Preventing Diabetic Foot Ulcers: The 3-Step Program
Family Health Media
PO Box 1842
Charlottesville, VA 22903
www.familyhealthmedia.com
DVD or VHS, 18 minutes, English and Spanish, U.S. $99 (includes 11”x17” wall poster)

This entertaining 18-minute DVD is designed as a patient education program that offers viewers a three-step approach to preventing foot ulcers. The three major concepts, foot checks, common foot problems, and footwear, are presented by a health care professional, several individuals with diabetes, and a talking foot cartoon.

The program is appropriate for providing foundational information to patients with newly-diagnosed diabetes and as a review for those with longer-standing diabetes. The program can be easily viewed in multiple settings on a computer. There are useful real life examples of how to perform a self-inspection of the foot, what to do for common foot problems that can lead to foot complications, and which shoes are most appropriate for foot ulcer prevention. In order to reinforce the important concepts, specific demonstrations with colorful motion graphics, charts, photographs, and illustrations are provided. The flow of information is well-paced and simplistic. The one “study” that was highlighted regarding the significance of footwear to foot ulcer prevention was somewhat outdated. Offering a few more references at the end of the DVD would be advantageous for those interested in obtaining more in-depth information about foot care prevention practices.

This program would be very useful as a stand-alone patient education module on foot care or as an adjunct teaching aid to an overall diabetes education program. Nurses, diabetes educators, pharmacists, and others who provide patient education in health-care and community-based settings can obtain the DVD in English or Spanish.

Teresa J. Kelechi, PhD, RN, CWCN
Associate Professor of Nursing
College of Nursing
Medical University of South Carolina

Contemporary Nephrology Nursing:
Principles and Practice
Anita Molzahn and Evelyn Butera (Editors)
Second Edition, 2006
American Nephrology Nurses’ Association
East Holly Avenue, Box 56
Pitman, NJ 08071-0056
www.annanurse.org
ISBN 0-9768125-4-1
Hard cover, 973 pages, U.S. $95 ANNA members/ $115 nonmembers

The 2nd edition of the Contemporary Nephrology Nursing: Principles and Practice is now available. It has been 8 years since the first textbook was published and this one contains the best of that edition as well as updated medical, health, social, and technical information. This book will appeal to the practitioner, the history buff, the educator, and the theorist. The entire life span, all the stages of kidney disease, and all modalities of treatment are discussed. Additional information includes diabetes, nutrition, pharmacology, teaching, ethics, infections, informatics, and health policy. The text is divided into 10 Units with chapters on specific topics. Four appendices in quick reference chart form are at the conclusion of the book. Each chapter contains a Chapter Highlight page, which facilitates a rapid scan of the chapter’s content. New to this edition is the opportunity to receive continuing education credit for each of the 39 chapters.

The information is extensive and excellent and can be used by novice and experienced nurses and other providers of nephrology care. The format of text and charts invites the reader to use it as a quick reference or to study a topic in more depth. Extensive reference lists accompany each chapter. The chapters would make excellent topics for educational programs and orientation programs. The text is also well suited for students.

This text must be a part of every nephrology nurse’s personal library as well as be available in dialysis facilities and clinics caring for people with chronic kidney disease in any stage. Primary care sites that are now caring for an increasing population of people with some form of kidney disease would benefit from having this text available for rapid and accurate information. This reviewer has already put her copy to use for helping to clarify questions and for providing patient care.