Transcultural Nursing: A Book of Readings

logic, tackling problems, dealing with frustration, how to take criticism, how to make yourself indispensable, the gentle art of tooting your own horn, and the prescription for more effective writing. This is a practical book. It is interesting, readable, and stimulating. There are many examples demonstrating how ideas can be applied. A worthwhile book for one’s personal library, you will probably return to it again and again for review. Sister Kane, RHSJ, RN, MEd Cornwall, Ontario Transcultural Nursing: A Book of Readings. Brink, Pamela J, ed. PrenticeHall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, 1976, 289 pp, $7.95. The term “transcultural nursing,” a blend of anthropology and nursing, concerns comparative communication systems, comparative anatomy and physiology, and comparative cultural norms within health care. These readings provide a foundation for understanding the role of anthropology in nursing offering insight into how concern for the cultural background of each patient can help the nurse provide care, teaching, understanding, and acceptance of the patient as a unique individual. Cultural background affects patient response-often in ways that the nurse may not understand or wish. If a patient doesn’t fit into a nurse’s expectations, he may be labeled uncooperative, difficult, or stubborn, although it may be the nurse’s lack of insight into his cultural background that is causing the problem. Study of specific cultures provides many examples of why patients respond the way they do and how nursing staff can recognize and fulfill these patients’ needs. Discussion of culture shock will help nurses understand why hospitalization is often more than a traumatic experience caused by illness or injury. This book will aid the nurse’s understanding and ability to cope with patient situations arising from differences of race, nationality, and culture. Sister Kane, RHSJ, RN, MEd Cornwall, Ontario

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Manual on Control of Infection in Surgical Patients. American College of Surgeons. J B Lippincott Co, PO Box 7758, Philadelphia, Pa 19101, 1976, 280 pp, $16. “Why has the acceptance of the germ theory in surgical practice not decreased the overall incidence of infection in surgical patients during the past 40 years?” This is one of the many questions posed in this manual on infection control in surgical patients prepared by subcommittees of the American College of Surgeons. The material, extracted from four symposia from March 1970 through November 1972, has been studied and revised to “provide busy clinical surgeons, surgical interns, surgical residents, nurses, anesthesiologists, infection committees, and epidemiologists with an up-to-date, readily available source of information and guide, which will be useful to them for the prevention and control of surgical infections in hospital practice.” The purpose is laudable and the attempt worthy of recognition, but the result is disappointing. Falling short of its expressed aim, the manual lacks conviction and skirts controversial issues. Opportunities to encourage standards of practice are ignored, and in some instances, hopelessly outdated practices are promulgated. The authors have wasted an excellent opportunity to be a firm voice in the setting of standards for the control of surgical infections. Outdated material includes the numerous references to the use of benzalkonium chloride as an antiseptic agent when this agent’s effectiveness has been in disrepute for several years. There is a conspicuous lack of recognition of the need for an operating room nurse on the hospital infection control committee even though this is recommended by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. The expertise of OR nurses in the field of infection control should be acknowledged and used as an authoritative voice in infection control. The mention of “a nurse” on the infection control committee does not suffice. Chapters on preoperative preparation of the patient, preparation of the operating team and supporting personnel, and preparation and maintenance of a safe operating room

AORN Journal, July 1977, Vol26, No 1