Fundamental Nursing Skills

This book has arisen primarily in response to the increasing concern expressed about the perceived lack of ability in both students and newly qualified staff nurses to perform clinical skills. This deficit has been largely attributed to the advent of Project 2000 and the subsequent move of nurse education into Higher Education. Innovations in nursing such as the Nursing Process, Nursing Models and new methods of organizing care delivery, each with their emphasis on providing individualized nursing care, may also have exacerbated this problem. These initiatives have largely resulted in the demise of procedure manuals as a source of reference in many clinical areas. Consequently nurses and the increasing number of health care workers in new roles such as cadet nurses, health care assistants and generic ward practitioners no longer have an easily accessible source of reference in the clinical arena. This is particularly problematic when they are faced with undertaking a procedure for the first time.