Book excerpt: Gain the knowledge and skills you need to effectively care for adult patients. Medical-Surgical Nursing, 7th Edition covers both medical-surgical and psychiatric mental health conditions and disorders while building on the fundamentals of nursing. This essential text focuses on nursing roles, settings, trends, body systems and their disorders, and emergency and disaster management. Unique to this edition is the gerontologic nursing unit which addresses physiologic and psychosocial changes in the older adult, along with related disorders common to the elder patient - the primary patient group population you'll encounter in practice. It also emphasizes culturally competent care and holistic nursing, while thoroughly covering all relevant NCLEX-PN® test plan content. With updated guidelines on diabetes, heart failure, asthma, COPD, and cancer treatment protocols, no other resource offers the breadth of topics at a level that is so perfectly tailored to the LPN/LVN student. UNIQUE! Gerontologic nursing unit covers physiologic and psychosocial changes in the older adult, along with related disorders common to the elder patient, the primary patient group for whom LPNs provide care. UNIQUE! In-depth pharmacology coverage includes: the Pharmacology Tutorial covering drug classifications, how drugs work, and nursing responsibilities; Pharmacology Capsules boxes providing medication information, precautions for use, interactions, and side/adverse effects; and Pharmacology and Medications tables including classification, use/action, side/adverse effects, and nursing interventions. Nursing care plans reinforce the nursing process and focus on critical thinking. Get Ready for the NCLEX-PN® Examination! sections at the end of chapters include key points, review questions, and case studies that address the various NCLEX® Client Needs categories. Coordinated Care boxes highlight team approach to patient care, helping you to prioritize tasks and assign them safely to assistive personnel. Patient Teaching Plans provide bulleted lists of nursing instructions for patients, stressing the role and responsibility of the LPN/LVN to reinforce patient education. Health Promotion Considerations boxes highlight timely wellness and disease prevention topics. Cultural Considerations boxes discuss the importance of providing culturally competent care related to various clinical situations. Put on Your Thinking Cap boxes allow you to pause and consider the practical implications of what you have just read. Nutritional Considerations boxes are spotlighted at appropriate points throughout the text to emphasize the role that nutrition plays in disease and nursing care. Complementary and Alternative Therapies focus on nontraditional therapies along with precautions and possible side effects. Key terms with phonetic pronunciations help improve terminology and language skills of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students and students with limited proficiency in English before they enter clinical practice. NEW! Organization of disorders units consolidates anatomy and physiology, nursing assessment/data collection, and diagnostic tests into one chapter. NEW! Updated guidelines on diabetes, heart failure, asthma, COPD, and cancer provides you with latest treatment protocols.