Foundation Clinical Nursing Skills

Description

• Covers the NMC's Essential Skills Clusters for first year students
• Both theory and practice are provided: step-by-step guidance, background theory and relevant evidence are provided for each skill, clearly showing what to do and why; the author team combines academic and clinical expertise
• Relevant for all nursing branches: appropriate for both primary care and hospital settings in adult, mental health, children's and learning disability nursing
• Designed for beginners: assumes no prior knowledge, provides straightforward explanations, includes tips to avoid common mistakes, as well as a glossary of key terms
• Online support for students: a free accompanying Online Resource Centre provides a wealth of interactive learning features including video clips, scenarios, checklists and helps keep the book up-to-date.
• Regular evidence updates: evidence, guidelines and protocols reviewed and updated every three months on the free Online Resource Centre
• Active learning: each chapter includes scenarios for readers to apply their knowledge in different practice settings. Additional online resources enable students to assess and apply their learning in a safe environment
• Holistic approach: skills are presented in the context of an established nursing model of patient care, organised into chapters reflecting ten principal activities of living
• Clear visual guidance: full-colour photos and diagrams throughout, and selected video clips on the Online Resource Centre
• Online support for lecturers and mentors: tips for teaching clinical skills, checklists for assessment, and access to the full-colour diagrams and photos from the book

First year nursing students require a firm foundation in clinical skills in order to succeed on placement, and in their studies. It is not enough to know how to perform a skill - today's students must understand how clinical skills link to biology, holistic care, safety and clinical evidence before they can undertake and master skills on placement. When starting out, it has been difficult to link theory to practice, especially across a range of patients, until now!

Foundation Clinical Nursing Skills provides a clear introduction to both the knowledge and practical procedures that first year nursing students require. Without assuming prior knowledge, the authors carefully describe each element of a skill and demonstrate how it should be performed correctly on any patient and in any setting.

Covering the NMC's Essential Skills Clusters for first year students, straightforward language explains the biology, evidence-base and rationale so students know why to perform each skill in that way. Colour illustrations and selected video clips show students how to perform a skill. Scenarios and tips show how care is given to children, adults and those people with learning disabilities or experiencing mental health problems. Examples are taken from community and hospital settings ensuring students can deliver skills on every placement. Supporting evidence, protocols and guidelines are reviewed and updated every three months on our free dedicated Online Resource Centre (which includes extra activities and teaching tools).

Designed specifically to help first year students get off to the best start possible, Foundation Clinical Nursing Skills provides a high quality and student friendly account of the skills that are required at this stage of the course.

On the Online Resource Centre:
For registered lecturers and mentors:
- Tips for teaching and assessing clinical skills
- Figures from the book, ready to download and use in teaching material

For students:
- Evidence, guidelines and protocols, reviewed and updated every three months
- Video demonstration of key skills
- Over forty interactive scenarios and fifty interactive self-test questions
- Active web links provide a gateway to the articles cited in the book
- Flashcard glossary to help learn key terms
- Links to useful websites

Readership: Suitable for first year nursing students, and those undertaking a foundation nursing and health qualification who require a core textbook for clinical skills.

Table of contents

1. Introduction - Charles Docherty and Jacqueline McCallum:
2. Mandatory skills
2.1: William McDonald: Communication
2.2: Valerie Ness: Moving and Handling
2.3: Ken Taylor: Therapeutic Management of Aggression and Violence
2.4: Claire McGuinness: Infection Prevention and Control
2.5: Elizabeth Simpson: Resuscitation
2.6: Claire McGuiness and Valerie Ness: Administration of medicines
3. Maintaining a safe environment - Jayne Donaldson and Valerie Ness:
3.1: Falls prevention and risk assessment
3.2: Skin assessment
3.3: Pain assessment
3.4: Neurological assessment
3.5: Early warning signs for critical illness
4. Communicating - William McDonald:
4.1: Verbal and nonverbal communication skills
4.2: Listening and observation skills
4.3: Engaging skills
4.4: Interviews and questioning
4.5: Written communication
4.6: Telephone communication
4.7: The context in which communication occurs
5. Breathing - Jacqueline McCallum and Ellen Malcolm:
5.1: Assessment of breathing
5.2: Positioning the patient to facilitate breathing
5.3: Using oxygen therapy to facilitate the patient's breathing
5.4: Observation of cough and sputum
6. Eating and drinking - Jacqueline McCallum and Bridget Reade:
6.1: Nutritional assessment
6.2: Assistance with eating
6.3: Providing special diets
6.4: Caring for a patient suffering from vomiting or nausea
6.5: Fluid balance
7. Eliminating - Mary Ballentyne and Valerie Ness:
7.1: Assessment
7.2: Urinalysis
7.3: Catheter care
7.4: Assisting patients to use bedpans, commodes and urinals
7.5: Collecting stool specimens and testing for faecal occult blood
8. Personal cleansing and dressing - Charles Docherty, Kirsteen Lang and John Timmons:
8.1: Skin care
8.2: Showering and bathing
8.3: Washing a patient in bed
8.4: Shaving
8.5: Hair care
8.6: Eye care
8.7: Mouth care
8.8: Dressing
8.9: Wound assessment
8.10: Aseptic technique
8.11: Removal of sutures, staples and clips
8.12: Total patient care
9. Controlling body temperature - Elizabeth Simpson, Valerie Ness, Claire McGuiness and William McDonald:
9.1: Assessing body temperature
9.2: Facilitating the control of body temperature
10. Mobilizing - Valerie Ness and John Murray:
10.1: Patient assessment
10.2: Recognizing and preventing the major complications of immobility
10.3: Recognizing and selecting common handling aids
10.4: Practical handling of bedbound patients
10.5: Positioning the patient in a chair
10.6: Performing a range of motion exercises
10.7: Managing more complex mobilizing needs
11. Working and playing - Peter Johnstone:
11.1: Assessing developmental stage for play
11.2: Selecting suitable play and recreational activities for patients
12. Dying - Linda Loftus:
12.1: Communication with the patient and relatives
12.2: Communication skills in assessing the patient with advanced disease
12.3: Oral care
12.4: Assessment and management of pain
12.5: Last offices