Emergency Nursing Review. Hol le ran RS. St. Louis: M o s b y - Year Book, 1992, 326 pp., $30.95, ISBN 0-8016-2462-2.

T a k i n g t he CEN e x a m i n a t i o n does not h a v e to b e a mys te r ious , n e r v e - w r a c k i n g journey into the u n k n o w n .

Ren6e S e m o n i n Hol l e ran ' s book, Emergency Nursing Review, can he lp you r e m o v e some of t he mys t e ry a n d al- l ev ia t e some of t he a n x i e t y s u r r o u n d i n g the test , espe- cial ly is you are t a k i n g t he CEN e x a m for the first t ime.

Firs t of all, do not skip over t he " F o r e w o r d " (as m a n y of us do). It p rov ides h i n t s on h o w to p repa re for t he exam, a n d i n v a l u a b l e po in t e r s on t e s t - t a k i n g s t ra teg ies . For in- s t ance , Ms. Hol le ran w a r n s not to "over look key w o r d s such as early, late . . . . or nursing action," a n d to " b e w a r e of qual i f ie rs l ike always, never, all a n d every, s ince in nur s ing , n o t h i n g is 100% cer ta in . " Th i s is exce l l en t advice .

Each c h a p t e r covers a s e p a r a t e body s y s t e m ( such as a b d o m i n a l or r esp i ra to ry e m e r g e n c i e s ) or d i s cus se s emer- g e n c y - r e l a t e d topics, i n c l u d i n g s u b s t a n c e abuse , p a t i e n t e d u c a t i o n a n d d i s c h a r g e p l a n n i n g , a n d d i sa s t e r p r e p a r e d - n e s s a n d m a n a g e m e n t .

C h a p t e r s are fu r ther d iv ided into a t h o r o u g h ou t l ine of t he sub j ec t a n d a br ie f overview, fol lowed by a n u m b e r of mu l t i p l e - cho ice ques t ions . The final sec t ion of e ach c h a p t e r e x p l a i n s t h e a n s w e r s as t h e y re la te to a pa r t i cu- lar s t ep of t h e n u r s i n g process , w h i c h I found ve ry he lp- ful.

My only s u g g e s t i o n wou ld b e to h a v e an "a l l - inc lu- s ive" t e s t a t t h e e n d of t he t ex t to g ive the r eade r a more rea l i s t ic v i ew of t he CEN exam, a n d to p rov ide a n s w e r s h e e t s to avo id m a r k i n g up the i n d i v i d u a l tests .

I r e c o m m e n d Emergency Nursing Review for a n y o n e w h o p l a n s to t ake t he CEN exam, or for per iodic r ev i ew a n d se l f - eva lua t ion of e m e r g e n c y n u r s i n g p r i n c i p l e s . - - S C

Trauma Ready Reference. S h e e h y SB. St. Louis: M o s b y - Year Book, 1994, 43 pp., $12.95, ISBN 0-8151-7823-9.

A p o w e r h o u s e of in fo rmat ion c o n d e n s e d into 43 p a g e s - - a m u s t for eve ry t r a u m a nurse! This user- f r iendly , s p i r a l - b o u n d re fe rence m a n u a l is pocke t - s ized to b e your c o n s t a n t c o m p a n i o n a t work. S h e e h y m a n a g e d to cap tu re e s sen t i a l n u g g e t s of t r a u m a in fo rmat ion a n d fo rmat t h e m into a n a l p h a b e t i c a l l y i ndexed , easy- to -use re fe rence guide . The n i n e topics covered in t h i s re fe rence inc lude

a i rway, a s s e s s m e n t , bu rns , cervical spine, ches t , circula- tion, d iagnos t i cs , pedia t r ics , a n d a final sec t ion of genera l i n fo rma t ion t h a t i nc ludes s igns a n d s y m p t o m s of hypo- the rmia , a n o rgan d o n a t i o n f lowchart , t e t anUs prophy- laxis protocol, a n d a l ist of s t a n d a r d t r a u m a r a d i o g r a p h s a n d l abora to ry tests . T h e r e is no w a s t e d space in th i s m a n u a l - - e v e n t h e front a n d b a c k covers i n c l u d e va luab le in fo rmat ion on l abora to ry t e s t values . Th i s concise b u t h i g h l y usefu l l abora to ry sec t ion inc ludes p a r a m e t e r s for a b n o r m a l values , as wel l as a l is t of poss ib le or p robab l e c a u s e s for each abnorma l i ty .

T h e first sect ion, a i rway, l is ts s t eps n e c e s s a r y to per- form a n e e d l e c r i co thyro ido tomy a n d t a c t i l e / d i g i t a l in tu- ba t ion . Each p rocedu re is so clear ly de t a i l ed t h a t even t he less e x p e r i e n c e d a m o n g us shou ld be ab le to follow the d i rec t ions w i t h m i n i m a l difficulty. The g en e ra l assess - m e n t sec t ion l is ts t h e ABC 4 p r imary t r a u m a su rvey p a r a m e t e r s a n d a DERM ( b r a i n s t e m func t ion) cha r t so t h a t one can quickly per form a c o m p r e h e n s i v e p r imary survey. Othe r useful i n fo rma t ion i n c l u d e d in t h e assess - m e n t sec t ion is t h e G l a s g o w Coma Scale, a n e u r o m u s c u - lar a s s e s s m e n t char t , a b u l l e t e d list of e s sen t i a l p rehospi - tal r epor t informat ion , a n d two c o m m o n l y u s e d t r a u m a scor ing s y s t e m s (Rev i sed T r a u m a Score a n d T r a u m a Score), b o t h clear ly fo rmat ted .

Six p a g e s of in fo rmat ion on b u r n s i nc lude i l lustra- t ions of e s c h a r o t o m y p l a c e m e n t , ca lcu la t ion of pe rcen t surface a rea b u r n e d , a d u l t a n d in fan t rule of n ines chart , a n d a L u n d a n d Browder formula chart . O the r in format ion in t h i s sec t ion i nc ludes t h e Baxter a n d Modif ied Brooke fo rmulas for fluid r ep l acemen t . A l t h o u g h t h e informat ion p r e s e n t e d is re levant , d i r ec t ions are no t i n c l u d e d for us- ing one of the p e r c e n t surface a rea b u r n char ts , so th i s in- fo rmat ion would b e less useful in a h u r r i ed s i tuat ion.

One of t h e mos t usefu l pa r t s of t h e m a n u a l is the con- t e n t a d d r e s s i n g injuries. T h e two p a g e s a d d r e s s i n g cervi- cal s p i n e injury i n c l u d e d i rec t ions for m i x i n g h i g h - d o s e m e t h y l p r e d n i s o l o n e a n d protocol for a d m i n i s t e r i n g t he drug. Both p a g e s of in fo rmat ion are clear ly de ta i l ed a n d obv ious ly useful. Severa l p a g e s on c h e s t t r a u m a list a s s e s s m e n t f indings , d i a g n o s t i c modal i t i es , a n d the ra -

J EMERG NURS 1995;21:223-5 Copyright �9 1995 by the Emergency Nurses Association. 0099-1757/95 $3.00 + 0 18/64/63662

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