Rehabilitation of the Older Patient: a Handbook for the Multidisciplinary Team.

Edited by Squires AJ. Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522, Sharon and House Incorporated, paper, 277 pp, $29.50

Have you ever read a book and wanted it to end? I believe that many readers would also have that reaction to this book. It adds nothing to the knowledge base of rehabilitation of the older patient. I am not sure that it includes one redeemable chapter.

The book begins with an introductory chapter, "Disease and Disability in the Elderly: Prospects for Intervention," by Cameron Swift. This chapter states that there is an ever-increasing group of older individuals in our society. In seven short pages, the history of care for the elderly is summarized.

From this point, the book gets worse. Each of the chapters provides a minimum of information. The chapter Psychological Aspects of Working With Elderly Clients" covers very superficially the cognition of models in psychological change. The chapter entitled "Ages of Communication Problems with Elderly People" is a student's rendition of some of the problems that might be encountered in patients who have hemisphere damage.

The chapter "Assessment of the older Person" is partially redeemed by a short-form general mobility index. It is very general but could be useful to the reader who has never seen an assessment form.

The next chapter, "Mental State and Physical Performance: To Rehabilitate or Not to Rehabilitate," does not provide new or useful information. Rehashed issues are presented without conclusions.

The chapter "The Role of the Nurse in Rehabilitation" is somewhat useful and provides a general outline of the role of a nurse working in long-term care. The scenario on geriatric footwear is straight out of the podiatric literature on common problems like foot ulcers, corns, and calluses. There is also a chapter entitled "Rehabilitation of Ethnic Minorities." All the authors reveal about minorities is their geographic origin and what language they speak.

The chapter "Home Assessment" is repetitive. It is merely a repetition of literature from the home assessment and geriatric areas.

The chapter "Methods of Record Keeping" covers different record-keeping methods like POMR and SOAP, but so superficially that you do not get an understanding of what they are and how they can be used in the assessment of older patients.

The book does include some appendixes that provide information that may be useful to therapists in England. It provides no information that would be of assistance to therapists practicing in the United States, however.

In summary, I would not recommend this book to anyone, not even to someone who is mildly interested in geriatrics. As a very basic book it has some merits, but I do not believe it offers anything to therapists practicing in the United States.

Carole B Lewis, PhD