Nursing Consultation: A Framework for Working with Communities [Paperback]

Susan L. Norwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0130617989 | ISBN-13: 978-0130617989 | Edition: 2

In today's health care environment, consultation services have become increasingly integral to nursing. This engaging, reader-friendly book presents a five-phase process—a variation of the traditional nursing process—for working with individuals or groups to help them resolve actual or potential health care problems. Examines key issues in nursing today, including entrepreneurial opportunities for nurses and nurses empowering individuals/groups in problem solving and assessing wellness responsibility. Provides updated examples that focus more on today's integral, community perspective versus providing consultation primarily in organizational settings. Features key search engine terms at the beginning of each chapter. Offers real-life examples of nursing consultation. Provides application activities after each chapter. An up-to-date, pragmatically organized reference for case managers and nursing supervisors.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Essential for today's nurses! Today's nurses are faced with challenging and exciting new opportunities for consultation! While nursing consultation has always been an integral part of the health care environment increasingly apparent and important is the need for a community perspective. Revised and updated to include this new emphasis on consulting within communities, Nursing Consultation continues to provide nurses with both the theoretical background and practical strategies that are needed to successfully respond in today's health care environment.

Features Include:

• A 5-phase process to resolve actual or potential problems related to the health status of clients or to health care delivery
• Three New Chapters - Communities, Nurses, and Consultation (Chapter 2), Team Building in Consultation (Chapter 12), and Working with Consultants (Chapter 18)
• Key search engine terms at the beginning of each chapter allow for easy access to the latest resources

Other Titles of Interest

Ervin, Advanced Community Health Nursing Practice (0-8053-734-0)

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Providing consultation services is an increasingly important nursing role. Indeed, nurse leaders recognize that the formal title of "nurse consultant" is not needed to provide consultation; the consultation role is, rather, an integral part of being a nurse in today's health care environment. Thus, the theory behind and principles of nursing consultation are a critical part of contemporary nursing education.

Nursing Consultation: A Framework for Working with Communities (previously published as The Nursing Consultation Process: Essential Concepts and Principles) presents nursing consultation as a five-phase process for working with individuals or groups to help them resolve actual or potential problems related to the health status of clients or to health care delivery. The content is appropriate for senior-level leadership and community health courses in baccalaureate nursing and RN to BSN programs, as well as for nurses who are pursuing graduate degrees and preparing themselves to assume advanced roles in nursing (e.g., as clinicians, educators, or managers/administrators).

While the first edition of this text promoted nursing consultation as a dimension of contemporary, everyday nursing practice in all settings, many of the examples in the text focused on nurses providing consultation in organizational settings. This may have inadvertently reinforced nursing consultation as only a career option, rather than as something nurses do on a daily basis. Since the first edition of this text was published, a community perspective in health care has become increasingly apparent—and important. This perspective presents new needs and opportunities for nurses to take on the consultant role and was the impetus behind the changes that have been incorporated into the revised edition of this text.

The revised edition of this text retains the basic structure that shaped the first edition: its organization (foundational concepts, contextual issues, the consultation process, and professional issues), its pedagogy (an integration of theory-based and application-oriented approaches), and special features (a chapter overview and guiding questions, boxed features of consultation strategies and scenarios, documentation guidelines, examples of consultation contracts, and end-of-chapter learning activities). At the same time, the revised edition is enhanced by several new features:

• A new title reflecting the text's emphasis on providing consultation to communities
• Three new chapters: Chapter 2-"Communities, Nurses, and Consultation"; Chapter 12-"Team Building in Nursing Consultation"; and Chapter 18"-Working with Consultants" Community-oriented examples of nursing consultation
• Key search engine terms at the beginning of each chapter Updated references
• A new, more reader-friendly design and layout

A frustration encountered while updating and revising this text was the paucity of new references about consultation processes in general, and about nursing consultation in particular. So, while nursing leaders advocate consultation competencies and a community perspective (with its inherent need for nurse consultants), the nursing profession has lagged behind in terms of reporting consultation strategies, success stories, and lessons learned from less-than-successful consultation engagements. This situation challenges readers of this text to share their consultation experiences so that their experiences become learning tools for colleagues and communities. As did the first edition of this text, this edition of Nursing Consultation: A Framework for Working with Communities provides nurses with both the theoretical background and practical strategies that are needed to successfully respond to the exciting and challenging opportunities for nurses to provide consultation in today's health care environment.

