit us to do an in-depth interpretation in the field. This book effectively covers the basics of 12 lead interpretation in an easy to read format. The authors add enough levity to make this book fun to read and study. It has helped me to be able to pick out important information from the 12 lead to better understand my patient's condition.

The perfect book for the nurse that takes care of real live patients. It is lighthearted, informative, and fun. It really teaches the Critical Care nurse of today "what they need to know in the middle of the night". I give it away as a prize in all my classes. Excellent!

This is the gold standard for proper technique and procedure for critical care nursing skills. Critical care units around the country use this book as their standard. Helpful to all levels of clinical critical care nursing practitioners. Every ICU should have a copy in their library of reference books. Very helpful if you are changing jobs, a traveler, or perdiem and need a reference for procedures you don't often perform, or that are new to you - it can help you ensure that your practice is safe. There is a push by licensing bodies to have a consistent national standard for nursing procedures - rather than procedures that vary hospital to hospital, or even unit to unit within a hospital!

This book is very useful as a practical reference in clinical setting and for developing internal procedures.It is well organised and peer reviewed.
Each procedure is clearly described step by step and furthermore the rational for each action specified. The expected outcomes are mentionned, further references are available at the end of each chapter.
I believe that this manual can be useful to nursing students,experienced nurses, advance practice nurses and even physicians working in a ICU.

the book came at a great time; highly recommended; price was reasonable and good delivery time! thank you.

Congratulations to the authors of this valuable reference text! The Acute Care Handbook is, first of all, anything but a "handbook" in the traditional sense. It is lengthy and detailed, qualities which would make a more leisure-oriented read a sure bet for the bedside table. But, this useful book is not for dozing through. Rather, it makes for much easier quick searches or in-depth reviews of most topics critical to effective acute care physical therapists.

Two brief observations that might strengthen the utility of this reference book: First, a chapter on "Trauma or Multi-Trauma Patients" would be beneficial. Also, increased use of illustrations would enhance the book's impact.

Overall, though, this text has been a wonderful addition to my reference library. If you are an acute care therapist now, going to be one soon, or just need to "brush up" on this phase of rehabilitation, this book will definitely meet your reference needs.

Hassle-free, no worries transaction. Book came in fantastic shape, and was so cheap! Thanks a bunch!

I took this for the pre-paramedic Anatomy and Physiology class, and then I went on to the full pre-nursing anatomy with lab and physiology with lab classes. This was an excellent book for whatever your goals may be. I went back to it much later, having learnt more about the topics, and was impressed by how succinct, accurate and relevant is the material. It's hard to pick what aspects need to be covered for the book's audience, and and the authors have done a commedable job of understanding their customers.

this is an excellent general er text. it covers most everything well.

Very easy read textbook with good information. Not quite as much detail as Tintinelli, but nice layout with presenting complaint, disease, discussion, pitfalls and patient disposition. Would recommend this as a reference/study guide for EM residents.

I passed my CPAN exam using this book primarily. Very organized and direct to the point. The pharmacology part of it helped me a lot. Caution on mg vs Microgram on dosages part 3 chapter 16, troponin I normal range of < 3.1 page 280 , most references use < 0.6-1.5, and the wave forms on page 705 and page 703 has the labels the other way around. Aside from the above that I could remember, I rate the book at 5 stars (0-5 scale). I even enjoyed studying the endocrine / hormonal topics of the book - I usually dont. I got a > 100+ score above group average on the exam and I know this book has a lot to do with it. Thank you Kim and all your associates who helped you on this book.

This book is very organized and through review of the practice of postanesthesia nursing. Multiple surgical specialties are reviewed and nursing considerations are relavent to bedside practice.The review of anesthetic agents, muscle relaxants and conscious sedation is comprehensive and complete.There is also an excellent review of ACLS and PALS. It is an excellent review for both the experienced PACU nurse as well as the new nurse. Also the questions included at the end of each chapter are helpful when studying for CPAN certification.

If you like the outline format when reviewing for the CCRN or CEN exam, this is the first book you should use. I have used it both times I have studied for (and passed) the CEN.

I have purchased this series for peds, med surg and fluids & electrolytes. Without fail other students want these books. Class lecture follows this book nearly verbatim. Thus I can follow along in the book while listening. I don't even need to take seperate notes. Although sometimes I do write notations in the columns when my teacher stresses a particular point. The diskette that comes with the series is the best review that I have found. I am on the Dean's List in part to this series.