Reviewer: Lynn N. McKinnis, PT, OCS (Concordia Care Home Health Agency)
Description: This is truly a "portable library" for home care rehabilitation professionals. It can serve as a daily reference guide for medical coverage, equipment services, ICD-9-M codes, emergency situations, and pharmacology.
Purpose: The purpose is to help clinicians hone their evaluation skills and upgrade therapeutic program development.
Audience: Both novice and seasoned therapists will find this to be a comprehensive reference source for assessment tools, standards of care, and guidelines for treatment of commonly encountered conditions across a range of patient populations. Both authors are well reputed in this field.
Features: This book is divided into six major parts. The first, aptly titled "Fundamentals of Home Health Care," includes coverage of basic clinical and operational issues of home care. The novice therapist will find the information to be a helpful introduction into the day-to-day life of a home care therapist. Experienced therapists will find the review of equipment lists, infection control, personal safety, documentation guidelines, and ethical considerations to be an always welcome re-examination of professional habits. In Part Two, "Pediatric Population," environmental evaluations, developmental assessments, and the special needs of neonates are covered. These areas are clearly presented via short narratives, reproduction of standardized tools, line illustrations, and easy-to-read tables. "Fourteen ..frequently encountered problems" are presented in alphabetical order from asthma to traumatic brain injuries. This section is extremely helpful, especially for the therapist who does not treat children primarily. The table information is concise but comprehensive. The illustrated information is often a pleasant surprise. Examples of unexpected but useful drawings include postural drainage positions, fracture configurations, and basic sign language. Part Three, "Adult Population," at over 300 pages, is the heart of this book. Included are evaluations, functional assessment tools, standards, and guidelines for treatment or action plans for the following areas: environment, activities of daily living, mobility, the affective domain, fine motor coordination, neurological impairment, integumentary system, and cardiopulmonary system. Normative data are also presented. Although significant comments regarding each of the above are beyond the scope of this review, take it from me — you can't get much more comprehensive than this. Consider that the authors have devoted five illustrated pages to therapeutic intervention for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo — not something your average therapist is familiar with, but nonetheless probably an often overlooked area of potentially successful intervention. Parts Four and Five are welcome sections on "Emergency Situations" and "Warning Signs" for a wide variety of medical scenarios that may be encountered in the home. Again, good illustrations refresh the reader's competence at basic CPR and first aide techniques, for example. In Part Six, "Pharmacology," the authors provide therapists with a basic understanding of drug actions, drug classes affecting rehabilitation, indications of both trade and generic drug names, adverse drug reaction guidelines, and critical drug interaction guidelines. Several appendixes contain information that can found elsewhere but that the reader will be glad to have included in this one-source book. These include reprints of HCFA documents pertinent to home care, abbreviation lists, ICD-9-CM therapy diagnoses lists, and journal, publication, and association addresses for both clinician and patient resources. The only omission of this book, conspicuous by its absence, is the lack of any mention of the OASIS document. This does not detract from the significant work that this book represents. I just found it a bit odd not to see it cited somewhere in this thorough manuscript. The authors need not fear, however, that their readers will be disappointed (OASIS users need the break anyway).
Assessment: The authors mention that the compact size of the book and spiral binding make it easy to carry into the home and lay flat open. At over 700 pages, this book is not compact. But because this valuable tool precludes the necessity of hauling around other books, I'd say the weight is worth it. The authors are to be congratulated for developing this excellent book. I highly recommend it for home care therapists who wish to advance the quality of their patient care.
