Skip to main content
  • Book report
  • Published:

Fawcett JAD: Hemodynamic Monitoring Made Easy, 1st edition. China: Elsevier

2006. 240 pp. ISBN 0-7020-2781-2

This volume was written primarily for nurses in the intensive care unit. It was written by one of the more knowledgeable and successful nurses in critical care academia today. Ms Fawcett has the necessary breadth of physiological insight and years of technical experience, and an easy writing style to describe complex ideas and applications related to bedside hemodynamic monitoring to an exceptional degree. The book is an ambitious undertaking to place critical care nurses at the center of protocolized resuscitation from the perspective of active participation. I recommend this volume to junior nurses starting out in critical care medicine as well as more senior nursing staff who wish to take an active role in understanding bedside monitoring-driven resuscitation protocols and their protocol development.

The book is divided into three sections. Section one is the obligatory description of cardiovascular physiology and the ability to use monitoring devices accurately to collect the measures of pressure, flow, and oxygen saturation necessary to treat the critically ill. I like the fact that all chapters are salted with short quizzes so that the reader can test their retention of specific details before proceeding. This approach in a non-threatening fashion is a wonderful and non-confrontational teaching aid and brings the student to the table to sample the foundations of why monitoring is done. Section two is the meat of the book. It takes the understanding of physiology to the practical bedside application with fundamentals of hemodynamic monitoring and the effect of ventilation on measured hemodynamic variables. These chapters show insight and understanding as to what the novice needs to know and why. The final section takes hemodynamic monitoring into the realm of future monitoring techniques and protocolized care. These two final chapters are the dessert. They describe novel and evolving bedside monitoring as it may be in the future and then ends with the very relevant chapter on hemodynamic monitoring-directed therapy. Recent studies cited by Ms Fawcett underscore the leadership role of bedside nursing in the resuscitation of hemodynamically unstable patients.

The references cited in the book are recent, relevant and reflect some of the best studies in the field. The figures, although slightly small because of the size of the book itself, are clear and appropriate. I especially like the fact that Ms Fawcett does not overpower the reader while providing a powerful and relevant amount of material for the practical and effective practice of bedside hemodynamic monitoring. It is a pleasure to read and is an important reference to keep once completed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael R Pinsky.

Additional information

Competing interests

MRP has received financial benefits from Arrow International, Edwards Lifesciences and LiDCO Ltd and holds shares in LiDCO Ltd.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pinsky, M.R. Fawcett JAD: Hemodynamic Monitoring Made Easy, 1st edition. China: Elsevier. Crit Care 11, 306 (2007). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/cc5672

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/cc5672

Keywords