A Foundation for Neonatal Care: A Multi-disciplinary Guide

"Description: This book presents the basic concepts of fetal medicine, genetics, and the biochemical and physiologic basis for various neonatal disorders. Purpose: According to the editors, the purpose is to help neonatal care providers understand the genetic, physiologic, and biochemical mechanisms of the conditions affecting their patients. This is not a book to guide clinical interventions, but one junior practitioners might consult to understand the basis for a particular disease state or to help senior staff prepare a comprehensive talk on that illness. These worthy objectives are for the most part met, but the range of topics is limited by space. The writing is concise and easy to understand. Audience: Although the editors state that the book is aimed at all neonatal care providers, the basic nature of the presentation would be most useful to trainees, fellows in neonatology, and nurse practitioners. The editors are all consultants, lecturers, and clinicians in the British healthcare system. Features: The first chapter is devoted to fetal medicine, and the next two deal with genetic and metabolic disorders and mechanisms of inheritance. Chapters 3 to 11 detail the physiology of various organ systems, pharmacology, and nutrition. The last chapter is rather unique in that it reviews the principles of clinical decision making, using as an example a postoperative neonate who has a respiratory emergency at night in the NICU. Few chapters in the neonatal literature are devoted to this subject, and the approach of this chapter makes it the gem of the book. The only shortcoming is the failure to include more topics and greater depth in each chapter, since the concept of explaining basic mechanisms of neonatal disease could fill a much larger book. Assessment: Few books can compare to this one. The standard textbook for neonatal physiology and biochemistry is Fetal and Neonatal Physiology, 3rd edition, Polin et al. (Elsevier, 2004), a monster of a book in two volumes and nearly 2,000 pages. While the Polin is expensive, comprehensive, and difficult to read, the Hall is the beginner's version with clear, concise writing, good diagrams, and easy to understand concepts about the basic mechanisms of neonatal disease. Many of today's practitioners would greatly benefit from its review of genetics and, especially, the chapter on clinical decision making." -- Doody Review Services.