Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Care

By James K. Stoller, Robert L. Wilkins, Craig L. Scanlan, et al.

Book Overview

This comprehensive, student-focused textbook provides the fundamental knowledge that respiratory care students need as they enter the health care field. For more than 30 years, instructors have relied on Egan's for the most accurate, timely information on pathophysiology, assessment, and treatment of neonatal, pediatric, and adult diseases of the chest. Fundamental concepts are addressed in easy-to-follow discussions on respiratory anatomy and physiology, patient assessment, basic therapeutics, and acute and critical care. The 8th edition continues this book's gold-standard tradition with a brand new, full-color design and thoroughly updated content, including new chapters on neonatal and pediatric disorders and noninvasive positive pressure ventilation. It also features new and expanded coverage on smoking cessation, hemodynamic monitoring, stress testing, polysomnography, and more.Short, critical-thinking vignettes in each chapter, called Mini Clinis, raise questions and expose students to possible problems they may encounter during actual patient care.Rule of Thumb icons in each chapter highlight rules, formula, and key points that help readers learn concepts important to clinical practice.Excerpts of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs), developed by the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), give important information regarding indications/contraindications, hazards and complications, assessment of need, assessment of outcome, and monitoring to familiarize readers with using CPGs in the practice setting.Learning Objectives tell readers what is important about each chapter, often paralleling the three areas tested on the NBRC exam: recall, analysis, and application.Therapist-Driven Protocols (TDPs) - decision trees developed by hospitals - help RTs assess a patient, initiate care, and evaluate outcomes.Key terms tell readers what terms will be learned by studying the chapter.Key Point Summaries highlight key content at the end of each chapter in a bulleted section.Current issues related to assessment and treatment of chest diseases are covered, including neonatal, pediatric, and adult diseases of the chest.New chapters on neonatal & pediatric disorders and noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) provide essential information on these important areas.All chapters have been reviewed and rewritten to reflect changes in the field and the most up-to-date material to prepare students for careers as RTs in today's health-care environment, including: an added discussion on smoking cessation (Chapter 44), polysomnography (Chapter 27), and arterial blood gas sampling (Chapter 16).Full color throughout makes the text more reader-friendly and drawing out special features.New illustrations highlight and clarify important concepts discussed the text.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0323018130
• ISBN13: 9780323018135
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Mosby
• Length: 1408 Pages
• Weight: 5.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 2.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Big Heavy Book Full of Info...

If you were to add a chapter on anything that may be perceived as missing, you will turn this already massive chunk of wood into something the size of a CPU. I already hate lugging it around. The only way to improve on the size is to split the material into sections sell it as a similarly priced hard or soft cover set. Then we can add the chapter on TB, sure. Knowing my instructors they'd all be coming to class every day anyways. My only complaint is the weight. The content is direct, concise, not overly boring, understandable even when this was new and after a couple of years, I'm glad I have the reference still. The order and organization is not what I would have chosen. I knew people who cut the thing up in sections and carried chapters/sections around in report folders... It is BIG. But it is the best. The only other basic reference/text on the subject out there that even compares is Kacmarek's Essentials, it's smaller... LOL. Kacmarek is actually co-writer of the new 2008 Egans. I would definitely be interested in any new publications by these authors solely on manifestation/process of respiratory disease. That has potential! Thanks for reading my review!

newer edition

A new 8th edition has been published. But this is definately the Bible of Respiratory Care.

Respiratory Therapy at its finest

The Egan's manual for respiratory therapy is the most benificial learning tool and reference manual that I have come across in all of my career. The information in this book is not only easy to understand but layed out in a manner that makes finding what you need an easy task. It gives a thorough review of all the important clinical data and physical characteristics needed to become a competent practitioner. The information in this book is explained in a very simple form which makes it easy to understand and retain the material that is covered. I would recommend this book as a refence tool to any student pursuing a career as a nurse, respiratory therapist, or physician. While this book may apply specific emphasis to the respiratory related field, it will reinforce your nursing or medicinal background by examining disease processes from a cardiopulmonary standpoint. This book has been a valuable learning tool and greatly aided me in both respiratory and nursing related classes and God willing as medical student. Best wishes to all and I hope you enjoy your read.

The best Respiratory Care textbook.

Egan's is the most comprehensive textbook regarding Respiratory Care. Every Respiratory therapist should have a copy of this book. The most important book they will ever own...especially for students.

Egan's is comprehensive, detailed and easy to understand.

Egan's is the bible of all respiratory text books. In my opinion, it is a "must have" textbook for any respiratory care practitioner. I am a military trained respiratory technician and have come to realize that anything and everything that you need fundamentally as an RT is provided in this text. Gas laws, mechanical ventilation, pharmacology, chest physiotherapy and more; it's all in Egan's.