This book will support the developments in general practice by
introducing subjects that influence health care. Although the term
practice nurse is used throughout the text, community health care nurse
could equally apply as the editors recognize that much of the material
covered is valuable to any nurse who works in the discipline of
community health. Health itself is multifaceted and the contents of this
book have been carefully chosen to serve as an introduction to areas of
health care that are likely to be new to the majority of readers. The
chapters therefore can be viewed as a comprehen- sive text but each is
sufficiently detailed to accommodate a specific framework for its
subject area that should provide the basis for competent working
knowledge. Hopefully readers will feel inspired to build on the work in
these chapters and there is a wealth of specialized and detailed
knowledge available in the colleges of higher education, nursing,
medical and public libraries that provides material for further reading.