General practice nursing. Lynne Walker, Elizabeth Patterson, William Wong, Doris Young. Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 2010 (518 pp). ISBN 9780070276949.

Nursing in general practice has seen a recent dramatic expansion in funding and participation. Similar to general practice itself, before the introduction of vocational training, nurse practitioners come from a variety of professional backgrounds with differing skill bases. This has led in both cases to a shift towards greater regulation and standardisation. To underpin this standardisation, comprehensive, well respected reference resources, such as the seminal General practice by John Murtagh, are required.

For general practice nursing, such a reference should not only contain clinical guidance, but also address the many and varied needs of nurses in primary care. Areas such as administration and finance, professional development, leadership and teamwork, education and research need to be addressed. With respect to clinical guidance, the nurse in general practice has different requirements to both general nursing and general medical practice. Areas where this is more apparent include triaging, vaccination, medication storage and management, infection control, wound management and health promotion.

The recently released General practice nursing is written by two leading Australian nursing educators and two leading Australian general practice educators, and has 29 contributing authors. The ambitious scope of the book is to tick all of the boxes mentioned above, and it does so comprehensively and authoritatively.

This well timed and much needed publication is written in a style and format that is accessible to its target audience of busy practice nurses. There are colour-coded chapters, tables, images and photographs that make it visually appealing and accessible. It also includes chapter overviews, objectives, case studies, testimonials, key messages, resource guides and links, and comprehensive referencing.

General practice nursing is a new and important book for a rapidly expanding profession and, appropriately priced, it should become the definitive reference resource for nursing in Australian general practice.