Disaster Nursing and Emergency Preparedness: For Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Terrorism and Other Hazards, 4th Edition

ISBN: 9780826144171
ISBN-10: 0826144179
Copyright: 2019
Edition: 4th
Editor: Veenema, Tener Goodwin
Doody's Expert Review    Score: 90
Reviewer: Anna Jarrett,  PhD, ACNP, FNP - BC  (University of Arkansas)
Description
This is the fourth edition of a comprehensive book that presents the information nurses need to respond to disasters. Each chapter ends with internet activities for readers. The previous edition was published in 2013, making this update essential.
Purpose
The purpose, according to the author, is to provide disaster nurses the most updated evidence-based information necessary to meet educational and operational competencies. The objective is certainly worthy, and the book surpasses it by including a discussion of crisis leadership among nurses in time of disaster.
Audience
The intended audience is nurses responding to disasters, which is appropriate, but the audience could be expanded to include paramedics, EMTs, and persons on emergency response teams. The author is academically and professionally credible in this area. She is a highly successful editor, prolific author, and distinguished nursing scholar.
Features
The book covers disaster preparedness and response, global disasters, and high-risk vulnerable populations. The best aspect of the book is the discussion of vulnerable populations of children and their unique needs. A unique and fascinating feature is the use of case studies to illustrate points discussed in the chapter. The only shortcoming is the absence of mention of the F-5 tornado hitting Joplin, Missouri, in May 2011. It would have made a great case study about tornadoes, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.
Assessment
This is an excellent book for nurses and an excellent resource for community emergency response teams or systems. There are other disaster preparedness manuals and books, but most are written by this author. One by another author, Implications of Disaster Preparedness for Nursing, An Issue of Nursing Clinics of North America, Persell (Elsevier, 2016), is a collection of articles, while this book focuses on a uniform, prescribed method of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. This edition adds new and timely chapters on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and targets from the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Review Questionnaire
Range Question Score
1-10 Are the author's objectives met? 10
1-10 Rate the worthiness of those objectives. 8
1-5 Is this written at an appropriate level? 5
1-5 Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 4
1-5 Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) 5
1-5 Rate the authority of the authors. 5
1-5 Are there sufficient illustrations? 5
1-5 Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. 3
1-5 Rate the print quality of the illustrations. 3
1-5 Are there sufficient references? 5
1-5 Rate the currency of the references. 4
1-5 Rate the pertinence of the references. 4
1-5 Rate the helpfulness of the index. 5
1-5 If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book 4
1-10 Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? 10
1-10 If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? 10