Nursing Books

I was required to get this book for my special education training that I need for my master's. This book was very interesting. It showed the good and bad things Torey Hayden did in the course of serving this one child, Sheila. I could not put it down.

This story gave me tears of sadness and tears of joy. While it is heartbreaking to learn of all the abuse Sheila has endured, it is
heartwarming to know that SOMEONE took the time and effort to encourage her and to reach out to her. This book is a wonderful testament to the power of love and the human spirit.

I'm half-way through this book and I LOVE it so far!! I'm in school to become a teacher and we're reading this book. It has opened my eyes!!!

My second book by Torey Hayden, but definitely not my last.

ONE CHILD is the story of Sheila, a young girl who was abandoned on the side of a highway by her mother. Now the charge of her drunken father, Sheila is wild, sometimes crazy, and never cries.

What follows after her arrival in Ms. Hayden's classroom (following an incident that is truly chilling) is the relationship that grows, in a short period of time, between Sheila and Torey.

A very good but emotional read. I highly recommend it, and also recommend picking up a copy of The Tiger's Child, which is the continuation of Sheila's story.

At age six, Sheila had already endured a lifetime of horrors. Her mother abandoned her on a highway at age four; her alcoholic father neglected and traumatized her. Thus, it was scarcely a shock to anyone when the coarse, hate-filled child attacked a three-year-old boy, nearly burning him to death.

At such a tender age, Sheila's fate seemed inevitable - a lifetime in a psychiatric ward. Yet while the state awaited placement, they decided to put her in Hayden's special needs classroom.

Initially skeptical of a child with such a background, Hayden nonetheless did her best. Quickly, she glimpsed an intensely intelligent child, who longed for love and acceptance.

This wasn't to say it was an easy job. Nor was there any fairy-tale ending. Often, Sheila went into uncontrollable rages, damaging property, once even throttling pet gerbils when she perceived she had been wronged. Yet after glimpsing the inner Sheila, Torey Hayden refused to give up on her.

Then one day, several months after Sheila arrived in Hayden's classroom, the teacher received a call -- the psychiatric hospital was ready for Sheila. Despite having made a breakthrough with the child, would Sheila's life really be taken away before she had a chance to start it?

As always, Hayden's stories about the children with whom she has worked are deeply moving and memorable. By no means does she attempt to portray herself as a miracle worker; she freely admits her mistakes along with her triumphs as she merely dedicates her life to helping turn young lives around.

Readers interested in learning more about Sheila may be interested in the sequel, The Tiger's Child, which picks up when the girl is 13 and recently reunited with Hayden.

...this comprehensive book is amazing! It has provided me with an excellent source for review as well as information/concepts that I did not pick up along the way during nursing school. One must be committed to get through this very detailed book, but the end result is well worth it (as if you didn't already know that).

The questions at the end of each chapter and in the CD-ROM, in my experience, are similar to that of those found in nursing school exams. They strive to be in an NCLEX style, but are more geared toward testing your understanding of the content found within the chapter. This is helpful for content review purposes, but they are not as solid of examples of NCLEX questions as compared to the Kaplan book (another book I recommend). However, the rationales Saunders provide make up for that issue nicely.

If you are dedicated and really want to pass the first time, you won't regret this purchase!

If you studied and graduated from a non US nursing program you must prepare for the NCLEX thoroughly, I graduated 9 years ago in the UK and thought I had a good general knowledge base, however once I started using this book I realized how much my UK education had not prepared me for the US system and the NCLEX.

Allow yourself a few months studying hard from this book (it is 'no-frills', almost written in note form, but it is the closest thing to experiencing a proper review course you can get outside the states)

At first I found the rationales in the included chapter exams very difficult to agree with in terms of prioritization, coming from the real world critical care environment, but the more questions and rationales you do the more prepared you will be. I would also recommend a question and answer book - I used the incredibly easy NCLEX RN question and answer book and the Mosby one.

As much as I recommend this book I also found it very useful to answer questions from several different publishers as I found they would all be somewhat different but it is a very accessible way of learning and getting questions wrong really helps for the right answer to 'stick'.

Overall a 5 star recommendation, there are no other publications I am aware of that offer this sort of package. Buy it and work hard!

