Book review: Community Nursing in Australia

Abstract

THIS BOOK AIMS to be a comprehensive insight into community nursing in Australia. The text largely achieves this claim and in doing so has provided one of the first texts of its type contextualised specifically at Australian community nursing issues. The book comprises 24 well organised and clear chapters around the three primary elements: the organisation of community nursing in Australia; the rapidly changing environment of community health delivery; and the specific practice elements of community nursing care. The chapters are well set out and include a focussed conclusion that really distils the essential elements. The text makes appropriate use of case studies, and scenarios add to the quality of the overall product. One area that could have been given more prominence would have been a specific chapter on issues concerning the community nursing care of Australia?s Indigenous population, as well as a chapter on community nursing approaches to stigmatised and marginalised groups. While reference is made to these groups within other chapters, it may have been more powerful had chapters been specifically written on these groups. Despite this, there is a lot to like about this Australiancentred nursing text. In addition to what you would routinely expect to find in a text on community nursing, the book includes chapters on risk management; organisation culture and organisational change; the changing professional role of community nursing; and the changing focus of research. Overall, the book is easy to read and provides an excellent overview of community nursing in Australia. Additionally, as outlined earlier in this review, the text takes the reader further than what you would expect from a book of this nature. The book would suit a wide variety of readers, from those wanting a greater understanding of the complexities of nursing in the community to nurses working in a range of community health settings.