AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing, Fifth Edition

by Sarah A. Delgado, Suzanne Burns

Overview

The standard-bearer of critical care nursing guides―this succinct, comprehensive resource delivers the most current concepts for treating adult, critically ill patients and their families

This engaging, evidence-based guide provides everything nurses and students need to know to provide safe, effective critical care. Endorsed by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), and written by top experts in the field, this peer-reviewed guide covers all the essential details on the care of adult critical care patients and their families.

Supported by helpful tables and algorithms, the book's practical, building-block organization starts with the basics before proceeding to more complex concepts. Whether you’re going through orientation on the hospital floor or you’re enrolled in critical care courses, AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing helps you care for every critical care patient.

AACN Essentials of Critical Care Nursing, Fifth Edition is organized into four sections:

• The Essentials presents core information for providing safe, competent nursing care to all critically ill patients, regardless of their underlying medical diagnoses
• Pathologic Conditions covers conditions and management strategies commonly encountered among adult critical care patients
• Advanced Concepts in Caring for the Critically Ill Patient describes specific pathologic conditions that require specialized critical care management
• Key Reference Information features normal laboratory and diagnostic values, cardiac rhythms and their treatment and crisis standards of care

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781264269884
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	09/22/2023
Edition description:	5th ed.
Pages:	656
Sales rank:	128,036
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Sarah A. Delgado, MSN, RN, ACNP-BC, is a clinical practice specialist with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses with clinical expertise in palliative care and chronic disease management. Her interests include promoting healthy work environments and providing clinical ethics support.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Patricia Gonce Morton, PhD, RN, ACNP-BC, FAAN (University of Utah College of Nursing)
Description: This book provides up-to-date, evidence-based information for the care of critically ill patients and families and is endorsed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
Purpose: The book prepares nurses to assess and manage critically ill patients in a safe, competent, and confident manner. Information is based on physiological principles and the most recent evidence. The book meets these important goals and serves as a valuable resource for nursing students and practicing nurses.
Audience: The book is targeted to student nurses, new nurses who are starting their careers in critical care, and those nurses returning to critical care practice. The book does a great job of meeting the needs of the intended audience. Contributors to the book include expert advanced practice nurses and a pharmacist. Each chapter has been peer reviewed by a panel of experienced clinicians.
Features: This book contains 25 chapters and a helpful index. It is divided into four sections: the essentials, pathologic conditions, advanced concepts, and key reference information. The essentials section begins with foundational knowledge before covering more complex topics such as assessment and planning care for patients and families, interpretation of basic cardiac rhythms, hemodynamic monitoring, airway and ventilator management, pain and sedation management, pharmacology, and ethical and legal considerations. The next section describes care of patients with pathologic conditions organized by body systems, closely paralleling the blueprint for the certification examination for critical care nurses. Section III addresses advanced concepts in caring for the critically ill patient including electrocardiogram interpretation, cardiovascular concepts, respiratory concepts, and neurological concepts. Each chapter in sections I through III begins with knowledge competencies that can be used to guide informal or formal teaching and to gauge the readers' progress. The final section covers topics such as laboratory values, crisis standards of care, hemodynamic monitoring troubleshooting, and cardiac rhythms. Chapters in this last section are written in table format. New to this edition is information on crisis standards for care. Each chapter offers case scenarios that encourage readers to apply information from the chapter to assess and manage patients with critical illnesses. Questions and answers are provided for each case. Each chapter includes a reference list as well as tables and figures to summarize and highlight key information.
Assessment: This fifth edition offers updated information based on the latest evidence and is of excellent quality. Students and nurses new to critical care will find the book valuable. There are numerous critical care nursing books on the market. Several take an "essentials" approach. Examples include Introduction to Critical Care Nursing, 8th Edition, Sole, et al. (Elsevier, 2020); and Priorities in Critical Care Nursing, 9th Edition, Urden et al. (Elsevier, 2023). Other books offer more comprehensive coverage of critical care nursing such as the one I co-author, Critical Care Nursing: A Holistic Approach, 12th Edition (Wolters Kluwer, 2023).

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