Author: Susan Scott Ricci
Publisher: Wolters Kluwer | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins – 928
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani

This is a large, hardbound book that can be used as an ideal comprehensive reference guide by nurses caring for pregnant women and newborn infants.

 

 

 

This book consists of eight large units named below:

  1. Introduction to Maternity, Newborn, and Women’s Nursing
  2. Women’s Health Throughout the Lifespan
  3. Pregnancy
  4. Labor and Birth
  5. Postpartum Period
  6. The Newborn
  7. Childbearing at Risk
  8. The Newborn at Risk

Each of the units named above has several chapters, with a total of 24. Each chapter covers specific topics that the nurse can read up on to get overviews, answers to questions or solutions to specific problems.

Each chapter contains discussions of various topics relevant to the subject covered therein. To aid in learning, these and other features are provided in the chapters, in order of material presentation:

  • Key Terms – concept that the student must know, relating to the chapter subject
  • Words of Wisdom – practical advice at various stages of a woman’s lifestyle
  • Current Trends – what is happening now compared to past practices
  • Evidence-Based Practice – relates case studies, findings and implications
  • Healthy People 2020 – do’s and don’ts to stay healthy based on existing data
  • Take Note – Useful nuggets of information, sometimes comparatives
  • Boxes – Info Items on healthy living, e.g. “national indicators of women’s health”
  • Tables – Comparative data, e.g. “beliefs and practices of selected cultural groups”
  • Teaching Guidelines – raise awareness, provide accurate, timely information
  • Drug Guides – summarize info on medications: actions, implications, indications
  • Diagnostic Tests – provide info on how a broad range of disorders is diagnosed
  • Common Medical Treatments – tables show how a group disorders is treated
  • Nursing Care Plans – summarize issues, outline guides for delivering care
  • Comparison Charts – compare two or more disorders, clarify each one
  • Nursing Procedures – step-by-step guide to procedures in clear, concise terms
  • Consider This! – engage students in real-life patient encounters, create empathy
  • Key Concepts – provide quick review of chapter’s main topics, at the end
  • References – provided at end of each chapter for further learning, understanding
  • Chapter Worksheet – contains multiple-choice questions, critical-thinking exercises, study activities: to help students remember, recall what they learned

This extremely useful book is amply illustrated throughout its pages with full-color photos and drawings. It also contains various charts that help the student in putting into perspective and helping understand various facts and numbers.

This is an excellent study guide for nursing students to learn the essentials of their profession. It helps busy students learn what they need to pass the NCLEX-RN test. This book does not cover non-essentials that might overwhelm the student; it focuses on what is essential and needed. It also takes a no-nonsense approach to learning key concepts and developing the various skills needed to practice this noble care-giving profession.

Susan Ricci is highly qualified from an experience standpoint, both as a nurse and nurse educator. She has done an excellent job of organizing and presenting the material.

Susan Scott Ricci has a diploma from Washington Hospital Center School of Nursing, with a BSN and MSN from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., an M.Ed in Counseling from the University of Southern Mississippi, and is licensed as a Women’s Health Nursing Practitioner (ARNP) from the University of Florida.

She has worked in numerous women’s health settings, including labor and birth, postpartum, prenatal, and family planning ambulatory care clinics. She is a women’s health care nurse practitioner, who has spent 30+ years in nursing education teaching ADN, BSN and LPN programs.

This book focuses on the essential facts that students need to know to practice nursing safely, which are presented as concisely as possible to promote application of knowledge within nursing practice.