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Current respiratory care
BY. J. Dis. Chest (1978) 72, 158
BOOK REVIEWS Current Respiratory Kenneth Segal Boston: $14.50.
Care
F. MacDonnell Little,
Brown.
and
Maurice
1977. xvi +489.
S. Price
This book contains a quantity of excellent information on the many aspects of respiratory care. It is written and produced in America where there is perhaps a greater concept of a team treating a respiratory patient than in this country. The text therefore tries to ensure that any gaps in information between the various members of the team are covered. The book is divided into six sections. The first deals with the latest in mechanical ventilators with some excellent descriptions and diagrams of specific ventilators and humidifiers. Respiratory monitoring is dealt with comprehensively, as are gas delivery systems, although here all the coding of gas cylinders is, of course that supported by the American Society of Anaesthetists and therefore differs from the coding here. The second section describes the newest diagnostic techniques, the first chapter giving detailed descriptions of new and old pulmonary function tests with some excellent diagrams and tables. This is followed by a chapter on sputum with particular emphasis on the respiratory therapist’s interest in and interpretation of pulmonary secretions. The third chapter in this section covers the technique of bronchoscopy using both the rigid and the flexible fibreoptic bronchoscope but with the greater part of the text applying to the latter. Clinical Topics is the title of the third section; it is naturally the largest and covers specific aspects of clinical respiratory care. The first chapter deals briefly with haemodynamic aspects and this is followed by more detailed chapters on the immunological processes, microbiology and epidemiology involved in respiratory disease. Oxygen, its therapeutic use, toxicity and advances is next covered. The following four chapters are concerned with patients on
positive-pressure ventilation including the physiological effects, weaning and neuromuscular blocking agents and contain much useful information. There is also somewhat surprisingly a very detailed coverage of tracheal stenosis. The remainder of this section deals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the nature and management of bronchial asthma, the adult respiratory distress syndrome and recent advances in the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. Section four reviews modern drug therapy with a chapter each on aerosols and the methylxanthines, with considerable details on their modes of action. The next section gives a comprehensive cover of the nursing care required by respiratory patients and the vital part this plays in their progress. It also includes an interesting and valuable daily patient assessment check list. The final section deals with possible future therapy in the form of lung transplants and the use of the membrane oxygenatorboth procedures requiring further evaluation. The book is well illustrated with photographs, drawings, and graphs. It is pleasant to read and gives a balanced approach to respiratory problems. It will be of value to those dealing with patients at all stages of respiratory disease. ELIZABETH
CORNWELL
Clinical and Resuscitative Data R. P. H. Dunhill and B. E. Crawley Oxford: Blackwell Scientific. 1977. xii + 166. Price 4.75. A pocket-size book that is said to contain ‘a compendium of that data which is often hard to find but needed quickly in resuscitation procedures’. It is intended for junior staff in most specialities but especially in accident and emergency departments, intensive care and other resuscitative areas. The data are presented in seven sections headed physics, biochemistry, electrolytes and fluids, drugs, local anaesthetics, pulmonary data and cardiac data.
BOOK REVIEWS Current Respiratory Kenneth Segal Boston: $14.50.
Care
F. MacDonnell Little,
Brown.
and
Maurice
1977. xvi +489.
S. Price
This book contains a quantity of excellent information on the many aspects of respiratory care. It is written and produced in America where there is perhaps a greater concept of a team treating a respiratory patient than in this country. The text therefore tries to ensure that any gaps in information between the various members of the team are covered. The book is divided into six sections. The first deals with the latest in mechanical ventilators with some excellent descriptions and diagrams of specific ventilators and humidifiers. Respiratory monitoring is dealt with comprehensively, as are gas delivery systems, although here all the coding of gas cylinders is, of course that supported by the American Society of Anaesthetists and therefore differs from the coding here. The second section describes the newest diagnostic techniques, the first chapter giving detailed descriptions of new and old pulmonary function tests with some excellent diagrams and tables. This is followed by a chapter on sputum with particular emphasis on the respiratory therapist’s interest in and interpretation of pulmonary secretions. The third chapter in this section covers the technique of bronchoscopy using both the rigid and the flexible fibreoptic bronchoscope but with the greater part of the text applying to the latter. Clinical Topics is the title of the third section; it is naturally the largest and covers specific aspects of clinical respiratory care. The first chapter deals briefly with haemodynamic aspects and this is followed by more detailed chapters on the immunological processes, microbiology and epidemiology involved in respiratory disease. Oxygen, its therapeutic use, toxicity and advances is next covered. The following four chapters are concerned with patients on
positive-pressure ventilation including the physiological effects, weaning and neuromuscular blocking agents and contain much useful information. There is also somewhat surprisingly a very detailed coverage of tracheal stenosis. The remainder of this section deals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the nature and management of bronchial asthma, the adult respiratory distress syndrome and recent advances in the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. Section four reviews modern drug therapy with a chapter each on aerosols and the methylxanthines, with considerable details on their modes of action. The next section gives a comprehensive cover of the nursing care required by respiratory patients and the vital part this plays in their progress. It also includes an interesting and valuable daily patient assessment check list. The final section deals with possible future therapy in the form of lung transplants and the use of the membrane oxygenatorboth procedures requiring further evaluation. The book is well illustrated with photographs, drawings, and graphs. It is pleasant to read and gives a balanced approach to respiratory problems. It will be of value to those dealing with patients at all stages of respiratory disease. ELIZABETH
CORNWELL
Clinical and Resuscitative Data R. P. H. Dunhill and B. E. Crawley Oxford: Blackwell Scientific. 1977. xii + 166. Price 4.75. A pocket-size book that is said to contain ‘a compendium of that data which is often hard to find but needed quickly in resuscitation procedures’. It is intended for junior staff in most specialities but especially in accident and emergency departments, intensive care and other resuscitative areas. The data are presented in seven sections headed physics, biochemistry, electrolytes and fluids, drugs, local anaesthetics, pulmonary data and cardiac data.