I found out this morning that I passed! in 75 questions!

Good luck, good luck, good luck!

This book is wonderful. I study it for my tests, including my online exit exams for my specialty classes. This book covers everything and eliminates all the "fluff". I bought this and the Question and Answer book and they are GREAT learning tools. I would recommend this book to any nursing student to use throughout school and for boards!

The review is excellent! There are a lot of graphics and test questions that help you really understand the material. The rationales for the review questions are also a plus. The outlines are very helpful, concise, and comprehensive. I recommend this book for every nursing student!

This book is easy to read and the CD is so helpful. This book is reccomended by all of the instructors in our NCLEX review courses. I feel better prepared for the NCLEX.

This book has been wonderful! I am thrilled to be able to use it on my journey through nursing school. This book is a pathophysiology life saver as well. The care plans listed here and the information that is in this little book make life much easier! If you are in the medical field, you should own this book. If you are someone that is interested in just learning more, you might want to try the family edition that isn't quite as technical.

A well edited reference book that helps one understand nursing diagnostics. The writing is a bit small and the paper is very thin but other than that its a great little book.

This latest edition of the Merck Manual has been signifigantly updated and refreshed. The breadth is exceptional, and the hundreds of contributors have produced a tight, concise overview of medical coditions. You won't get any hand-holding, so if you are unfamiliar with medical language get a good medical dictionary and before long you'll be off and running. An invaluable reference for medical professionals and patients who like to read it straight up. It's interesting to compare earlier editions and realize that medical knowledge is still incomplete, even with the authoritative tone. The human system is so intricate and amazing. I'm glad that there are people trying to figure it out. Carry on!

I am a nurse and depend on the merck manual for
information and usualy get the new edition when
it is printed.I would not be without the manual.

This is an excellent resource for anyone. I highly recommend it for individuals who want to review major breakthroughs in the health care industry. It provides concise, yet detailed information on many important topics that interest almost anyone.

This is a must have in practice! The NP that I was practicing with during my clinical rotation actually told me to get this and he was correct, you have everything you need in one book!

I am a pharmacist and carry this book with me everywhere. It is small enough to fit in my purse and it can answer questions on dosing, indications, and much more. It is definitely a lot faster to use than the slow computers at the pharmacy!

I use this pocket guide more often than I use my palm pilot for drug doses. My lab coat is not complete without this book. Even when I am on call, I make sure I have one of my multiple copies at bedside so I can look up meds in the middle of the night. Also, I am a preceptor for PA students, and I recommend each and every one of them purchase some version of this guide (and most of them do).

A fast, keep in your shirt pocket reference for drug name, dosing, available dosing sizes, route of clearance and safety in pregnancy or lactation. It is tiny - a centimeter thick and shirt pocket dimensioned. Really great when a patient comes in with some oddball psych med, is found to be pregnant or you get a braincramp somewhere around your thirtieth patient of the day. I use this little gem regularly.

It's great IF the ONLY info you need is dosing information. If you need more information like SIDE EFFECTS, METHOD OF ACTION, etc, 'Clinician's Pocket Drug Reference' from Scut Monkey is far more useful/helpful. At least it was (and is) to me during med school and now in residency.

I've read some reviews and have to repeat what someone else has pointed out: Readers need to keep in mind that this stuff happened in the 40's and 50's. You can't criticize the smoking, because at that time, people didn't know smoking around kids was harmful. Smoking was a very normal activity for many adults. If Marie Killilea had known that smoking might be contributing to her miscarriages and ill health of her kids, I'm sure she would have stopped. People didn't know.

You can't criticize Karen's parents for not creating a cerebral-palsy playgroup for her, because they were the groundbreakers in treating cerebral palsied kids like "normal" kids. They were flying by the seat of their pants. My guess would be that they decided they should raise Karen "normally," and having her play a lot with other handicapped kids would not have seemed "normal"--after all, what they were fighting were doctors and other professionals who recommended placing Karen permanently in an institution FILLED with other handicapped people. This book is not a recent book and it has to be read in the historical context. I mean, schools were still segregated when Karen was born. Geez.

