Introduction to Medical-Surgical Nursing

Now part of the popular LPN Threads series, this market-leading, practical text discusses the care of adults and the elderly with disorders requiring medical, surgical, and psychiatric management. This third edition consistently discusses the role of the LPN/LVN outside the acute care setting and features a new full color design, a new chapter on Shock, new critical thinking questions, and multiple-choice review questions.

• Four chapters provide information on the patients that LPN/LVNs care for the most ― elderly patients in acute and long-term care and home settings.
• Pharmacology Capsules, located in every disorders chapter, alert students to important precautions, interactions, and adverse effects to medications.
• Drug Therapy tables include classification, use/action, side and adverse effects, and nursing interventions to provide quick references to relevant drugs.
• Nutrition Concepts are included throughout to emphasize the role nutrition plays in disease and nursing care.
• Patient Teaching Plans stress the role and responsibility of the LPN/LVN in reinforcing patient education.
• Diagnostic Tests and Procedures tables include a description of the test or study, the purpose of the procedure, patient preparation information, and postprocedure nursing care.
• The Nursing Process format uses NANDA diagnoses and outcome criteria to emphasize the problem-solving process.
• Nursing Care Plans cover a variety of patient situations and provide the appropriate diagnoses, goals and outcome criteria, and interventions.

• An easier-to-read writing style helps students comprehend the material in the text.
• A full color design with approximately 380 illustrations and photographs clarifies key concepts and makes the text more student-friendly.
• Put on Your Thinking Cap! critical thinking exercises appear throughout the chapters to promote the application of critical thinking processes essential for nursing practice.
• Key Terms are listed with phonetic pronunciations and page numbers in chapter openers, and are highlighted in color the first time they appear in the narrative to emphasize and clarify essential terminology.
• Cultural considerations throughout the text help ensure the best possible care for patients and families.
• Multiple Choice Review Questions appear at the end of each chapter and provide immediate reinforcement of the chapter content and preparation for the NCLEX-PN.
• Content on Shock has been increased and separated into a chapter of it's own.
• Consider the Alternative boxes summarize what nurses need to know about complementary and alternative medicine as it relates to medical-surgical disorders.
• New content has been added to help students become aware of the role of NIC, NOC, and NANDA in clinical practice.
• Improved Leadership and Management content provides the basic guidelines for managing groups of patients and functioning as a team leader. Includes a discussion on conflict management.
• A bibliography and reader reference list validate content and provide sources for more in-depth study.