Fundamentals of Nursing: Caring and Clinical Judgment provides comprehensive coverage of nursing concepts and skills for all RN students. Chapters are organized around application of the nursing process, with special emphasis on critical thinking. Each chapter begins with a case study and an overview of key nursing diagnoses, and presents assessment, planning, interventions, and evaluation within the context of the client in the case study and these diagnoses. Nursing care plans and vignettes that revisit the client in the case study provide critical thinking questions that help students reflect on client problems and explore alternative solutions.
- Overall organization by Gordon's Functional Health Patterns to help students focus clinical problems on client needs.
- UNIQUE! Includes content on topics not dealt with as extensively in other fundamentals texts, such as Vulnerability, The Caregiver Role, The Client with Functional Limitations, and Anxiety.
- UNIQUE! Decision Trees show students how to work through health care decisions when differentiating between closely related nursing diagnoses.
- Cross-Cultural Care charts, based on the client in the case study, include cultural background information that assists students in providing care to a wide variety of clients.
- Streamlined procedures include rationales, estimates of Time to Allow, Delegation Considerations, Equipment Needed, Home Care Considerations, and Age-Related Considerations.
- UNIQUE! A Patient's Perspective charts, based on interviews with actual clients and caregivers, give students a "window" into the experience of illness.
- UNIQUE! Cost of Care charts introduce beginning students to concepts and issues surrounding healthcare financing.
- Clustering Data to Make a Nursing Diagnosis charts present brief patient scenarios and show students how to develop and write appropriate nursing diagnoses.
- State of Nursing Research charts summarize several research studies to demonstrate the current state of nursing research in a specific area.
- Teaching for Wellness and Teaching for Self-Care charts summarize health-promotion and health-restoration teaching in client-oriented language.
- NIC/NOC incorporated into the Care Plans.
- UNIQUE! Considering the Alternatives charts now provide both pro and con viewpoints to give students a broader and more practical perspective on popular alternative and complementary therapies.
- Sample Documentation Notes for the client in the chapter case study show students how to effectively document care.
- Totally revised Managing Client Care chapter (Chapter 14) describes the organization of the health care environment and nursing units, and discusses basic concepts of leadership and management.
- The community as a client is presented in the Vulnerability chapter (Chapter 42) to help students understand the populations served by community health nurses.
- The content on rehabilitation is thoroughly updated in the chapter on Functional Limitations (Chapter 43).
- The content on intravenous therapy now includes new photos showing step-by-step IV line insertion.
