What This Textbook Actually Covers
Maternal Child Nursing Care 3rd Edition Mckinney is a nursing textbook focused on maternity and pediatric nursing care. It covers pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and the care of infants and children. The book is used in nursing programs across the country. It has chapters on normal labor, high-risk pregnancies, newborn assessment, childhood illnesses, and family-centered care. I bought the third edition for a class I was taking. The Kindle version works fine for studying. The paperback is heavy if you carry it around campus every day. There are also instructor resources available through Elsevier, but those are for professors only.
Where to Find Maternal Child Nursing Care 3rd Edition Mckinney
You can order it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chegg, or directly from the publisher's website. Used copies are widely available on eBay and Facebook Marketplace. Expect to pay between $40 and $80 for a used paperback in good condition. New copies run $120 to $160 depending on the seller. The eBook is around $60 to $90. If you are looking for a free PDF, most complete versions online are pirated. I am not going to link any of those. What I can say is that the book is available through your university library as an eBook if they have a subscription. Many schools do. Check your library catalog first before spending money on it. ISBN 978-0-323-52922-6 for the hardcover. ISBN 978-0-323-52921-9 for the paperback. The eBook ISBN is 978-0-323-54533-2.
How the Book Is Structured
The textbook is divided into parts. Part One covers family and community health nursing concepts. Part Two addresses pregnancy and fetal development. Part Three deals with labor and birth. Part Four covers the postpartum period. Part Five focuses on the healthy newborn. Part Six discusses health promotion for the infant. Parts Seven through Ten move into childhood illness and injury. The writing style is accessible. Not everyone likes it, but it is clear. Each chapter has learning objectives at the beginning, key terms, clinical examples, and review questions at the end. Some students find the review questions helpful for exam prep. Others think they are too straightforward and want more challenging material. That is subjective. You decide what works for you. I used this book during my second semester of nursing school. The chapter on high-risk pregnancy complications was the one I returned to most often. The section on preeclampsia management is detailed. It covers the criteria for diagnosis, medication protocols, and monitoring parameters. A lot of programs use this chapter for their pharmacology integration as well.
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What I Found Useful
The clinical case studies scattered throughout each chapter are practical. They present a patient scenario and ask you to identify nursing diagnoses, interventions, and expected outcomes. In class, our professor assigned several of these as group work. It was useful because it forced us to apply textbook knowledge to something that looked like real patient care. The illustration quality is decent. The diagrams of fetal positioning, placental anatomy, and newborn reflexes are clear enough to be useful without being overly simplified. If you are a visual learner, these figures help. If you prefer text-heavy explanations, you will still get them. There is a companion Evolve website that comes with the textbook. It includes videos, flashcards, and additional case studies. Some students find the videos helpful for understanding procedures like umbilical cord care or perineal assessment. I found the flashcards to be adequate but not exceptional. The content overlaps heavily with the chapters themselves.
Problems I Encountered
One issue I ran into was with the dosage calculation sections. The book provides practice problems, but the answer key sometimes does not show the full working. If you are new to dosage calculations, this can be frustrating. You might get the right answer but have no idea how to arrive at it. I ended up using a separate drug calculation textbook to fill in those gaps. That is not ideal, but it happens. Another problem is the pacing. Some chapters move quickly through content that deserves more time. The chapter on adolescent health, for example, covers a wide range of topics in only a few pages. Mental health, substance abuse, sexuality, and violence are all mentioned, but not deeply explored. If your program requires more depth in any of these areas, you will need supplementary reading materials. The book does not cover every rare condition. It is a general textbook, not a comprehensive reference. Do not expect it to include detailed protocols for every genetic disorder or every type of congenital anomaly. For that, you would need a specialized text or clinical guidelines from professional organizations like ACOG or AAP.
Who Should Use It
This textbook is designed for undergraduate nursing students. It is appropriate for associate degree and bachelor of science programs. It is not intended for graduate-level study or advanced practice nursing. If you are pursuing a nurse practitioner specialization in maternal-child health, you will need more advanced resources. The book is also suitable for licensed practical nurses who want to understand maternal and pediatric care at a foundational level. However, RNs looking for quick clinical reference may find it too broad. A pocket guide or quick-reference manual would serve you better in a clinical setting. If you are a nursing instructor, the instructor resources include test banks, PowerPoint slides, and a course schedule. The Evolve platform makes it easier to manage assignments and track student progress. Some professors require students to purchase the access code for the online resources. Check with your instructor before buying.
Alternatives Worth Considering
If this textbook does not fit your needs, there are other options. Wong's Nursing Care of Infants and Children is another popular pediatric nursing textbook. Lowdermilk's Maternity and Women's Health Care covers similar ground with a different approach. Both are widely used in nursing programs. For a more concise option, you might look at the Maternal-Newborn Nursing by McKinney et al. It is from the same author team and covers the essential content in a slightly shorter format. Some students prefer it because it is lighter and less dense. The main downside of Maternal Child Nursing Care 3rd Edition Mckinney is its price relative to the content depth in certain chapters. Some sections feel padded with general information that could be condensed. On the other hand, the breadth of coverage is one of its strengths. You get a comprehensive overview of both maternal and pediatric nursing in a single volume.
If you need the book for an upcoming semester, order it early. Prices fluctuate, and used copies sell quickly at the start of each term. Check your syllabus to confirm which edition your professor requires. The third edition is current, but some instructors still assign work from earlier editions, and the differences between editions are mostly minor updates to clinical guidelines and medication information. The book remains a solid choice for introductory maternal-child nursing courses. It covers the essentials clearly and includes enough clinical material to prepare students for their skills labs and clinical rotations. Just be aware of its limitations so you know when to seek out additional resources.
