Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology: Essentials for Clinical Practice

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Specifically designed for future healthcare providers who will diagnose, manage, and prescribe

This advanced physiology and pathophysiology text is designed to address the specific learning needs of future nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other advanced healthcare providers caring for patients across the lifespan. Focusing on practical applications of physiology, it facilitates in-depth understanding of important pathophysiological concepts as they relate to major disorders commonly seen in clinical practice and includes comprehensive pediatric and geriatric considerations. This knowledge is crucial to providing the foundation required to be an informed and confident clinical decision maker.

The author team includes experienced clinicians and educators: nurses and nurse practitioners, physician assistants, doctors of pharmacy, physicians, and basic scientists. This collaboration has produced a text that carefully details and richly illustrates the cellular structure and function of each organ system and mechanisms of associated major clinical disorders. Uniquely interweaving aspects of organ function during healthy states with disease-associated changes, the text emphasizes and extends the basic science foundation to practical clinical applications. The text promotes a deep understanding of cellular function in health and disease that provides the bedrock knowledge required to master pharmacology for prescriptive practice. Equally important, the solid foundation of applied pathophysiological mechanisms offered in this text prepares the student clinician to care for patients with a broad variety of disorders. This resource not only provides a deep dive into pathophysiology, but it also examines why patients often present with particular symptoms, the rationale for ordering specific diagnostic tests and interpretation of results, and common management strategies that proceed from the underlying pathophysiology.

Key Features:
• Designed explicitly to build a foundation for pharmacology and clinical courses that lead to successful clinical practice and prescribing
• Includes comprehensive lifespan considerations with key insights from specialists in pediatric and geriatric pathophysiology
• Provides a complete chapter on the basic principles of genetics and genomics with coverage of genetic variations, assessment, and genomics woven throughout the book
• Integrates thought questions and case studies to promote discussion and synthesis of information
• Offers a unique Bridge to Clinical Practice in each chapter to translate science to patient care
• Includes more than 500 images to illustrate complex scientific concepts
• Summarizes the contents succinctly with handy key points at the end of each chapter
• Provides access to the fully searchable ebook, including student ancillaries on Springer Publishing Connect™

Nancy C. Tkacs, PhD, RN, received her BSN and MSN degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and her PhD in physiology with a focus in neuroscience from Loyola University of Chicago Graduate School at the Stritch School of Medicine. She completed postdoctoral training in neuroendocrinology in the laboratory of Dr. William F. (Fran) Ganong at University of California San Francisco. Dr. Tkacs conducted preclinical research on neuroendocrine responses to physiological stressors in rodent models, particularly pertaining to the diabetes complication hypoglycemia unawareness. Dr. Tkacs has been teaching pathophysiology for advanced nursing practice for over 25 years, drawing on her knowledge of organ systems physiology and pathophysiology to provide a strong basic science foundation for advanced nursing practice. As a master's-prepared nurse with a doctorate in physiology, she is able to build a bridge between physiology concepts and the pathophysiology of disease. Students learn how findings from the history and physical and diagnostic test results relate to the underlying disease process at the cell and organ level. She taught advanced pathophysiology and neuroscience courses at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the New Jersey Medical School; she taught advanced pathophysiology and pathogenesis of mental health disorders courses at the University of Pennsylvania; and she directed and taught advanced pathophysiology and advanced pharmacology online courses at the University of Southern California. She also served as assistant dean for Diversity and Inclusivity at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Linda L. Herrmann, PhD, RN, AGACNP-BC, GNP-BC, ACHPN, FAANP, earned her BSN, MSN, and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing under the mentoring of Neville E. Strumpf, PhD, RN. Dr. Herrmann's clinical and research interests are neuroscience, aging, caregiving, palliative and supportive care and end of life care, use of mixed reality platforms to enhance engagement with clinical content, and health policy related to transitions in care of older adults. She has experience teaching graduate level advanced pathophysiology and pathopharmacology in both in-person and virtual platforms. She is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in neuroscience and aging. She was a John A. Hartford predoctoral scholar, a Faculty Nurse Scholar through the Harford Faculty Scholars Program Policy Leadership Institute in Washington DC, and is an Advisor with the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing and a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Randall L. Johnson, PhD, RN, is an associate professor of nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He is also a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner.