A textbook selection process

Analysis of symptom assessment and management content in nursing textbooks

This article reports on one goal of a project designed to improve end-of-life (EOL) care in nursing education. The goal was to improve the content regarding pain and EOL care included in major textbooks used in nursing education. A descriptive study design was selected using content analysis of 50 texts selected from a potential of over 700 texts. The 50 texts included 45,683 pages. The text review was conducted using an analysis framework encompassing 9 essential areas of EOL care. The study methods included content analysis as well as quantification of the content present in the texts. The 9 areas of the analysis framework were: palliative care defined; quality of life; pain; other symptom assessment/management; communication with dying patients and families; role/needs of family caregivers in EOL care; death; issues of policy, ethics, and law; and bereavement. This article reports on the findings of the analysis related to symptom assessment/management. Nursing texts have limited content on symptom assessment and management. Increased attention to this area, a critical role of nursing, is essential to improved care for patients at EOL.

Analysis of pain content in nursing textbooks

This paper reports on one goal of a project designed to improve end-of-life (EOL) care in nursing education. The goal was to improve the content regarding pain and EOL care included in major nursing textbooks. A descriptive study used content analysis of 50 textbooks selected from a potential of over 700 texts used in nursing education. The 50 texts included 45,683 pages. The text review was conducted using an analysis framework and included content analysis as well as quantification of the content present in the texts. While pain was the most common topic in the texts, the 248 pages of pain content represents only 0.5% of total text content. All nine areas of EOL content (902 pages) comprised only 2% of overall text. Particular weaknesses in the review of pain content were recognized in pharmacologic management of pain. In summary, nursing texts have limited content on pain. Increased attention to this area is essential to prepare nurses to care for patients at the end of life.

Analysis of content regarding death and bereavement in nursing texts

Information contained in textbooks provides the foundation for undergraduate education and entry into clinical practice. Inadequate knowledge of health care professionals in end of life (EOL) has been documented and efforts are in progress to improve this care. This paper reports on a project to strengthen nursing education in EOL care. One of the three project goals was the evaluation of EOL content in 50 nursing textbooks. This paper reports findings in two of the nine areas of the analysis framework which are Death and Bereavement. Findings indicate significant deficiencies in the content within these texts. Improvement in text content will require collaboration of palliative care professionals and textbook publishers and can result in increased ability of nurses to improve EOL care.

Development of the Texas Textbook Evaluation Tool (T-TET)

Nurse educators face many challenges in evaluating textbooks to meet the needs of their students and preparing professional nurses who will practice in the next millennium. Using four phases of development, the Texas Textbook Evaluation Tool (T-TET) was created to develop a reliable and valid textbook evaluation instrument. The T-TET may be used to evaluate all levels of textbooks, including specialty textbooks in nursing.