help in selecting a book

frankly, i think that one of the big reasons people purchase the ackley/ladwig book is because of the cross-reference guide that is at the beginning of the book. that runs about 70+ pages and isn't going to change from edition to edition. i find that most students use that cross index to look up potential nursing diagnoses for their care plans since it is organized by symptoms, medical diagnoses and clinical conditions. i'd borrow someone else's book and just xerox that section. the other features of the book are the nursing interventions with evidence based rationale, nanda information and suggestions for outcomes (goals). the problem with the interventions is that they are general in nature. the difference between the latest version and the previous version is that the newer nursing diagnoses have been added to the book.

i, personally, prefer to use nanda-i nursing diagnoses: definitions & classification 2007-2008published by nanda international. all it contains is the bare bones nursing diagnosis information, defining characteristics (symptoms) and related factors. it costs only $24.95 and must be ordered directly from nanda http://www.nanda.org/html/nursing_diagnosis.html for interventions and the same nanda information and goals i would get any other care plan book which is organized by medical diagnoses.

recently i have been finding good information for interventions in nurse's 5-minute clinical consult: procedures and nurse's 5-minute clinical consult: treatments and nurse's 5-minute clinical consult: signs & symptoms. however, to buy all of these would be outside your budget.