Oxford Handbook of Adult Nursing

Abstract

The second edition of the Oxford Handbook of Adult Nursing addresses the philosophy, principles, and practice of general adult nursing, and the ways in which general adult nurses relate to people, engage critically with professional knowledge, and organize appropriate nursing care and interventions. The content provides information to help general nurses to draw on their personal and professional values, knowledge, and experience when making general practice decisions and organizing care. The handbook is designed to be a broad reference source, focused on the types of conditions that general adult nurses are most likely to come across in their everyday work, whether this is in hospital, hospice, or community locations. The handbook is arranged in four sections, each of which presents key facts related to professional nursing values, communication and interpersonal skills, nursing practice and decision-making, and leadership, management, and teamwork. Details of clinical procedures are not included, as these are expertly addressed in the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Skills in Adult Nursing. Part 1—Professional nursing values (Chapters 1–4)—outlines the values and statutory responsibilities underpinning all nursing practice, decision-making, and patient care. Part 2—Communication and interpersonal skills (Chapters 5–11)—discusses key features of empathetic communication in different nursing contexts. Part 3—Nursing practice and decision-making (Chapters 12–26)—provides key facts about health conditions in different body systems, along with potential investigations and treatment approaches. These chapters also highlight related nursing considerations, to stimulate and support thinking and decision-making in practice. Part 4—Nursing leadership, teamwork, and collectives (Chapters 27–31)—focuses on leadership, management, and teamwork, and the way nurses interact with each other, patients, and the public. Each chapter also lists useful sources of further information. The majority of these are online resources, in recognition of the way most people use information and communication technology in everyday nursing practice, education, and research. Other texts in the Oxford nursing handbook series provide a wide range of specialist texts to cover the detail of more specialized aspects of nursing practice, and reference to these are included throughout the text.