INTENSIVE AND CRITICAL CARE NURSING 2 11

equipment and skin and prevention of infection in wards. Specific guidance on the control of infection within the intensive care environment is provided in the chapter on special wards and departments. The main principles for infection control/good practice are explained and the reader is directed to other relevant chapters. Each chapter is supported by key references and guidance for further reading, including Depart- ment of Health recommendations. The authors have presented the text in all chapters clearly and simply, with guidance and tables listed alphabetically for easy use.

I have no doubt that this book, like previous editions, will become an essential reference tool for infection control specialists and staff working in infec- tious diseases units. The cost may prohibit its wider use in general wards and departments but it is an essential reference book for any nursing library.

Sur TYMAN RGN, ONC, ENBCert 329,934,870

Cardiovascular Intensive Care Nursing P M Ashworth and C Clarke (eds) Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1992. 272 pages. Price E 19.95

This book, aimed at all nurses working in cardiac care and written by a group of well-known academics and senior cardiac nurses, has much to commend it. Well referenced, easy to read text, complemented by excellent (and simple) illustrations: it is certainly ‘reader friendly’.

I was disappointed, however, by inaccuracies in the chapter on pharmacological aspects of cardiovascular intensive care. While sympathising with anyone writing a chapter for a book which will inevitably be somewhat out-of-date by publication, I find advice on the dosage and administration of adrenaline during cardiopulmonary resuscitation to be unsatisfactory, taking no account of the recommendations of the Resuscitation Council (UK), published in 1989 (the current European guidelines were published in November 1992, too late to be considered by the author of this chapter). Calcium has no place in the management of ventricular fibrillation, nor has it been in a recommended VF algorithm for many years. A clear piece of advice that dopamine should be adminis- tered by central line, if at all possible, was sadly lacking, in spite of the author making the point (not always appropriate) in respect of adrenaline. I regularly receive comments from colleagues up and down the country concerning the risks of infusing dopamine peripherally. Why no mention of the seemingly ubiquitous anti-arrhythmic drug amiodarone? And where are the ACE inhibitors, now ‘main stream’ therapeutic agents in cardiac care?

I was delighted to read the chapter on physio- therapy, reminding the reader that nurses do not practice in isolation.

All in all, I was impressed by the book, and would recommend it for college libraries and for bookshelves on coronary, general and cardiac intensive care units. I think it may be slightly overpriced, given its size and target readership, for individual purchase.

ToM QUINN RGN, ONC, ENB 254

Drugs and Pharmacology for Nurses 1 lth ed. S J Hopkins Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1992. 612 pages. Price E 10.95

Although this is the 1 lth edition of a text which was first written in 1963, it is now directed at the P2000 student. As the author points out in the preface it follows its past format but has been updated with new material. Despite the inclusion of new material, the information presented here demonstrates that certain core elements of nursing practice remain essentially unchanged. Pharmacology provides, perhaps, the main medical weapon against problems that people experience and nurses need to have a broad under- standing of the particular tools which the pharmaco- logy provides. The text succeeds in its aim to provide a nurse-orientated guide to the actions and clinical applications of a very wide range of drugs.

As a comprehensive review of a huge number of drugs is provided, the author does not have the space to provide an in-depth review of each substance. It is clearly aimed at the student nurse, although registered nurses may well dip into it as a brief reference. I would have liked to have seen more discussion at the front of the text on drug administration and the nurse, as this is an area that reflects nursing role developments. The author offers safe guidelines to drug administration but only a brief mention of responsibility and nurse prescribing. Students using this text will have to refer to physiology texts to provide a deeper understanding of some of the concepts used in the text and, in this sense, it provides a stimulus for further investigation and reading.

It is a text which will continue to find a place in a nursing library and on the shelves of many student nurses. It would be useful in any ward library, but the student studying to Diploma and Degree level with a specialised subject area may need a more specialised text.

HELEN ELLIS MSc, BSc, RGN, DipN, ENB 100, ENB 920