AACN Procedure Manual for Pediatric Acute and Critical Care

AORN Journal, April, 2008 by Yvonne A. Dobbenga-Rhodes

AACN Procedure Manual for Pediatric Acute and Critical Care

Judy Trivits Verger and Ruth M. Ledbet, eds

2008, 1483 pages

$94.95 softcover

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Historically, pediatric nurses have had difficulty finding procedure manuals with a pediatric focus. Most manuals simply contain a cursory statement regarding selection of appropriately-sized equipment. This book is completely devoted to infants and children in critical care, and it goes further to cover procedures performed on children at all levels of care. General pediatric nurses, neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric intensive care unit nurses, as well as emergency and perioperative nurses will find this book valuable.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has an extensive and well-proven track record with adult critical care procedures. The organization used its previous publication, the AACN Procedure Manual for Critical Care, 5th edition, as a template for this book. Neonatal and pediatric nurses comprise a smaller portion of AACN's membership in comparison to adult critical care nurse members, but the organization has heeded their request for a similar, developmentally sensitive manual for their specialties.

The procedures in this book are supported by evidence-based data and include advance-practice skills. For hospitals with a low neonatal and pediatric volume, this book will be invaluable during stressful times when personnel are presented with procedures that are infrequently performed at their facility. For institutions with a larger pediatric volume, this manual will reassure, validate, and motivate nurses toward even better practices.

The format of this book is consistent and provides a step-by-step approach to care. This user-friendly book is organized into 16 units, which subsequently are organized into sections that cover physiological management and the equipment that monitors each body system. The descriptions of procedures progress from general to advanced skills. Additional advanced practice procedures (ie, arterial line placement, suturing, bone marrow aspiration) are labeled clearly and are easy to locate.

This manual includes excellent tools that illustrate how to apply techniques to practice. For example, there is a well-written section on the nursing process during bedside procedures. All of the illustrations, charts, and tables are visually appealing and summarize key points in a memorable fashion.

The references are extensive, recent, and reflective of original pediatric research. Levels of evidence are identified throughout the procedures to indicate the strength of the research. The AACN has a long history of endorsing best practice and continues this approach in this latest publication.

This manual eventually may replace existing procedure manuals developed by individual hospitals and lead to standardization in the pediatric care community. A suggestion for future editions would be the inclusion of a CD-ROM that could be loaded on nursing workstations to provide electronic accessibility to the large volume of information covered in the book.

This book is a great reference for novice and experienced pediatric critical care nurses and will become a well-used resource for educators and nursing instructors. This manual is intended to be a guide for creating a culture of pediatric patient safety. Overall, this book is an amazing gift to nurses who care for neonates and children in any acute care setting.

This book is available from Saunders, 11830 Westline Industrial Dr, St Louis, MO, 63146.

YVONNE A. DOBBENGA-RHODES

RNC, MS, CNS

MATERNAL-CHILD HEALTH CLINICAL NURSE SPECIALIST

WASHINGTON HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

FREMONT, CA