cover image - Fundamentals of Nursing - Elsevier E-Book on VitalSource, 12th Edition
ISBN: 9780443245336
Copyright: 2026
Publication Date: 03-21-2025
Page Count: 1536
Imprint: Elsevier
List Price: $137.99

Fundamentals of Nursing - Elsevier E-Book on VitalSource, 12th Edition

by Patricia A. Potter, RN, MSN, PhD, FAAN, Anne G. Perry, RN, MSN, EdD, FAAN, Patricia A. Stockert, RN, BSN, MS, PhD, Amy Hall, RN, BSN, MS, PhD, CNE and Wendy R. Ostendorf, RN, MS, EdD, CNE

Elsevier eBook on VitalSource

cover image - Fundamentals of Nursing - Elsevier E-Book on VitalSource, 12th Edition
ISBN: 9780443245336
Copyright: 2026
Publication Date: 03-21-2025
Page Count: 1536
Imprint: Elsevier
List Price: $137.99
Most review copies are eBooks – how fast!
A review copy request is most likely to be fulfilled as an eBook on VitalSource rather than a print product, unless no eBook is available. eBooks become available in as little as a few hours. Print products will take between 7 and 10 days to arrive. To request a print copy, please contact us through the Evolve Support Center for further assistance or contact your Elsevier Sales Rep.
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**Selected for 2026 Doody's Core Titles as an Essential Purchase in Fundamentals**

