Understanding Pathophysiology

Rating:
Summary: Graduate nursing student
Review: Of all books that I read in undergraduate and graduate schools this one is the winner in dullness and difficulty reading. Instead of presenting already complex topics in more comprehansible way, this book just makes matters worse. If you are a student and this book is a requirement, well- good luck. If you are instructor- read this book before you make it a requirement. The only way this book may be a worthwhile to read if you are planning to write pathophysiology book and want to know what writing style to avoid.

Rating:
Summary: Analyze this
Review: Rather than giving my opinion on this book, I would like to quote a typical paragraph. If you like it, you will probably like the book, but if you don't, you probably won't:

"An altered level of arousal (awareness) with acute onset may be caused by various factors (i.e. structural arousal alteration, metabolic arousal alteration, psychogenic arousal alteration). Structural causes are divided according to whether the original location of the pathologic condition is above or below the tentorial plate. Pathologic processes include infectious, vascular, neoplastic, traumatic, congenital (developmental), degenerative, polygenic, and metabolic causes. Metabolic causes are further divided into hypoxia, electrolyte disturbances, hypoglycemia, drugs, and toxins (both endogenous and exogenous). All the systemic diseases that eventually produce nervous system dysfunction are part of this metabolic category. Alterations in arousal range from slight drowsiness to coma" (page 356).

Rating:
Summary: I Know It's Wierd But I Liked It!
Review: Reading the other negative reviews below I'm beginning to question myself, "Am I wierd?" "Am I missing something?" "Maybe I'm just a nerd." I have taken many physiology- and biology-related courses during my time as a bioengineering and nursing student and this book is not as bad as people are making it out to be.

Granted, Pathophysiology is a very difficult subject. There is tons to learn and it cannot possibly be mastered 100% after taking one course using one textbook, so I would like to begin by saying that I'm amazed at how good of a job these authors did in 1181 pages of text. I found that compared with many of the other books I've read the style in this one was actually rather easy to understand, with paragraphs first giving the overall you-need-to-know-this information moving down into the more obscure facts and explanations. Many times difficult sentences would be broken down in detail in the following sentences rendering the complicated a little easier to understand (see "Analyse This" review by another reader below).

The authors have decided to break up the topic by body systems:
1. Neurologic
2. Endocrine
3. Hematologic
4. Cardiovascular and Lymphatic
5. Pulmonary
6. Renal and Urologic
7. Reproductive
8. Digestive
9. Musculoskeletal and Integumentary

Then in each system they first do a very helpful review of how the systems work under normal circumstances--basically a review from your anatomy and physiology classes. Then it moves on to discuss the diseases of each system and the pathophysiology of each one. First the disorder is described. Then the causes, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, evaluation, and treatments of each is discussed.

My one complaint is with the number of pictures in the book. There are many good quality pictures, but not enough. Many times the authors go to extreme lengths to describe a disease and I walked away without a clue of what it would look like, which really hindered the practicality of my understanding. Then I'd go online and look it up and upon viewing a single picture, my confusion would usually go away.

A final suggestion which really, really helped me was the purchase of the Study Guide (ISBN: 0323028462).

Rating:
Summary: good info, bad organization
Review: The information in this book is great, but the organization and editing is horrid. I would be reading along and the text would wander off onto other subjects and eventually drift back to where it started.

If you have to have this book, try and find another one that makes more sense to your head if this one doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: Probably not the authors' fault
Review: This was the prescribed textbook for a class I took in nursing school. I found it very difficult and unpleasant to read, as did most of my classmates. Halfway through the semester, someone introduced me to another book by the same authors, called "Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults & Children" (4th edition, ISBN 0-323-01438-0). This book is twice as long as "Understanding Pathophysiology" and is much easier to understand. It is a sheer pleasure to read. I would give it five stars without hesitation.

I suspect that "Understanding Pathophysiology" is a condensation of "Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults & Children" and that the publishers mistakenly thought they were making things easier for students by leaving some details out.

It may seem paradoxical, but I think it would take less time to read the big book than the small one.

Rating:
Summary: A postive guide in a complex world.
Review: Understanding pathophysiology requires years of study and practice, believe me I know. As a practicing RN/APRN and pathophysiology teacher at a local college - I have come to rely on Huether & McCance to guide myself and students through this complex subject. Give the book and authors the credit due for making sense of a difficult and oft times frustrating topic. "Understanding Pathophysiology" is everything the title promotes it to be.

Rating:
Summary: Probably not the authors' fault
Review: Understanding pathophysiology requires years of study and practice, believe me I know. As a practicing RN/APRN and pathophysiology teacher at a local college - I have come to rely on Huether & McCance to guide myself and students through this complex subject. Give the book and authors the credit due for making sense of a difficult and oft times frustrating topic. "Understanding Pathophysiology" is everything the title promotes it to be.