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Develop your critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills with 150 realistic case studies from the four major clinical practice areas: medical-surgical, pediatric, maternity, and psychiatric/mental health nursing. Each case covers a common problem, drawn from actual clinical experiences and written by nurses who are clinical experts. All cases have been thoroughly updated and revised to reflect current clinical practices, with integrated content on pharmacology, nutrition, and diagnostic/laboratory tests to encourage you to think critically about all aspects of care. This fifth edition also features an increased emphasis on patient management, and new documentation and communication exercises. Plus new NCLEX^® Examination format-questions help you prepare for success on the NCLEX® Examination and provide safe, quality patient care.

• Three-part organization presents cases in three parts: 1) Medical-Surgical Cases; 2) Pediatric, Maternity, and Psychiatric Cases; and 3) Other/Advanced Cases, the latter covering key topics such as multi-system disorders and emergency situations.
• Realistic case study approach incorporates cases drawn from actual clinical experiences to help you identify changes, anticipate possible complications, and initiate therapeutic interventions.
• Increasing case complexity provides you with a foundation on which to build as you advance to more difficult cases.

• Two new pediatric case studies strengthen your ability to recognize and effectively manage common disorders presenting in pediatric patients.
• New NCLEX Examination-format questions have been added throughout, including multiple choice, prioritization/ordering, chart/exhibit, and dosage calculation questions.
• Increased number of higher-level questions requires clinical reasoning rather than simply memorizing and recalling information.
• An emphasis on patient management reinforces the type of clinical decision-making needed in the clinical setting as well as reflecting the type of questions on the latest NCLEX Examination.
• Over 25 new illustrations and graphics such as ECG strips, lab/diagnostic test reports, anatomical diagrams, and medication labels are now interwoven throughout the book.
• New documentation and communication exercises ask you to document relevant patient information or to use the "SBAR" communication technique to communicate patient findings to the physician.