I read this book and "With Love From Karen" when I was in about fifth and sixth grade, after my mother gave me "Wren." Honestly, I never thought much about the cerebral-palsy side of the books. I was an only child, I loved animals, and I thought that Karen was lucky to live in her family. The cerebral palsy was kind of a side issue for me. We didn't go to church, and I didn't understand a lot of the Catholic stuff either, but I loved that the family sounded so close.

I think the concern someone posted about publishing this book when Karen was still young has some validity, but--her mom was desperately trying to draw attention to the fact that handicapped kids were okay. She succeeded in a huge way, through this book. She influenced a generation of people, people who would have looked at her daughter strangely if they ever met her, due to her handicap, but, instead, looked at Karen as practically an angel, because they felt they knew her through this book. And after all, when Marie wrote the book, she would have had no idea that it would end up being in print for decades and read all over the world, and that Karen would still be hounded by fans in 2007 (which apparently she is, when they can track her down).

I guess what I'm saying is, before anyone criticizes Karen's mom, they ought to keep in mind that their opinions about what's right and wrong for handicapped kids were probably shaped by Karen's mom, whether they realize it or not. Our whole society was influenced by "Karen." Yeah, everyone knows you don't keep a kid with cerebral palsy hidden in the basement of your house--but hey, America didn't always know that.

I just found a website where I read that Gloria's two daughters, ages 9 and 7 at the time, were killed in a house fire. I actually cried over this. Although of course I never met any of these people, they felt like my family when I was a kid.

I picked up this book in a library toss bin recently and foolishly (not realizing it was out of print) left it on the airplane for the next passenger requiring inspiration. The many 5-star reviews should give an objective reader a clue as to the type of book this is, and the type of writer Killilea was--and that does NOT mean Jane Austen. Because I am something of a 3-star Sally in my reviews, I must add that my usual complaints (poor writing, confusing organization, insufficient editing) are not my reasons for faulting this book. It is fairly well-written (back when editors were editors!), with the insousiance that pervades works by well-fed, country club ladies of the 1950's (Jean Kerr comes to mind) who bore none of the crosses feminism would later burn figuatively on their expansive front lawns.

My beef about this book--please do NOT send me nasty e-mails!--is that I did not find any of the characters, and I include the title character and the author, particularly appealing. As to Karen herself, she was a little girl undergoing a particular education regimen. It was rigorous and stressful, and, being a little girl who, like most little girls, wanted desperately to please those whom she loves, she survived it. But living to tell the tale is not the same as heroism, though nowadays you would never know it, and if Oprah were interviewing Homer about Troy, we'd be listening to the story of Aeneas rather than Hector. I doubt that Killilea's intention was to raise her daughter to a pinnacle, though, and anyone who views the child's story as a triumph over adversity is misreading the book. I believe that Killilea's point was that Karen's story could be ANY child's story, given the same set of favorable circumstances.

So, having attempted to view the author's intentions in a light most sympathetic to me, I sadly must now add that I really didn't like the author ONE BIT. She represents a type of unquestioning, anti-intellectual, rigid Catholicism that makes it hard for other Catholics to be Catholic. Since she flaunts her Irishness, I feel free to whack the ball back into that court by saying that the Italians where I grew up in New York thought people like the Killileas were crazy. I do not know how many Roman Catholics she and her ilk have caused to lapse over the decades; any healthy religion has a spectrum of levels of dogmatism, but this particular group seemed to dominate the Church in New York for a long time (if you think I lie, check the list of bishops in the NYC archdiocese even now).

But I should not air this dirty laundry online! And I should not let my intellectual response to the book be colored by the fact that I now am sojourning in a city that gives full testament to the Catholic Church's exhuberance, wackiness, theological depth, and sensual excess. Killilea was probably an above-average product of her isolated little smoke-filled (literally as well as figuratively!) caucasion world. (I normally make my home in the Baltimore/Washington area, and found quite enlightening her descriptions of the people of color who carried the Killilea luggage on the way to Johns Hopkins Hospital).

