Pudner, R. (2010) Nursing the surgical patient. 3rd edn. Edinburgh: Ballière Tindall Elsevier.

I was gifted this book by a family friend who is a retired nurse! A friend of mine is due to have a surgical procedure soon and has been asking me lots of questions which I am unable to answer due to lack of surgical experience, therefore I decided I would use this book to both prepare for any surgical placements that I may have upcoming and to gain some knowledge to be able to reassure my friend. This book is easily split up into different chapters regarding different body systems therefore it is easy to find chapters relevant to interests. I will use this book when on a surgical placement to expand my knowledge on different procedures, their recovery and how as nurses we can support our patients going through certain procedures. What I have enjoyed most about this book is that it views the patient holistically, and even gives advice on how we can support patients before and after surgery psychologically. It talks about altered body image post-surgery and how we can support patients through these feelings. This book also uses case studies and implies other nursing theories such as the RLT model for assessment of patients undergoing surgery. It was interesting to see a link between other pieces I have read.