Essential Nursing Skills (Essential Skills for Nurses)

This nifty book is deliberately sized so that you are able to carry it around with you to and from placement...although it may seem mainly targeted (despite saying otherwise) for adult nursing, aside from a few chapters (e.g. Intravenous therapy, catheters) a lot is applicable to mental health nursing. it is information which we are all expected to get a grip on during common foundation programme year, and in addition to that, will come across the procedures no doubt at some point in our nursing careers, so is further useful. The chapters covered are observations and monitoring, resuscitation, IV therapy, central venous catheters, blood transfusion, nutrition and hydration (including NG and PEG feeding), medicines, elimination, prevention of cross infection (very up to date!), wound assessments (also particularly for mental health students if you're not taught this at university), patient hygiene, respiratory care and associated problems. I found how the book is formatted really useful - it's done in what can be described as a `menu' form complete with clear points and a picture to clarify and revert back to whether you're unsure of a procedure or need a further understanding of what you're mentor has taught to it generally makes a neat `fit' for what we learn in the classroom to actual practice.

A great easy guide to understanding how to carry out clinical skills. Does not explain the theory only practice.

I have found that Nicol's way of presenting information is very useful. It does not drown the subject, but gives the "essentials" that are needed by the reader. I am a student nurse myself, and i find that it gives the right amount to consolidate in theory what i know from practice, and also to give me the space to go and research for myself. It is presented in a way that is easy on the eye, and therefore holds my attention, even after a 10 hour shift!

I attend the university at which Maggie and her co-authors hold positions. They are excellent lecturers with a firm grasp on their area and a proven capacity for clear-minded communication. However, this book is NOT the best source available on the subject of clinical skills.

The approach taken here is over-simplistic, reducing each skill to a recipe-style series of bullet points. Supporting evidence is reduced to 'points for practice' boxes and skimpy reference lists that provide the bare minimum for understanding and further reading. This style of writing is not conducive to "continuous learning" - something that nurses are supposed to aspire to. Instead, it encourages learning by rote which in turn promotes ritualistic practice.

In the first year, it may appear useful to have clinical skills boiled down to their bones. However, by the second year you will find that this book is inadequate and curse yourself for having bought it instead of the _Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures_. Sadly, _Essential Nursing Skills_ is simply not worth buying. Get it out of the library in your first year, perhaps, but invest your money in the Marsden's manual.

I just want to correct the reviewer who called this book poop!
Maggie Nicols is a fine lecturer and students lucky enough to be at the same University are given DVD's and a workbook as well as lectures not instead of! The reviewer was obviously someone with a chip on their shoulder because they weren't good enough to be admitted to the best Nursing College in the country and therefore couldn't get their facts right!