Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis

This is a must have for all nursing students. It is compact and has a ton of information. Throw it in your bag and take it to class and clinicals.

For a pocket book of nursing diagnosis this book has several advantanges over other similar books (NANDA included) the defining characteristics are classified as Major (must be present) and Minor. NIC and NOC recommendations for every diagnosis are made. It also includes cluster of nursing diagnosis for common medical situations.

This is an easy to use, space saving, great purchase!! I can look up the same things as my classmates that have the regular Carpenito. Everyone that has seen my pocket Carpenito has wanted to know where I got it!

The only reason this book is a four star and not a five is that you do have to learn to use it. It is especially beneficial when dealing with collaborative problems. The larger book was helpful in understanding the whole process of nursing diagnosis and what it is meant to convey; the handbook will suffice for most nursing care plans, rationale tends to be a student pre-occupation. The organization is alphabetic, very clear for me once you know the few nursing diagnoses that are NANDA approved. Carpenito gives clear assessment data that must be present to support the diagnosis and interventions that make sense to select from as appropriate to your patient. I have used the book since the 7th edition and own the eighth and ninth. The tenth is available and I look forward to seeing the changes.

Previous edition was selected to be in "Core Collection in Nursing and the Allied Health Sciences," from Oryx Press, 1990.