Care of the Difficult Patient

by Peter J. Manos, Joan Braun

Developed collaboratively by a doctor and nurse team, this is the first text to deal specifically with nursing difficult patients. Whether patient problems stem from mental distress and ill health, historic substance abuse, demanding family members or abusive behaviour, difficult patients place extra demands on nurses both professionally and personally. Caring for difficult patients requires both technical and interpersonal skills along with an ability to exercise power and set limits. This text presents invaluable practical recommendations and advice, well founded in experience and supported by relevant literature, for nurses coping with challenging, real world situations. Including learning points, further reading, case studies and dialogue examples to highlight good (and bad) practice, the book covers pertinent issues such as psychiatric diagnoses, setting limits and establishing authority, death and dying, stress and work. It is ideal for pre- and post-registration nurses, providing concrete direction on the management of difficult patients.

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2005

About the author

A consultation-liaison psychiatrist, Peter J. Manos was voted one of Seattle's top doctors seven years in a row by Seattle Magazine. After retiring he attended a summer session of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He remains in regular contact with a gecko-like extraterrestrial race which has fled its dying planet to blend into society in the little desert community of Prickly Pear, California. Dr. Manos is author of Care of the Difficult Patient: A Nurse's Guide (with Joan Braun, R.N.); Lucifer's Revenge, a novel of magical realism, which takes place in Seattle; and Dear Babalu: Letters to an Advice Columnist illustrated by Toby Liebowitz.

Latest book: A Girl Named Cricket. FOR THE PAPERBACK, PLEASE ORDER FROM LULU.COM, which pays a fair royalty to me and my publisher.

KIRKUS REVIEW
Dear Babalu: Letters to an Advice Columnist

Manos' (Lucifer's Revenge, 2012) silly, irreverent book covers a lot of weird ground, including implants in teenagers'heads, gurus and magic berries.

Advice columnists will enjoy this book, as will many aspiring genre-fiction writers, cat lovers (and fearers),extraterrestrials, evil geniuses and their nemeses, poets, preteen veterinarians and molluscophiles. In short, there's
something here for everyone.

The book consists entirely of letters written to and or by "Babalu," who dispenses advice inan undefined but apparently at least partially public forum, like a column of sorts. Babalu has a faithful audience of readers who come to him repeatedly for advice on issues large and small. Some even reach out to text Babalu when a call to 911 might have been in order.

Manos' quirky, deadpan style--reminiscent of Douglas Adams and A Prairie Home Companion as well as Monty Python--uncovers a community full of overlapping absurdities and dysfunction, from the family of aliens ("Not you know, undocumented aliens, but like from outer space") that just wants to blend in to the man who can communicate only through poetry to the out-of-work whaler who wants a job screening Babalu's mail. The book is pure fantasy, but one suspects it has roots in real life: Care of the Difficult Patient: A Nurse's Guide (2005), another previous title by Manos, presumably also addresses the notion of recurrent questions and how to handle them with humor.

Manos' writing is terribly clever, and turns of phrase--"One exorcism is almost always sufficient if you put enough meat into it"--interweave with plotlines and a seemingly solid base of knowledge about quantum physics to
make the book a treat even for readers who may think they're above such follies. Black-and-white, Edward Gorey-like illustrations by Liebowitz add to the weird fun. A witty, enjoyable distraction.

Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744
indie@kirkusreviews.com

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