Product Details

• Paperback: 358 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (June 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130617989
• ISBN-13: 978-0130617989
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,712,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for advancing the role of nurse consultant, November 1, 1999

By 

Deanna McDermott ([e-mail]) (Langlois, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nurses As Consultants: Concepts and Processes (Paperback)

The role of consultation within nursing had been primary linked with the multifaceted aspects of the "work" of the clinic nurse specialists. Other advanced practice nurses (APNs) such as nurse practitioners (NPs) traditionally have not been regarded as experts in this matter, even given the identification of a consultant competency by Fenton and Byrkczynski (l993). Indeed, the consultation process was most closely linked in this seminal work to "consultation to physicians and other professional staff on patient management" (p. 321) with a notation that NPs were not usually expected to play a major role in the consultative process. With the advancement of the professionalism of nursing and burgeoning opportunities for expansion of practice, consultation as a nursing process has the potential to take its rightful place among the other established domains of the APNs. Yet, no text existed that established a nursing framework for this process; nor was there a text written that provided the foundation of the specific body of nursing knowledge required to translate "consultation" from a theoretical abstract into working reality. Thus, in recognition of this rather amazing void in nursing education, Norwood drew on her extensive experience as a nurse clinician researcher, educator, and consultant to create a "nouvelle ouvre"-the first of its kind in nursing literature. The text is well planned out-beginning with the more theoretical aspects and culminating in chapters on consultation in action. Moreover, the entire text is sprinkled with illustrative exemplars and scenarios of theory in practice drawn for the most part from real life situations. In addition, one of the book's greatest merits is the encouragement of critical thinking and analysis of chapter content by providing thought-provoking questions at the beginning of each chapter and by the provision of concrete suggestions for application of content at each chapter's end. Furthermore, boxed summaries are used liberally and judiciously to highlight major concepts, themes, and constructs. A review of the contents of this wealth of information can only be briefly summarized. The first two chapters of the first section of the book focus on the nature of nursing consultation and introduce an overview of the process of nursing consultation. Chapter 3 and 4 carefully delineate the types of interaction patterns to be found in the problem solving process and expand on nurse consultant roles and prerequisite competencies. The next section addresses the importance of understanding organization structure and behaviors and structure, group dynamics and the dynamics of change-both mechanical and emotional. Section three and its 5 chapters detail each phase of the process from gaining entry and problem identification to action planning, evaluation and disengagements. Again, Norwood makes a conscientious effort to emphasize potential pitfalls and supplies blueprints to enhance success. Section 4 with three chapters of the business, legal, and ethical issues is invaluable because of its practical applications, supplying the nuts and bolts of beginning a new business with fee schedule formulas, sample contracts, etc. The information on the legal and ethical aspects is most rewarding providing insight into problems and dilemmas not normally considered when embarking on the consultative process. The final section on "consultation in action" profiles legal and ethical consulting, standing as current prototypes, and provides inspiration for future nursing consultants. The last chapter underscores the need for "future think," identifying trends, driving and restraining forces that can lead the enterprising APN to create nursing niches in the wide range of consulting activities now available for those wishing to push past traditional boundaries. Although Norwood necessarily draws upon prevailing theories from other disciplines from time to time, her synthesis of the consultation concepts into a unique nursing perspective makes the text come alive-underscoring the premise that consultation is truly one of the domains of advanced practice nursing. Thus, Norwood's text promises to fill more than the proverbial gap in the educative process of APNs. The text would also serve as a reference and basis for consultation activities in progress and would encourage and enable practicing APNs who are contemplating adding consultation services to their repertoire of skills. Truly, the text stands as a premier catalyst-becoming a change agent in itself-by releasing the capacities of APNs (Sheston, l990). Finally, in case one is not prone to judge a book by a single reviewer, Nurses as Consultants was also chosen as one of the most valuable books of 1997 by the American Journal of Nurses in three difference categories: "Advanced Practice Nursing Professional Role Development," "Nursing Education," and "Gerontological Nursing" (AJN, l998). No nursing bookshelf should be without Nurses as Consultants, but what is more important, the book is not likely to remain on the bookshelf, but will be well worn with use. References: Fenton, M.V., & Brykczynski, K.A. (l993). Qualitative distinctions and similarities in the practice of clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners. Journal of Professional Nursing, 9 (6), 313-326. Nursing Resources: Books of the Year. (l998) American Journal of Nursing, 98, (1), 69 Sheston, M. L. (l990). Power: Its use and potential for misuse by nurse consultants. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 5, (1), 58-62.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have Handbook for the Nurse Consultant, December 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nurses As Consultants: Concepts and Processes (Paperback)

Ms. Norwood covers every detail that one can imagine for beginners entering the field of consulting. Her vision of the consultive role, change agency, organizational climates, challenges, suggestions, supports, business forms and more are all contained in this volume. This book is a must have reference book for anyone that ventures outside of the traditional institutional settings for their professional nursing careers.