Preface

As the 21st century approaches, nurses are faced with a vast amount of health care information, a constantly changing scientific database, and burgeoning technology. The purpose of The Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice is to assist nurses to process and manage this knowledge in order to think critically, make sound clinical decisions, and administer quality health care in a variety of practice settings.

The focus of the Manual is clearly on the science and art of nursing. Relevant clinical content and guidelines are offered in a logical and readily accessible format. The use of the nursing process provides a nursing frame of reference and continuity. Scientific principles and rationale are offered to explain why and how something occurs and what may result. Included are the essential knowledge and understanding for monitoring the changing status of patients so that complications can be prevented or their effects minimized. The distinctive needs of older persons have been highlighted.

Every clinical problem has been reviewed, updated, or modified to reflect changes in therapy resulting from ongoing clinical research. Material is included to enhance the functions of nurses as discharge planners, case managers, and experts in quality assurance. The sections on “Patient Education” have been amplified to increase health-healing practices.

The writers acknowledge that nursing care interfaces with medical care plans. There are alternative management strategies and nursing approaches and these are included as far as space constraints permit.

Reviewing current literature, interpreting data, distilling information and presenting a balanced perspective are challenging tasks. The extensive bibliographies at the end of the chapters appropriately demonstrate scholarly research of recent publications. They have been selected to guide the reader to additional information and a wider experience in patient care. The bibliographic citations follow the format used by the National Library of Medicine for INDEX MEDICUS and MEDLINE, a database containing over six million references to health care journal articles.

For fresh perspective and insight, the scholarship and clinical expertise of a distinguished group of nursing colleagues, all actively engaged in patient care, have been enlisted. Their collaboration and wise counsel have contributed significantly to this volume.

Although the explosion of information and rapid progress occurring in biotechnology mandate change, nurses will continue to provide the “kinder, gentler” approach to our fellow humans whose lives we have the privilege of enhancing.

DSS