Speaking of smoke-filled: Amen to the reviewers who point out the frightening excess of tobacco-dependence. I do believe there was a point in the book in which the author and her husband sit around smoking in the same room where lay their daughter Marie, at that very moment suffering from some type of long-term lung failure. Excuse me? Is there a doctor in the house? (No, wait; the doctors were the ones offering cigarettes.) Maybe just someone with an inquiring mind? (See, it's getting back to the Catholic thing . . . . )

I am 49 now and read this book when I was about 8 years old. (Why a book with curse words was available in the Weekly Reader Book Club for little children to read, I'll never know.) I have never dwelt on any of the negatives that readers are commenting about, with the one exception of the smoking. I do not have CP, but as a child I knew something about me was different. I was premature, late learning to walk, and the slowest runner of all the children - no matter how hard I tried to run faster or how much I loved to run. I had frequent stomachaches & got sick with sinus/allergy/URI's/dehydration regularly every 3 months or so. I almost died at least twice. My ankles turned or twisted very easily. I hated being crowded or hearing loud noises. My legs hurt often, & if I fell on one of my kneecaps, it felt broken because the pain was so horrible. The pediatrician said this was "growing pains", but it wasn't. At the age of 28, I learned that I had "fibrositis", now called Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS or CFIDS). This incurable chronic disease - an autoimmune, muscle, pain, allergy/sinus, urinary, colon, and neurological/cognitive disorder in one - can be disabling. In fact, it has been compared to mild cases of spastic CP. Microscopic tears that grew into huge tears (caused by the FMS) made me need to have major reconstructive surgery of my right knee at 13 and my left knee at 24. So reading about Karen's struggles from a young age helped me to also conquer challenges that my own disability has brought into my life. I presently work a full-time job as an administrative assistant for a global company. I love Big Marie's different writing style. Like today's very popular cable show about the Roloffs of Roloff Farm in Oregon (married dwarves who have 4 children, only one of which is a dwarf), who have the problems and disagreements every family has but struggle as a team to make it in an oversized world, the Killileas were a normal family dealing with a precious child who was labeled "abnormal". I loved that they turned the living room into a physical therapy room and invited the "normal" kids over to watch and join in the fun. I loved that there were gouges in the furniture where Karen had vacuumed, and they didn't care. I loved that Karen was not a little saint - she was human, as proved by the stunts she made her little brother Rory carry out, and the "female dog" term she used to get rid of an obnoxious stranger who invited himself into their house. I loved that Gloria had the maturity, discipline and self-control to wait 7 years for Russ, her true love. I'm not Catholic, but I loved that they regularly went to Mass and had spiritual insights. I loved that they taught Karen to take part in what physical activities she could, such as swimming and horse riding. I loved that Karen dealt with severe pain every day (as I do) and HATE that they put that spreader between her legs at night to stretch her leg muscles - like torture! In short, the best part of "Karen" is that she never limited herself by listening to what doctors and therapists told her she could never do, but she surpassed all their limitations and expectations by victories like walking, writing by hand, and getting up & down off of chairs alone. I'm still inspired by this book today.

I have read "Karen" a number of times since my teen years, though prior to purchasing the book, it had been at least 10 years since my last reading. This story of a girl born in 1940 with cerebral palsy -- and all the trials, tribulations, and stigma that went along with its diagnosis, treatment, and daily living at that time -- remains intriguing and engaging.

More than simply an eye-opening account of life with a severely disabled child, "Karen" is a window into another era, even another culture (the story takes place in the well-to-do suburbs north of New York City). The Killilea's were a devoutly Catholic Irish-American family. This is before Vatican II and the changes it brought to the Mass and to the church itself. Smoking was socially acceptable, its health risks not well-consdidered. These things all play into the story.

I feel compelled to address Marie's (author/narrator) comment, during her husband Jiimmy's serious illness, that she would sacrifice her children. I believe other reveiwers have mis-interpreted her remark. She wasn't minimizing her love for her children; she was expressing her extraordinary love and devotion to her husband. Again, remember that the book was written in 1952 and should not be judged as if it had been written in 2006. Language, customs, beliefs, and even our culture were significantly different.

In summary, "Karen" is a fascinating story. Should you take everything in it at face value? No, of course not. Is it worth reading? Absolutely, if not for the day-to-day details of life with cerebral palsy, then for the window into life in suburbia in the early 1950's.

It is also worth noting that Marie Killilea was instrumental in founding United Cerebral Palsy, the organization that still advocates for and supports the cerebral palsied today.