Give your students a solid foundation in nursing — from basic concepts to essential skills to development of clinical judgment! Fundamentals of Nursing, Twelfth Edition seamlessly integrates exceptional teaching and learning resources in a guided approach that extends all the way through your Fundamentals curriculum. The text’s comprehensive coverage emphasizes critical thinking, clinical judgment, evidence-based practice, nursing theory, and person-centered care in all settings. Illustrated, step-by-step guidelines make it easier for students to learn important skills, and care plans are presented within a nursing process framework that is coordinated with clinical judgment. On the Evolve companion website, study tools reinforce understanding for students with different learning styles, and instructor tools help you implement other Elsevier nursing resources and teach more effectively.
    • UPDATED! Content reflects the latest evidence-based practice, including the most current information on infection control standards, oxygenation, technology in health care, and more
    • UPDATED! More than 80 new photos and images present updated skills and represent the diversity of nurses and patients throughout
    • UNIQUE! Critical Thinking section incorporates clinical judgment and critical thinking to help students develop these valuable skills. The unique critical thinking/clinical judgment model is visually depicted by a series of progressive images that demonstrate the application of the nursing process, critical thinking, and clinical judgment — and how they all tie together
    • UNIQUE! Reflective Learning questions in every clinical chapter are associated with each of the six clinical judgment skills and coordinate directly with the case study presented in the care plan
    • UNIQUE! Building Competency boxes in every chapter incorporate nursing competencies, e.g., person-centered care, safety, and evidence-based practice. Each box presents a clinical situation followed by several open-ended questions designed to help students understand and apply these core competencies. To make these easy for instructors to use, the questions are then answered on the Evolve site with full rationales
    • UNIQUE! TEACH for Nurses lesson plan manual helps instructors more easily implement the elements of our fundamentals offerings appropriate to their classroom, supplies clinical judgment development activities, and maps key nursing curriculum standards, including the AACN Essentials
    • UNIQUE! Caring for Patients with Chronic Illness chapter helps prepare students to address the unique health care needs of patients who have complex, long-term, chronic disease, who face the physical and emotional impacts of the illness, and the therapies used to treat it
    • Evidence-Based Practice boxes reflect current research and include a PICOT question, a summary of the results of a research study, and the impact the study has made in nursing practice. Where applicable, these EBP boxes will focus on “Never Events” (those events that are completely preventable, dangerous to patients, and non-reimbursable) and new related research
    • Case studies in all clinical chapters tie together the care plan, concept map, and reflective learning exercises
    • Clear delegation coverage notes which skills can and cannot be delegated and indicate exactly which tasks to delegate. Many chapters incorporate delegation considerations into the chapter case study and there is also a delegation section in every skill and procedural guideline
    • This title is also available in Sherpath! Sold separately, this innovative teaching and learning technology offers interactive course content and resources that streamline class preparation and assessment and give students personalized help to reach their learning goals. Sherpath fully includes the ebook of this title for all-in-one digital course delivery
    • 1,500-question test bank offers traditional multiple-choice, alternate item, and NGN-style questions at all difficulty levels, with an emphasis on application-level questions. NGN-style questions are currently only available in Elsevier’s Assessment Builder
    • Planning and Outcomes Identification sections include sections on Outcomes, Setting Priorities, and Teamwork and Collaboration to help students plan and prioritize comprehensive patient care
    • Teamwork and Collaboration headings highlight information to help nurses work effectively both within the nursing team and within the larger healthcare team, allowing them to make the best use of available healthcare resources to improve patient care
    • Implementation sections include health promotion, acute care, and restorative and continuing care to prepare students for all levels of care in all settings
    • Patient Teaching boxes help students plan effective teaching by first identifying an outcome, then developing strategies on how to teach, and finally implementing measures to evaluate learning
    • Focus on Older Adult boxes highlight key aspects of nursing assessment and care for this population
    • Cultural Care boxes summarize cultural considerations related to the chapter topic and provide practical guidelines for how to meet patients’ cultural needs and preferences
    • Nursing Assessment Questions boxes help students learn to effectively phrase questions for patients
    • More than 50 skills are generously illustrated in a two-column format that includes rationales for each step alongside clear, step-by-step instructions for providing safe nursing care. Rationales cite current evidence-based research
    • Key points are tied to the chapter objectives and neatly summarize the most important content for each chapter to help students review and evaluate learning.
    • Key terms at the beginning of each chapter help students learn the most important terminology for that area of content
    • Unexpected Outcomes and Related Interventions for skills alert students to possible problems and appropriate nursing action
    • More than 30 procedural guidelines provide streamlined, step-by-step instructions for performing very basic skills
    • A consistent five-step nursing process framework for clinical chapters coordinates completely with the accompanying clinical judgment skills used for each step
    • More than 20 concept maps visually demonstrate planning care for patients with multiple nursing diagnoses
    • NOC outcomes, NIC interventions, and nursing diagnoses in care plans reflect the standard used by institutions nationwide
    • More than 20 care plans demonstrate the application of the five-step nursing process to individual patient problems to help students understand how a plan is developed and how to evaluate care. Patients in the care plan extend to the Reflective Learning activities at the end of each clinical chapter
    • Evidence-Based Practice chapter helps students understand how nursing research serves as the basis for determining best practice, and the critical importance of this continually evolving dynamic
    • Safe Patient Handling Guidelines are included in the Patient Safety and Quality chapter
    • Evolve companion website provides students with skills video clips, skills checklists, printable key points, answers to the review questions in the book, a fluid & electrolytes tutorial, a concept map creator, an audio glossary, and more
    • Five review questions for each chapter include answers both in the book and on the Evolve companion website (with rationales)
  • UNIT 1 Nursing and the Health Care Environment
    1. Nursing Today
    2. The Health Care Delivery System
    3. Population Health
    4. Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice
    5. Evidence-Based Practice

    UNIT 2 Caring Throughout the Life Span
    6. Health and Wellness
    7. Caring in Nursing Practice
    8. Caring for Patients With Chronic Illness
    9. Cultural Care
    10. Family Dynamics
    11. Developmental Theories
    12. Conception Through Adolescence
    13. Young and Middle Adults
    14. Older Adults

