[Emerging Infectious Diseases]  
[Volume 4 No. 4 /October-December 1998]


Book Review

HIV Nursing and Symptom Management. ME Ropka, AB Williams, Editors. Jones
and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1998, 806 pages.

The need for updated texts on nursing care of patients with HIV is critical
for many reasons: the rapidly expanding availability of new medications and
need for adherence to complex therapeutic regimens, the requirements of
opportunistic infection prophylaxis, the broad constellation of symptoms
caused by many opportunistic diseases from early HIV infection through
long-term end-stage care, and the vulnerable populations involved. This
volume edited by nurses from the University of Virginia School of Medicine
and the Yale University School of Nursing gives a cogent overview of these
topics, broken into four overarching units.

Unit one provides introductory information on HIV infection including
disease pathogenesis and epidemiology, related opportunistic infections and
malignancies, and pharmacologic therapy. The second unit, the strongest of
this volume, reviews the nursing management of common clinical problems
such as neurologic manifestations, nutrition-related changes, fecal
incontinence, respiratory changes, psychosocial problems, and pain
management. The third unit, HIV Special Treatment Considerations, addresses
adherence to therapy, continuity of care, and ethical and legal issues.
Unit four gives guidance for approaching HIV care in some of the diverse
populations particularly affected by the HIV epidemic: women, children,
substance abusers, Hispanics, and African-Americans.

This volume, which contains more than 100 well-organized explanatory tables
and figures, provides a good overview of essential topics and allows easy
retrieval of information on nursing care as well as basic epidemiology and
pathogenesis of frequently encountered HIV-related conditions. HIV Nursing
and Symptom Management provides comprehensive background information and
practical clinical guidance for nurses in HIV patient care or research.

Anne C. Moorman
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Emerging Infectious Diseases
National Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA

Please note that figures and equations are not available in ASCII format; 
their placement within the text is noted by [fig] and [eq], respectively. 
Greek symbols are spelled out. The following codes are used: 
(ft) for footnote; (sup) for superscript; (sub) for subscript; 
>/= for greater than or equal to.

URL: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/EID/vol4no4/ascii/moorman.txt