Pathophysiology in Adults and Children Comprehensively Presented
by - Written: Jan 26 '07
Product Rating:
Pros: Lavish, complete, up to date.
Cons: Heavy?! No....conless.
The Bottom Line: Does exactly what it says it will, in detail, and has been written so as to be understandable and, perhaps more importantly, memorable.
snpmurray's Full Review: Sue E. Huether - Pathophysiology: The Biologic Bas...
It is a sign of the attractive styling of this text that I find myself drawn to read it for my own entertainment, aside from any academic requirement. Of all the books I have been compulsorily exposed to this year, it is this one I would anticipate reading from the most in the future.
This book has three main areas of excellence…it is lavish, it is thorough and it is extremely up to date. But let us begin at the beginning. This book is appropriate to undergraduate and graduate students in any field requiring pathophysiology. It is entirely sufficient for medics, N.P’s and undergraduate physiologists. It has been designed and edited by a wide range of professional academics from all of these fields.
The principal authors and editors are both professors of nursing. As I said, the many many contributors include physicians, pediatricians, physiologists, anatomists etcetera. The book has then been reviewed by a team consisting of academic nurse educators and practitioners, this presumably being why this book is felt to be most heavily aimed at the nursing profession. I am not sure why anyone would emphasize this really…my undergraduate physiology in my previous incarnation as a zoologist was no more complex than this.
The chapter format of this book is systematic. Organs and body systems are dealt with in consecutive chapters. Individual diseases and disorders are given chapters alongside the associated system when the disease is an important or prevalent one. More frequently diseases and disorders are discussed within the organ system chapters themselves. The book begins with the cell and ends with multisystem considerations, covering every body system in between. There are just fewer than 1700 pages of text. The book is not insubstantial.
This book contains the standard components one would expect of such a text….covering the essential anatomy and physiology, structure and function of each system in the introduction to each. This is followed by discussion of pathologies in light of that which has gone before. Where this book truly excels is in the exquisite attention to multidimensional learning aids. Photographs, diagrams, cut-aways, tables, charts, diagrams and information boxes are used very liberally.
Not only are learning aids of this kind used liberally, they are used intelligently. The chapter on disorders of the skin, for example, is particularly rich in photographic representations. After all, in learning to diagnose skin disorders one is especially interested in the characteristic appearance. Likewise, the authors sagely recognize that the remembering the events of the coagulation cascade is next to impossible. This section has thus been supplemented by many flow diagrams and illustrations. These attack the problem from the perspective of the clotting factors, the coagulation byproducts, the hormones and the chemicals. Your learning is reinforced in each stage, and repetition is provided just where you might need it. I found this an excellent demonstration of the foresight and understanding of the authors.
Another factor that makes this book outstanding (at least at the time I am writing this review) is how completely up to date it is. It was published 2006, and includes much reporting on the current state of understanding of many troubling pathologies such as HIV, genetically inherited disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, aging and many more.
For those to whom this book is to have imminent clinical application, there are many boxes littered through the text describing the clinical application of the principles under discussion. This includes such items as discussion of the staging of cancers, the various classifications for pediatric HIV, the list of possible causes for any number of diseases and much more. For practitioners, and those who will soon become them, this consideration ties study and practice together. Very nice.
As the title implies, this book broadens the normal horizons of such a general pathophysiology text but extending the focus on children. Where pediatric manifestations of a condition differ from the adult presentation side-boxes and tabulations make clear the difference. Photos of presentations in children and how to take pediatric histories for specific conditions are also given throughout. Again, this is particularly valuable to anyone whose practice and/or scope is beyond an exclusively adult population.
An extensive glossary is provided at the end of the book for those of you who would like to save yourself one or two trips onto the internet. Personally, I read this book with Wikipedia open. That is an awesome combination. Johnny Five alive…Input! Input! Input!
Get "Pathophysiology - Biology Basis for Disease in Adults and Children -With CD" new for only $88.50 , or used for only $68.25 . available; visit T...More at Textbooks.com
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