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Taking health telematics into the 21st century
Book reviews
Spirituality, healing and medicine: return to the silence David Aldridge Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd. 2000 ISBN 1 85302 554 2 £ 14.95 Spirituality is becoming the hot topic in health (or, better put, illness) care. Books and journal articles from a variety of disciplines attempt to impress upon health care providers the impact of spirituality on health and well being, with varying degrees of accuracy or relevance. This is the first to attend so thoroughly to the intersect of theology and medicine – and it’s a gem of a book It is in the experience of suffering and the consequent need of relief, Aldridge believes, that both medicine and religion share a common goal. Using case studies to bring his arguments to life, he illustrates what he calls ‘healing narratives in the context of a performed life’. Patience, grace, prayer, mediation, hope, forgiveness, and fellowship are as important, he says, as medicine or surgery. Many researchers are attempting to demonstrate this assertion; studies on prayer are the most promising at present. But many of these efforts neglect to tease apart the elements of healing that are so difficult to grasp: the difference between spirituality and religion, for example, or the forms of prayer. This is Aldridge’s great strength. He makes a complex and confusing subject not only eminently understandable, but applicable to clinical practice as well. It makes sense. It’s a great read, and any nurse in search of meaning in the midst of tragedy and suffering (not to mention his or her own well-being) need look no further than this for a starting point. Reviewed by Emily Chandler RN CS MDiv. PhD, Clinical Associate Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts, USA doi: 10.1054/ aaen.2001.0228, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
Taking health telematics into the 21st century Michael Rigby, Ruth Roberts and Michael Thick (eds.) Radcliffe Medical Press 2000 ISBN 1 85775 344 5 £ 35 Once I started reading this book I found it hard to put down. Computer technology has moved into almost every walk of life and appears to be moving into many areas of healthcare. This new technology promises to achieve a revolution in the way we conduct many aspects of our daily lives from communication, to entertainment, to shopping and banking; and in the near future to how healthcare may be both accessed and delivered. This book is based on contributions presented at an experts’ working meeting sponsored by the Nuffield Trust and examines many of the issues relating to this new ‘eHealth’.
© 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd
However, organizing an on-line shop or bank appears to be a much easier task than trying to deliver healthcare over any form of distance. Healthcare is a very personal service provided by the healthcare provider directly to the patient. Trying to provide these services remotely is not just a question of getting the technology right. Ethical, legal, quality and economic issues have to be addressed, not to mention how patients and professionals will view these new technologies. If anyone is using, or will be involved in commissioning some form of telemedicine project then I encourage them to read this book. If you wish to see where healthcare may be going, as we journey into the 21st Century, then an excursion into this easy to read book may be for you. Mark A. Cooper, BN, RGN, Researcher-Practitioner A & E, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK PhD Student, University of Glasgow doi: 10.1054/ aaen.2001.0220, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
The team guide to communication John Middleton Radcliffe Medical Press 2000 ISBN 1 85775 411 5 £19.95 PB Enter a warm, welcoming office. Dim lighting, tatty old armchairs, books lining the walls, mug of coffee in hand. You’re about to sit down for a chat with your personal guru. You’re going to pick up a few pearls of wisdom and you know you’re going to enjoy it. And that’s what reading this book is like. This little gem takes the reader through a whole range of situations in which different communication skills are required. Although written with the Primary Care Team in mind, this can be entirely disregarded as I’m sure every scenario in the book will be recognized and related back to the kind of situations that every A&E nurse has met. Many of the scenarios are illustrated by means of fictitious conversations and humorous characters (met Sister Brasstoff?) which makes reading and comprehension easy. The book is also ideal for people with different levels of experience. It’s a bit like an ‘O’ and ‘A’ level syllabus rolled into one. One could read straight through and ignore the suggested ‘think boxes exercises’ (‘O’ level), or one could contemplate them for hours and reach a much deeper level of understanding (and taken seriously, these ‘think boxes’ would take hours!). However, let us not detract from the author’s truly informative work (but by the way, John, we don’t actually have time to video our consultations and worravyoh). See? I’ve even started to write like him! This Middleton chap must have made an impression. Read the book and you’ll understand..... Lorna McInulty MN RGG ONC A/E Cert, Training & Development Practitioner, Trauma & Orthopaedic Unit, Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust doi: 10.1054/ aaen.2001.0222, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
