Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery

**Selected for 2026 Doody's Core Titles as an Essential Purchase in Perioperative**

Gain the knowledge and skills you need to provide safe, effective perioperative nursing care! Alexander’s Care of the Patient in Surgery, 17th Edition is the definitive resource for nurses and surgical technologists training for a career in the operating room. Illustrated, step-by-step instructions cover patient care in more than 400 surgical interventions, including patient positioning, instrumentation, and postoperative care. Along with the latest on robotic surgery and a review of evidence-based guidelines, this edition includes new coverage of COVID-19 and gender affirmation surgery. From well-known educator Jane C. Rothrock ― and with every chapter authored by an expert nurse ― Alexander’s gives you the tools you need to pass the CNOR^© certification exam and succeed in the surgical setting.

• Comprehensive coverage includes basic perioperative nursing principles, such as patient and environmental safety, infection prevention, patient positioning, anesthesia and pain management, and the unique needs of special populations such as pediatric and geriatric patients
• Coverage of more than 400 general and specialty surgical interventions includes minimally invasive and robotic-assisted surgical procedures, whether performed in a hospital, ambulatory surgery setting, or in a doctor's office
• Perioperative nursing considerations are presented within the nursing process framework and include assessment, nursing diagnosis, outcome identification, planning, implementation, evaluation, discharge planning, and patient and family education
• More than 1,000 full-color photos and illustrations show surgical anatomy, procedures, methods, and equipment
• Sample plans of care include nursing diagnoses, outcomes, and interventions
• Research Highlight and Evidence for Practice boxes discuss recommendations for applying current scientific research to patient care
• Robotic-Assisted Surgery boxes highlight a rapidly expanding surgical modality.
• Enhanced Recovery After Surgery boxes promote protocols to improve outcomes, reduce the length of stay, and reduce the patient’s cost of care
• Patient Engagement Exemplar boxes optimize surgical outcomes by addressing AORN guidelines on the issues of patient care and involvement of the patient’s family
• Patient Safety boxes highlight practices and initiatives for patient safety in the surgical setting
• Patient, Family, and Caregiver Education boxes include specific guidelines for preprocedural and/or postprocedural care, potential complications, home care, discharge instructions, and psychosocial care
• Ambulatory Surgery Considerations boxes highlight patient selection criteria, special anesthesia considerations, and patient assessment implications for outpatient surgical procedures
• Surgical Pharmacology tables summarize the drugs most commonly used for each surgical specialty, including generic and trade names, indications, and pharmacokinetics
• Critical Thinking questions at the end of each chapter let you assess your understanding of important material
• Exam-style practice questions on the Evolve website include answers and rationales
• References to AORN Guidelines and toolkits are discussed as relevant to the topic

• NEW! Additional content on infection prevention includes coverage of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Candida auris
• NEW! Coverage of discharge planning and gender affirmation surgery is added to this edition