Book excerpt: Praised for its comprehensive coverage and clear organization, Critical Care Nursing: Diagnosis and Management, 7th Edition is the go-to critical care nursing text for both practicing nurses and nursing students preparing for clinicals. Nine sections highlight the alterations seen in critical care and make it easy to understand the unique challenges of critical care nursing. An abundance of learning tools such as Patient Safety Alerts, Evidence-Based Practice boxes, NIC interventions, case studies, Pharmacologic Management boxes, and more give you a better understanding of clinical practice and help you reference vital information quickly and easily. Consistent organization within each body-system unit allows you to use this book as a one-stop resource for your critical care nursing education, as well as a reference for the relevant assessment techniques, lab values, and patient management principles needed by practicing nurses. Evidence-Based Practice boxes reinforce practice guidelines for both collaborative and nursing care. Case studies in each chapter help you internalize and apply chapter content to clinical situations. Pharmacologic Management tables offer quick summaries of the drugs most often used in critical care. Patient Safety Alerts provide key information for special safety issues to keep safety in the forefront of your mind. Nursing Management Plans of Care appendix provides detailed, clinically-relevant care plans tied to 35 different NANDA nursing diagnoses. Highlighted QSEN content makes it easy to identify QSEN competencies as they relate to critical care nursing. Internet Resources box provides a list of key websites from leading organizations in critical care. Combined chapter on shock, sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome makes understanding similar physiologic processes easier. Chapter summaries provide quick study guides by organizing key information in the chapter. New! 6-second, standard ECG strips help you learn to identify wave forms and accurately reflect what you’ll use in practice. New equipment information and photos accurately depicts what you’ll encounter in a modern critical care unit.