Principles in Nursing Practice in the Era of COVID-19

Book excerpt: This guide provides a summary of key nursing practices and established guidelines necessary to provide care to the spectrum of patients with COVID-19. Experts in the field offer concise and relevant information to fill current knowledge gaps.With the discovery of the novel Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and the development of the subsequent pandemic, large amounts of information have become available about the nature of the virus and how best to care for those afflicted. As nurses caring for these critically ill patients, discerning good evidence-driven data from the masses can be overwhelming, and integrating it into current guidelines can be challenging. This book is meant as a practical nursing guide for both the inpatient and outpatient settings as well as the adult and pediatric populations. This virus has progressed rapidly, causing substantial disruption on a global scale never before seen in our lifetime. Caring for these patients has proven especially challenging due to the rapid growth of research and ever evolving data that comes with the discovery of a new disease. The editors desired to produce a concise, current, and convenient resource accessible to nurses of any background, in any geographical location, which would provide a foundation for the care of patients with COVID-19.