Accident and Emergency Nursing ( 2 0 0 1 )
9, 130–133
131
Spirituality, healing and medicine: return to the silence David Aldridge Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd. 2000 ISBN 1 85302 554 2 £ 14.95 Spirituality is becoming the hot topic in health (or, better put, illness) care. Books and journal articles from a variety of disciplines attempt to impress upon health care providers the impact of spirituality on health and well being, with varying degrees of accuracy or relevance. This is the first to attend so thoroughly to the intersect of theology and medicine – and it’s a gem of a book It is in the experience of suffering and the consequent need of relief, Aldridge believes, that both medicine and religion share a common goal. Using case studies to bring his arguments to life, he illustrates what he calls ‘healing narratives in the context of a performed life’. Patience, grace, prayer, mediation, hope, forgiveness, and fellowship are as important, he says, as medicine or surgery. Many researchers are attempting to demonstrate this assertion; studies on prayer are the most promising at present. But many of these efforts neglect to tease apart the elements of healing that are so difficult to grasp: the difference between spirituality and religion, for example, or the forms of prayer. This is Aldridge’s great strength. He makes a complex and confusing subject not only eminently understandable, but applicable to clinical practice as well. It makes sense. It’s a great read, and any nurse in search of meaning in the midst of tragedy and suffering (not to mention his or her own well-being) need look no further than this for a starting point. Reviewed by Emily Chandler RN CS MDiv. PhD, Clinical Associate Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts, USA doi: 10.1054/ aaen.2001.0228, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
Taking health telematics into the 21st century Michael Rigby, Ruth Roberts and Michael Thick (eds.) Radcliffe Medical Press 2000 ISBN 1 85775 344 5 £ 35 Once I started reading this book I found it hard to put down. Computer technology has moved into almost every walk of life and appears to be moving into many areas of healthcare. This new technology promises to achieve a revolution in the way we conduct many aspects of our daily lives from communication, to entertainment, to shopping and banking; and in the near future to how healthcare may be both accessed and delivered. This book is based on contributions presented at an experts’ working meeting sponsored by the Nuffield Trust and examines many of the issues relating to this new ‘eHealth’.
© 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd
However, organizing an on-line shop or bank appears to be a much easier task than trying to deliver healthcare over any form of distance. Healthcare is a very personal service provided by the healthcare provider directly to the patient. Trying to provide these services remotely is not just a question of getting the technology right. Ethical, legal, quality and economic issues have to be addressed, not to mention how patients and professionals will view these new technologies. If anyone is using, or will be involved in commissioning some form of telemedicine project then I encourage them to read this book. If you wish to see where healthcare may be going, as we journey into the 21st Century, then an excursion into this easy to read book may be for you. Mark A. Cooper, BN, RGN, Researcher-Practitioner A & E, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK PhD Student, University of Glasgow doi: 10.1054/ aaen.2001.0220, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
The team guide to communication John Middleton Radcliffe Medical Press 2000 ISBN 1 85775 411 5 £19.95 PB Enter a warm, welcoming office. Dim lighting, tatty old armchairs, books lining the walls, mug of coffee in hand. You’re about to sit down for a chat with your personal guru. You’re going to pick up a few pearls of wisdom and you know you’re going to enjoy it. And that’s what reading this book is like. This little gem takes the reader through a whole range of situations in which different communication skills are required. Although written with the Primary Care Team in mind, this can be entirely disregarded as I’m sure every scenario in the book will be recognized and related back to the kind of situations that every A&E nurse has met. Many of the scenarios are illustrated by means of fictitious conversations and humorous characters (met Sister Brasstoff?) which makes reading and comprehension easy. The book is also ideal for people with different levels of experience. It’s a bit like an ‘O’ and ‘A’ level syllabus rolled into one. One could read straight through and ignore the suggested ‘think boxes exercises’ (‘O’ level), or one could contemplate them for hours and reach a much deeper level of understanding (and taken seriously, these ‘think boxes’ would take hours!). However, let us not detract from the author’s truly informative work (but by the way, John, we don’t actually have time to video our consultations and worravyoh). See? I’ve even started to write like him! This Middleton chap must have made an impression. Read the book and you’ll understand..... Lorna McInulty MN RGG ONC A/E Cert, Training & Development Practitioner, Trauma & Orthopaedic Unit, Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust doi: 10.1054/ aaen.2001.0222, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
Accident and Emergency Nursing ( 2 0 0 1 )
9, 130–133
131