SMJ 2006 51(3): 51
Edited by Jim Beattie and Robert Carachi
Hodder Arnold 2005 ISBN 0340809329 £40
This paediatric textbook is aimed at students and doctors up to MRCPCH level. The problem based approach gives an excellent introduction to the world of assessing real paediatric problems as they present to the clinician. Each chapter has an up to date introduction to the relevant anatomy, physiology or embryology of the topics which follow. The text is clearly laid out with tables and coloured boxes for case studies and key learning points to illustrate and emphasise the important points in the text. The diagrams, clinical photographs and reproductions of x-rays and scans are of high quality and extremely helpful. The problem based approach of the book presents the reader with a slightly different perspective from that found in the traditional system based textbook. Junior doctors deal with and learn from dealing with children with problems - so this textbook with its alternative approach will be a useful additional source of advice and help to many starting off their careers in paediatrics. I would strongly recommend this text to postgraduate doctors coming to paediatrics (FY1 & 2) and to those starting in their training posts and studying for the MRCPCH.
Reviewed by Dr T Marshall, Consultant Paediatrician, Edinburgh Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Stephen P Kliewer, John Saultz
Radcliffe Publishing Ltd 2006 ISBN 1857756223 £27.95
The aim of this is to bring spiritual growth and healing to the patient as part of a holistic process. It starts by offering an understanding of the whole person, detailing the various facets of personhood. The book works through the concepts of spirituality and religiosity and discusses how that impacts upon various facets of people’s lives. While the book provides an accessible understanding of spirituality, its ultimate agenda is an integrated model that proposes the need for intervention. A proposal of how to develop good communication skills, assessment tools, the referring to a “spiritual specialist” and then the sustained support moves the reader from theory into practice, demonstrating, in their view, what an integrated model means for the healthcare professional. The book provides some rudimentary knowledge of how to evaluate a person’s spiritual health through three models of domain, a journey/process and a relational model. The authors provide a helpful insight into the relationship between these domains and the effect it can have on a person, particularly when there is “incongruence”. This relates to, what is referred to as, the dark side of spirituality, referring to emotions and feelings such as helplessness, hopelessness, anger, guilt, meaninglessness and being disconnected. While this illustrates spiritual distress, the book lays down the full spectrum of the impact of spirituality and shows the real benefit of spiritual stability developed through the themes of hope, empowerment, forgiveness, restoration and connectedness. The book engages with the theory, peppers the pages with helpful definitions, enables the reader to be familiar with current thinking but also engages with what it means through insightful illustrations, questions for reflection and backed up with current research, practical appendices and a bibliography for further reading. Although written with North America’s culture as a backdrop, the content is transferable to a European context. In placing this in the current Scottish Healthcare context, the views of these authors have many similarities to the Health Department Letter 2002 (76) Spiritual Care in NHSScotland. This book as such would certainly add to the national discussion and enable healthcare professionals to engage in a process that would bring about an integrated model relevant to the Scottish cultural context.
Reviewed by Rev Alister Bull, Chaplain, Yorkhill Hospital