Home Nursing Basics

From the creators of the For the Love of Animals series (most recently reviewed in our March 1993 issue), Home Nursing Basics features Animals series' host Janine Goldsmith in a different role: tending to the needs of humans. Which, as a licensed R.N. for the past 20 years, is what animal lover Goldsmith does for a living. a relatively low-budget effort, Home Nursing Basics nevertheless does well what its sets out to do: provide the basics for the growing legion of home caregivers. Each volume contains the same opening segments on good posture (to prevent injury to the caregiver) and proper hand washing techniques, and each of the succeeding segments are color-coded for easy reference (a time-coded index card is included as well). Vol. 1 covers turning and positioning patients, measures for enhancing a patient's comfort level, and how to change the sheets of an occupied bed. Vol. 2 includes information on caregiving supplies, dental care, bathing and shampooing a bedbound patient, and giving a back rub. Vol. 3 is devoted to range of motion exercises. Throughout, Goldsmith emphasizes the importance of maintaining communication with the patient. Too, the video offers some great makeshift suggestions for a homemade bed shampooing kit and a nurse's table made out of a cardboard box (thereby saving the caregiver some serious money.) The Home Nursing Basics series offers solid information in a no-frills presentation at a reasonable price. Although not as in-depth (nor as confusingly technical) as the Art of Bedside Care series (reviewed in our September-October 1993 issue), this series is far less expensive and much more appropriate for the home caregiver. Recommended. (R. Pitman)