I read this the first time as an adult. I had asked a librarian if she could recommend a good heartwarming book, and she insisted this was what I needed to read. It instantly became one of my all time favorites. The main reason I wanted to review it here, is I notice so many fellow readers complaining about the mother's approach to her daughter's disability, etc, and I want to point out,when Karen was born, the world was a different place entirely. 'Political correctness' had not been coined yet.
Smoking was not recognized as the evil we now think of; in fact, it was common for doctor's to smoke in their offices with their patients. Mother's were not told to quit smoking because they were pregnant. I could go on, but my point is, for the time in our history when Karen was a child, there was no Disability Rights Act. The idea to treat a disabled child with dignity and equal rights were sadly un-common, and this is not the fault of Karen's family. Like all of us, they did the best they could with what they knew how to do.
I think all this P.C. talk is taking away from the underlying feeling of the book. It is a triumph of the human spirit and I see that so clearly and am left feeling good about the strength and courage inside of us that we don't know is there, unless we are forced to summon it, or learn about someone like Karen, who had no choice but to live life the best she could.
I am not condoning smoking or other bad choices mentioned in the book. I am simply attempting to suggest that if that is all you are looking at, you are missing the boat.
This is the kind of book that I love most; it makes me laugh and cry and most of all, it is the kind of story that makes me realize how small most of my problems are.
It brings to mind other humbling people such as Helen Keller. It may not be an equal comparison, but the feeling I derive from it is the same.

All stories from Richard Paul Evans are wonderful and this is no exeption.Read the trilogy is forth it.

The reviews were uniformly quite good for this novel, so I decided to give it a try. The story starts out slowly and takes some time to work up a bit of interest. The central character is a twenties-something working in a nursing home. Not typically the setting for a compelling plot.
A quick read-not one of my favorites.

The old lady is one of the strongest female characters in modern literature. Evans is a very capable writer.

With The Locket, Richard Paul Evans proves once again that when it comes to feel good, sentimental stories that tug at your heartstrings, he has no equal. As with his previous books The Christmas Box and The Letter, he utilizes his unique blend of fiction and inspirational writing to convey valuable messages of love, faith, forgiveness and redemption. His words take us on an emotional journey that leaves us reaching for the kleenex box as well as motivated to incorporate these precepts into our daily lives.

After the death of his mother, Michael Keddington takes a job at the Arcadia nursing home, where he meets parient Esther Huish, a woman who is instrumental in teaching Michael many valuable life lessons concerning forgiveness, overcoming insecurities, second chances and never putting things off until tomorrow.

The Locket of the title is Esthers gift to Michael. It serves as a symbol of the missed opportunities in her life and for Michael represents an opportunity to overcome a myriad of obstacles and begin his life anew.

This warm and beautiful story should kindle the flame of hope that burns in each of us. 4 1/2 stars

This was an excellent book! It wasn't just a typical romance, instead, it focused on what comes after falling in love. Devotion, kindness, and respect were themes in this novel. It was well-written, and kept my attention until the end.

The book had a lot of concepts that really helped with my learning of physio throughout the course and later with prepping for the physio shelf exam. My only beef with the content was with the impertinent discussions of molecular similarities between some hormones, but overall, I was pretty satisfied with the book.

This book is an amazing tool for my Medical School Physiology class, it will be a vital piece of my USMLE study regimen.

This book is an excellent resource to supplement boards study. I have been very pleased.

I decided to purchase this book as a supplement to the textbook we use in class. You know, you read the complicated textbook and then the supplement next. Not so any longer. This guide gets right to the point. Reading it before class has facilitated my understanding of lectures and comprehension of the required readings.
You don't have to be a medical student to derive value out of this book. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

I think this is the best BRS there is. I used this book for course exam prep as well as board review. It is a great tool to highlight important concepts, and it explains things in a simple and effective way with the right amount of information.

I supervise the trauma center in a busy part of Hong Kong for a teaching hospital. I have found this book packed with useful information. It is very suitable for doctors and nurses in a trauma center and is also of considerable use to the paramedics who want to know a little bit more in cervical injuries. I have seen many instances of chiropractic cervical trauma in Hong Kong and was impressed to see that this aspect is well covered in this book as well.

