10 Must-Read Books for Emergency Nurse Practitioners

Over the past decade, I’ve amassed quite the collection of books on the topic of medicine. I’ve written this post primarily for emergency nurse practitioners, however, the book list may prove applicable to all emergent and urgent care providers and those interested learning more about this captivating field. Without further ado, here are 10 must-read books for emergency nurse practitioners.

This article was originally written for HealtheCareers, a job search engine for healthcare providers.

Avoiding Common Errors in the Emergency Department

This book concisely describes 400 of the most common errors that can occur in the emergency department. The authors offer practical, easy-to-remember tips to avoid these errors. The book itself is small and can fit into the nurse practitioner’s lab coat pocket.

Pocket Emergency Medicine

Written by Richard Zane and Joshua Kosowsky, this newly updated reference book fits perfectly in your lab coat pocket and offers the essential information every emergency nurse practitioner should have available. The chapters are organized around presenting conditions and the recommendations are concise, highlighting the most crucial elements of the patient history, physical examination, testing, and treatment.

Essential Procedures for Practitioners in Emergency, Urgent, and Primary Care Settings: A Clinical Companion

Edited by Theresa Campo and Keith Lafferty, this book was designed specifically for emergency nurse practitioners. This book contains 72 of the most common procedures used in emergent, urgent, and primary care settings. Each procedure is presented using a concise format and includes photos, diagrams, and tables provide clear directions on how to perform each procedure. This is an extremely informative book and it was authored by nurse practitioners!

Case Files in Emergency Medicine

Recently updated, this books presents 60 real-life patient cases that illustrate the key concepts of emergency medicine. Each case study includes a detailed discussion, clinical pearls, quiz questions, and definitions of key terms. The patient cases are arranged by related topics to improve learning and it primes the reader to think critically about each presentation.

Rosen & Barkin’s 5-Minute Emergency Medicine Consult

Part of the 5-minute consult series, this book contains information on over 600 different clinical presentations. It guides the readers through diagnosis and treatment in the emergency room context. This newly updated version added new topics including acute coronary syndrome, bath salt poisoning, coagulopathy reversal, geriatric trauma, among others. The book also contains ICD-10 coding help.  

ECGs for the Emergency Physician Part 1 and Part 2

Written by Amal Mattu and edited by William Brady, these books include over 200 electrocardiogram (ECG) traces to test your knowledge. It briefly covers the basics of ECG reading and provides in-depth information about the more complex traces that often present in the emergency department.

Emergency Medicine Images for Practice: An Overview of X-Ray, Ultrasound, CT, and MRI Images

Written by Alex Koyfman, this book provides a guide to visual diagnosis. It includes over 500 radiologic images that depict common problems seen in the emergency room. The book allows emergency nurse practitioners to practice making accurate decisions quickly. Furthermore, the book is organized by x-rays, ultrasounds, CTs, and MRIs, making learning easy and quick.

Roberts and Hedges’ Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine

Written by James Roberts, this book is a classic medical reference with step-by-step explanations for the latest procedures and ultrasounds. Roberts discusses the latest equipment, devices, drug therapies, and techniques that all emergency nurse practitioners should understand. Purchasing this book also provides access to a website with supplementary materials and videos demonstrating key techniques.

Accident and Emergency Radiology: A Survival Guide

Described as a “classic reference” and “indispensable aid” this book offers step-by-step analytic approaches to reading and interpreting radiographic images. The text outlines normal anatomy and provides tips on detecting variants of the norm. The authors help readers grasp the nuances of key diagnostic details and learn how to analyze radiographs for a variety of injuries.

Minor Emergencies

Written by Philip Buttaravoli and Stephen Leffler, this book offers practical how-tos to diagnose and treat a variety of non-life-threatening medical crises that might appear in emergent and urgent care settings. The text covers the latest equipment, devices, dosages, and techniques that you need to know, and the book itself is small and portable.

Do you have any book suggestions of your own? Comment below or email me!