Developed for the first-year nursing student, this text emphasizes critical thinking and decision-making by focusing on nursing concepts, principles and rationale that underlie nursing practice. This edition includes stronger nursing process format, an increased number of case studies and nursing care plans, new pedagogy including key points and critical thinking activities and new displays for nursing issues and trends, nursing research, nursing diagnosis and potential complications. New chapters in this edition include diagnostic testing, pharmacotherapeutics and the experience of survey.