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Fundamentals of Nursing

Active Learning for Collaborative Practice

  • 4th Edition - January 12, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Authors: Barbara L. Yoost, Lynne R. Crawford
  • Language: English

Build a solid foundation in the knowledge and skills you need to succeed as a nurse! Designed specifically for today’s healthcare environment, Fundamentals of Nursing, 4th Edition… Read more

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Description

Build a solid foundation in the knowledge and skills you need to succeed as a nurse! Designed specifically for today’s healthcare environment, Fundamentals of Nursing, 4th Edition, takes a fresh, conversational approach that is friendlier than typical books on nursing fundamentals. To make understanding easier, the book introduces basic information first and then follows with progressively more nuanced and complex nursing concepts. Unfolding case studies and critical thinking exercises provide a unique kind of active learning, allowing you to apply concepts to actual patient care. Even care planning is different, as authors Barbara L. Yoost and Lynne R. Crawford are pioneers of conceptual care mapping — a visual, holistic way of making clinical judgments and planning patient care. Essentially, this text offers an easier, fundamentally different way to learn the nursing profession!

Key features

  • Nursing Heads are correlated to the clinical judgment skills that occur at that stage of the nursing process
  • Clinical chapters contain one single-episode NGN-style case study with new NGN question types to help you practice for licensure from the beginning of your education
  • Interprofessional collaboration and delegation content appears throughout the text along with new IPE activities on the Evolve companion website
  • UNIQUE! Review and exam questions tied to learning objectives start at lower Bloom's taxonomy levels in early chapters and build to more complex levels as you acquire more knowledge
  • Emphasis on assignment and delegation covers the differences between them and how and when they're appropriate for a nurse
  • Content on complementary therapies throughout the text reflects changes to the NCLEX exam
  • UNIQUE! Warm, friendly writing style slows down the pace of information to give you time to critically think and master all fundamental concepts and skills
  • UNIQUE! Building block approach groups topics and concepts together thematically, in the order needed for you to build their knowledge
  • UNIQUE! Objective-driven approach presents clearly defined, numbered objectives that coordinate with all content and then wrap up with Objective Summaries
  • UNIQUE! Active learning exercises throughout every chapter help you learn to apply chapter content to broader nursing concepts and realistic patient scenarios
  • UNIQUE! Conceptual care mapping is taught and used throughout the text in conjunction with the conceptual care map creator on the Evolve companion website
  • Special feature boxes cover the areas of: diversity considerations, evidence-based practice, informatics, patient education, healthy literacy, health assessment questions, interprofessional collaboration and delegation, ethical and legal practice, home care considerations, safe practice alerts, critical thinking exercises, and nursing care guidelines

Readership

Nursing students in 2-year and 4-year programs

Table of contents

UNIT 1 NURSING BASICS

1. Nursing, Theory, and Professional Practice

2. Values, Beliefs, and Caring

3. Communication

4. Clinical Judgment in Nursing

UNIT 2 NURSING PROCESS

5. Introduction to the Nursing Process

6. Assessment

7. Nursing Diagnosis/Problem Identification

8. Planning

9. Implementation and Evaluation

UNIT 3 NURSING PRACTICE

10. Documentation, Electronic Health Records, and Reporting

11. Ethical and Legal Considerations

12. Leadership and Management

13. Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Research

14. Health Literacy and Patient Education

15. Nursing Informatics

16. Health and Wellness

UNIT 4 NURSING ASSESSMENT

17. Human Development: Conception Through Adolescence

18. Human Development: Young Adult Through Older Adult

19. Vital Signs

20. Health History and Physical Assessment

21. Culture

22. Spiritual Health

23. Public Health and Community Health

24. Human Sexuality

UNIT 5 NURSING PRINCIPLES

25. Safety

26. Asepsis and Infection Control

27. Hygiene and Personal Care

28. Activity, Immobility, and Safe Movement

29. Skin Integrity and Wound Care

30. Nutrition

31. Cognitive and Sensory Alterations

32. Stress and Coping

33. Sleep

UNIT 6 NURSING CARE

34. Diagnostic Testing

35. Medication Administration

36. Pain Management

37. Perioperative Nursing Care

38. Oxygenation and Tissue Perfusion

39. Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balance

40. Bowel Elimination

41. Urinary Elimination

42. Death and Loss

Abbreviations, Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes Appendix A
Appendix B
Helpful Strategies for Answering NCLEX-Style Questions Appendix C
GLOSSARY
INDEX
SPECIAL FEATURES
SKILL

Product details

  • Edition: 4
  • Latest edition
  • Published: January 12, 2026
  • Language: English

About the author

BY

Barbara L. Yoost

Affiliations and expertise
Emerita Faculty, Kent State University College of Nursing, USA