Mixed Blessings: Intensive Care for Newborns [Hardcover]

Lynda Lytle Holmstrom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 1986

In just a decade's time, intensive medical care for newborns has changed from an experimental venture to a widespread and often controversial hospital service. The cost of newborn intensive care ranks among the top three medical expenses in this country, and while the legal and ethical issues of treating critically ill infants parallel those of adult patients, even more troublesome is the issue of family versus physician control of hospital technology. In this first inside account of the closed world of neonatal intensive care, two medical sociologists focus on the social context for medical decision making in the sensitive area of newborn life. Based on observations in the most sophisticated neonatal intensive care units in twelve U.S. hospitals, this work explores the diverse experiences and perspectives of the parents, and all involved hospital personnel. Giving particular attention to how physicians and nurses approach clinical work, they raise sensitive questions and issues that are part of the fabric of neonatal care, questions such as: When should a baby be moved into--or out of--an intensive care unit? How much help should be given? To what extent are parents regularly excluded from decisions made about the fate of their child? The result is an enthralling ethnography with findings both fascinating and eye-opening. In the final chapters the authors offer policy recommendations that address the social and professional problems associated with newborn intensive care. This controversial new field of medical care is of increasing public concern as more and more babies are entering intensive care units and the previous limits of human life are being continually challenged and extended.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Should be on every experienced neonatal nurse's must read list....Fascinating....Will surely provide challenging and rewarding reading for all neonatal nurses who are exhausted by the day-to-day, in-the-trenches perspective of their work, and who want more." --Neonatal Network

"Excellent....This is a beautifully crafted book that renders a technically difficult area accessible to the nonmedical audience in a very readable style." --Gender and Society

"Presents a very real and emotional picture of the N.I.C.U. It provides an excellent nonphysicians' perspective...[and] an excellent introduction to the workings of N.I.C.U., without being so technical that it could not be read by parents, social workers, and even interested medical students."--University of Toronto Medical Journal

"A valuable resource for anyone interested in the sociology of medicine and will give further perspective to those in medical ethics."--Religious Studies Review

"As a director of an NICU, I recognized the accuracy and validity of the reporting. The authors have done a commendable job in conveying the reality of the day-to-day atmosphere of the high-risk nursery. . . Should be read by all professionals involved in the running of an NICU, including administrators."--Journal of the American Medical Association

"The best book yet on the rapidly-evolving world of newborn intensive care, it combines penetrating observations with theoretically well-informed perspectives."--Disability Studies Quarterly

"This well-written work is based on observations of and interviews with health care professionals regarding attitudes toward the practice of saving the lives of critically ill neonates. Case studies are presented, and the role of hospital research is addressed. The study was conducted in neonative intensive care hospital units in the U.S. and results are compared to similar institutions in other countries....The volume is well documented, and ethicists...and numerous reputable sociologists are referenced. Subject and name indexes and a glossary enhance use of this book."--Choice

"A major strength of the book is its perspective, from an outside, societal viewpoint, on the decision-making process in the intensive care nursery. This alone should make it interesting reading for health care professionals and administrators with responsibility or participation in the intensive care nursery."--New England Journal of Medicine

"A coherent and readable treatment...investigat[ing] admission and treatment policies, organization of professionals, inter-institutional cooperation, patient relations, and social and psychological issues. They direct specific policy recommendations at the `bureaucratic dynamic,' detailing efforts to be made by hospitals, government, and neonatal units....Recommended for professionals, officials, and administrators."--Library Journal

"This is an important book for those who are concerned with ethics in health care and how management decisions are made. This book is also recommended for nurse-midwifery students in the neonatology module. In addition it will be especially helpful for those students with little or no theoretical knowledge and/or practical experience in the NICU....For those patents with a need to know, understand, and participate in their child's health care, this book will provide tremendous insight....The information in this book will help CNMs to function more efficiently and effectively as advocates for the mother, father, and baby. In summary, Mixed Blessings is an excellent overview of newborn intensive care."--Journal of Nurse-Midwifery --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, Professors of Sociology, both at Boston College. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (August 21, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195040325
• ISBN-13: 978-0195040326
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,337,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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