    UNIT 3 Clinical Judgment in Nursing Practice
    15. Critical Thinking and Clinical Judgment
    16. Nursing Assessment
    17. Analysis and Nursing Diagnosis
    18. Planning and Outcomes Identification in Nursing
    Care
    19. Implementing Nursing Care
    20. Evaluation
    21. Managing Patient Care

    UNIT 4 Professional Standards in Nursing Practice
    22. Ethics and Values
    23. Legal Implications in Nursing Practice
    24. Communication
    25. Patient Education
    26. Informatics and Documentation

    UNIT 5 Foundations for Nursing Practice
    27. Patient Safety and Quality
    28. Infection Prevention and Control
    29. Vital Signs
    30. Health Assessment and Physical Examination
    31. Medication Administration
    32. Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative
    Therapies

    UNIT 6 Psychosocial Basis for Nursing Practice
    33. Self-Concept
    34. Sexuality
    35. Spiritual Health
    36. Loss and Grief
    37. Stress and Coping

    UNIT 7 Physiological Basis for Nursing Practice
    38. Activity and Exercise
    39. Immobility
    40. Hygiene
    41. Oxygenation
    42. Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balance
    43. Sleep
    44. Pain Management
    45. Nutrition
    46. Urinary Elimination
    47. Bowel Elimination
    48. Skin Integrity and Wound Care
    49. Sensory Alterations
    50. Perioperative Nursing Care

    Index
    Special Features
  • Patricia A. Potter, RN, MSN, PhD, FAAN, Formerly, Director of Research, Patient Care Services, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Anne G. Perry, RN, MSN, EdD, FAAN, Professor Emerita, School of Nursing, Southern Illinois University—Edwardsville, Edwardsville, Illinois, USA, Patricia A. Stockert, RN, BSN, MS, PhD, Formerly, President, College of Nursing, Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing, Peoria, Illinois, USA, Amy Hall, RN, BSN, MS, PhD, CNE, Professor and Dean, School of Nursing, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA and Wendy R. Ostendorf, RN, MS, EdD, CNE, Contributing Faculty, Masters of Science in Nursing, Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
    • Ways of Reading
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      • This e-publication is accessible to the full extent that the file format and types of content allow, on a specific reading device, by default, without necessarily including any additions such as textual descriptions of images or enhanced navigation
      • No information about nonvisual reading is available
    • Conformance
    • Navigation
      • Table of contents to all chapters of the text via links
    • Rich Content
      • No information is available
    • Hazards
      • No information is available
    • Product Content
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    • Legal Considerations
      • No information is available
    • Additional Accessibility Information
      • For readers with color vision deficiency, use of color (e.g., in diagrams, graphics and charts, in prompts, or on buttons inviting a response) is not the sole means of graphical distinction or of conveying information
      • E-publication includes basic navigation (usually less detailed than TOC-based navigation)
      • Where links, controls or buttons are included in the content, the purpose or functionality of each link, control or button is apparent from the associated text alone - or where it is unclear, separate link, control or button descriptions are provided
      • All (or substantially all) textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order (including text that is visually presented as separate from the main text flow, e.g., in boxouts, captions, tables, footnotes, endnotes, citations, etc.). Non-textual content is also linked from within this logical reading order. (Purely decorative non-text content can be ignored).
      • The language of the text has been specified (e.g., via the HTML or XML lang attribute) to optimise text-to-speech (and other alternative renderings), both at the whole document level and, where appropriate, for individual words, phrases or passages in a different language.
Most review copies are eBooks – how fast!
A review copy request is most likely to be fulfilled as an eBook on VitalSource rather than a print product, unless no eBook is available. eBooks become available in as little as a few hours. Print products will take between 7 and 10 days to arrive. To request a print copy, please contact us through the Evolve Support Center for further assistance or contact your Elsevier Sales Rep.
An Access Code
Important note
You are viewing the faculty version.
Students requesting access will be reported.
Student access
Technical Support
Contact your Elsevier Sales Rep to learn more about adopting this product