This comprehensive and clinically-focused textbook is designed for student and qualified nurses concerned with caring effectively for deteriorating and acutely ill adults outside of specialist intensive care units.

Divided into six sections, the book begins with chapters on assessment and the deteriorating patient, including monitoring vital signs and interpreting blood results. This is followed by two sections focusing on breathing and cardiovascular problems respectively. Section 4 explores issues around disability and impairment, including chapters on neurology, pain management, psychological needs and thermoregulation. The penultimate section looks at maintaining the internal environment, with chapters on issues such as nutrition, fluid management and infection control. The text ends with a discussion of legal issues and accountability.

Nursing Acutely Ill Adults includes a full range of pedagogical features, including sections: identifying fundamental knowledge; highlighting implications for practice; giving further reading and resources; using case scenarios to help readers relate theory to practice; and providing ‘time out’ exercises. It is the ideal textbook for students taking modules in caring for critically ill adults and qualified nurses working with these patients.

In acknowledging that nurses are an important safety net in hospital, this text sets out to provide information for nurses on how to recognise, understand and respond to problems in the acutely unwell ward patient. Even a cursory glance over the contents list gives an indication of the breadth of this book. Chapters cover a wide range of topics including vital signs, intrapleural chest drainage, acute kidney injury, tissue donation, and accountability. This text can be used to dip in - and - out of whilst working on the ward, or to sit down and read systematically: there is something here for everyone. So whether you’re ‘old hand’ in ward nursing or a novice nurse just about to embark on your hospital career, this text is recommended reading.

Maureen Coombs, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ

Philip Woodrow is the Practice Development Nurse for Critical Care in East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, UK. He teaches a number of critical care courses, and maintains clinical practice across the Trust’s three intensive care units.