Principles of Psychiatric Nursing
- Author:
Madeline Elliott Ingram, lhira edition. w. a.
Saunders Co., Philadelphia and London. 19s.
There are few books devoted solely to Psychiatric Nursing and this book, written by an American, is a useful addition.
The tone is on the lines of Florence Nightingale’s remark, quoted in the book, ” If you find your way into their hearts, you may do what you like with them, and that authority is most complete that is the least perceived or assented.”
One great difficulty in teaching psychiatric nursing is the lack of a hard and fast list of symptoms peculiar to each illness and the fact that some symptoms are common to different forms of illness. This, especially for a nurse who receives her medical and surgical training first, is not easy to comprehend. The chapter dealing with approach is well written and explains the importance of personality in dealing with psychotics.
The book is written in a manner which makes it interesting reading and the author’s sense of humour enables her to quote anecdotes which are amusing and serve as memory aids. Student Nurses’ records and letters from patients add to the interest. Actual treatments and requirements are well described, the only difficulty being the difference in spelling and phraseology, common in America, but not used in this country.
First aid measures for accidents are described. A chapter, ” Travelling with Patients ” is a useful addition in these days when patients have so much more freedom. Nurses called upon to escort them need adequate instruction.
The book stresses the need for nurses to accept responsibility for observation and in the words of the author ” to develop nurses instead of guards, and judgment instead of rules
This is a book which may be recommended to all psychiatric nurses whether trained or in training and would be a useful addition to the general nurses’ library. I.R.T.
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