I am a Chief Resident in Surgery with special interests in trauma to the neck. Having read numerous books on the subject I was quite impressed with this handbook. Even though there were no real photographs of trauma, the drawn diagrams were very clear and self-explanatory. The subject matter was covered comprehensively. I have not seen such a wide coverage in any corresponding book. I have found it a most suitable book for Board Certification exams and revisions.

I am a Surgeon. I came across this book through Alta vista and because it seemed good for my current project, I located it in our University Library. I am impressed with the contents. The coverage is comprehensive and the subject is well described in text and in appropriate diagrams. Inter-specialty coverage is excellent and it is this feature which makes this book stand out. The management-plan is easy to understand. I have already ordered this for my hospital library and for my own collection. I can recommend this book to all General Surgical Residents.

This is a wonderful book written in a simple language and in a most informative manner. Multiple visceral trauma of the neck has been described very well. Lacks real life pictures but makes up well with several easy to remember and easy to draw diagrams.

I find this book easy to read and to follow in the complicated area of inter-specialty trauma in the neck. I was searching for material for a case report that I am writing involving the roots of brachial plexus, larynx and laceration of Subclavian Artery in the Subclavian Triangle caused by a gunshot injury. This book supplied me with all the necessary general information and the necessary references to look up for some more.

This product was extemely helpful in getting me ready for my twins. They were born 11 weeks eary and I was much more prepared for the NICU and what the care would involve for the hospital stay for my boys. I would suggest others with multiples or complications read it.

My baby is a micro-preemie that was born at 24 weeks and 1 day gestationally. He is now 28 weeks gestational age. The NICU loaned me a copy and I pretty much devoured it.

This book was wonderful in letting me know what to expect and where my preeemie was developement wise. He has had two surgeries (for a collapsed lung and PDA) and the book helped to calm my fears and inform me of the process. The book seems to cover every issue, even when the preemie goes home and what the future looks like for him/her.

I would recommend this to any parent with a preemie.

This book was full of useful information that helped me feel more calm after learning my niece would come early.

This was a very good book. It helped my daughter and I better understand what was going on in the NICU and with my grandson and why things are done a certain way. It lets you know the criteria that your baby needs to meet before he or she can come home. It also talked about Kangaroo Care, which the NICU my grandson was in, never metioned until we brought up the subject.

The down side was alot of the book also pretained problems with multiple births,so we could skip alot of pages that didn't pretain to us.

All in All I would recommend this book to preemie parents.

Pros: great information about what to expect, comprehensive data on outcomes and risks, talks about all stages (antepartum, delivery, NICU, early childhood, etc).

Con: 578 pages!!! And every chapter repeated some information from other chapters. The foreward suggests reading only the chapter that relates to you, and warns you against reading the whole book, but what a dumb suggestion - Of course I want to know everything! So I read the whole book, which repeats itself about 30%. For nervous fathers-to-be (and mothers too), reading almost 600 pages to get 200 pages worth of information is not worth it. My wife read the Dr Sears "Preemie" book (much shorter) while I read this one and she liked it. I was worried I wouldn't even get a chance to finish it before the baby came, which just piled on more stress - just know what you are getting in to when you buy this book.

If I had to make a recommendation - FIRST read one of the shorter books, if it doesn't answer what you want to know, THEN buy this monstrosity.

Absolutely the definitive book for anyone dealing with dementia, alzheimers, etc. Great to give to all family members. Very thorough and easy reading.

My mother has been diagnosed with dementia, probably Alzheimer's, and I have been seeking information to help me understand and deal with her deteriorating mental capabilities. This book provided great examples of what to expect, what others have gone through, and how to deal with some of the more difficult issues. It was recommended to me by a geriatric case manager, and I highly recommend it to others.

I appreciate what the authors put together in this book - it has a ton of useful info and has helped me in understanding (and thus adding alittle patience) to what is happening with several senior members of my family.

Not all the info is relevant to my needs, but that's the point, not everyone has the same issues to deal with.

Thanks!

This is a must read by all! Whether you have a family member with Dementia or you are curious about this topic.

Very superficial and general information. I've read a lot on this subject since my mom's diagnosis a couple of months ago and I'm frankly puzzled as to why this book is recommended so frequently.

The Alzheimer Assn's website provides more thorough information. It's extremely well written and easy to understand. And free.

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