Porth’s Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States, 11th Edition

Porth's Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States, 11th Edition - E-Book - PDF
Authors: Tommie L. Norris
Publication: LWW; Eleventh, North American edition (March 8, 2024)
Year: 2024
ISBN: 9781975176846, 9781975176914
Format: EPUB + Converted PDF
Language: English

Preface
Since its first edition in 1982, Porth’s Pathophysiology has grown to become
a trusted and definitive resource for students, instructors, and healthcare
professionals. The goal for each edition has been to develop a text that is
current, accurate, and comprehensive, and presented in a logical manner. This
book was written with the intent of making the subject of pathophysiology an
exciting exploration that relates normal body functioning to the physiologic
changes that occur as a result of disease, as well as the body’s remarkable
ability to compensate for these changes. Indeed, it is these changes that
represent the signs and symptoms of disease.
Although this book’s vision and objectives have remained consistent, this
edition considers the many technological advances allowing healthcare
providers to diagnose earlier and with more accuracy. As the world faced
new diseases such as COVID-19, the text incorporated up-to-date
information with the understanding that advances will undoubtedly be
forthcoming. Contributors from around the world and from diverse
disciplines provided the expertise to make the information applicable to a
broad audience. A strong foundation in pathophysiology is essential to give
healthcare providers the clinical reasoning tools to critically analyze complex
patient situations—both those that are common and those that are rare.
This text focuses on the scientific basis upon which the practice
components of the health professions are based. The evidence-based
information garnered from the text provides practitioners with the knowledge
for effective clinical decision making within a dynamic profession. For the
11th edition, the style of the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association , 7th Edition, was used in each chapter for the
References list and for the in-text citations; this format allows readers to more
easily see references at a glance in the text and facilitates locating references
listed alphabetically at the ends of the chapters.
A holistic conceptual framework uses body systems as an organizing
structure and demonstrates how the systems are interrelated.

Selection of content was based on common causes of morbidity and mortality across the life span, and recent advances in the fields of genetics, epigenetics,
immunology, microbiology, and molecular biology are included. Concepts
are presented in a manner that is logical and understandable for students.

One goal of the new edition is to provide critical information needed to
understand complex health alterations by expanding on the number of
definitions for key terms. Many students are challenged with what seems to
be “another language”—that of health and healthcare. As the diversity of
nurses and other healthcare providers increases, it is imperative to provide
support to clarify the meaning of key concepts. The chapters are arranged so
that fundamental concepts such as cellular adaptation, inflammation and
repair, genetic control of cell function and inheritance, and immunologic
processes appear in the early chapters before the specific discussions of
particular disease states. In addition, nursing concepts are included in this
edition to focus on major ideas and to group and categorize content.
Proven strengths of the text continue to be the expanded chapters on health
and disease; nutrition; sleep and sleep disorders; and thought, emotion, and
mood disorders. Advances in healthcare are presented through the inclusion
of international studies, World Health Organization guidelines, updated
standards, and the health variants of diverse populations.