"This is an excellent book for anyone starting out on the Common Foundation year of their Nursing Degree, and as a reference to those further into their degree, on placement, or newly qualified. It covers everything from communication skills to pressure ulcers, and includes all four Nursing branches: Child, Adult, Mental Health and Learning Disability." Conor Hamilton, Student Nurse, Queens University Belfast, UK "An excellent foundation text for first year pre-registration nurses. The accompanying DVD encourages application of the theory and helps consolidate learning." Janine Lee, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK "This book provides an excellent alternative to other Clinical Skills books. The most obvious and most useful difference is the addition of a CD Rom. The book itself is clearly laid out from the beginning, with the table of contents detailing all the essential areas of nursing that are often forgotten. It is often assumed that nursing students already know the basics so the inclusion of how to bed bath a patient or how to feed a patient was welcomed. While primarily aimed at those following the common foundation program (1st year) it has also been of great use to myself during my 3rd year." Jackie Sheridan, Student Nurse, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK "I found this book useful for a backup from clinical skills sessions to refresh my mind. It uses simple easy understandable language with key ideas highlighted and uses pictures and diagrams where necessary. I found the cd-rom invaluable as it uses step to step guides of skills used and although we all learn them in skills sessions we sometimes forget the gold standard way as we learn to cut corners." Becky Gray, Student Nurse, University of Worcester, UK "I was very impressed by this textbook. It reads very well, is easy to follow and is suitable for students within the common foundation programme." Conleth Kelly, Lecturer in The Faculty of Health and Social Care, The University of Chester, UK "This is an impressively comprehensive guide to clinical skills drawing from the expertise and real life experiences of a variety of contributors with health and social care backgrounds ... The edge to the book that I feel raises it above other clinical skills guides, is the free interactive DVD. Designed to be used at certain points during the reading of the book, it provides the reader/viewer with extensive further reading and resources ... Additionally, and perhaps most usefully, it provides the student with video clips of the clinical skills being performed, which show how the bestevidence based methods can easily be applied in practice." Daniel Gill, Student Nurse, University of Salford, UK Clinical Skills: The Essence of Caring is an innovative new textbook and integrated Media Tool package which makes teaching and learning nursing interactive! Based on the Essence of Care, this book covers the core clinical skills curriculum and takes a holistic approach to the importance of delivering excellent nursing care. This comprehensive package offers a unique way of relating theory to practice, making it an essential learning resource for all CFP and nursing students. Visit www.openup.co.uk/clinicalskills for a preview of the DVD and updated material.