Dean of Allied Health Professions completes 4th edition of one-of-a-kind textbook

By Michael Ford
University News Services

The dean of the VCU School of Allied Health Professions, Cecil B. Drain, Ph.D., R.N., C.R.N.A, F.A.A.N. has completed the 4th edition of his textbook, "Perianesthesia Nursing: a Critical Care Approach."

Regarded as the "standard for perianesthesia nursing care," by W.B. Saunders Publishing Co., it is the only book of its kind offering comprehensive clinical content tailored specifically for the perianesthesia nurse. The new text integrates nursing and pharmacologic interventions and focuses on research, documentation and psychosocial considerations. It has 736 pages and features nearly 260 illustrations. Originally published in 1978, the first edition of the textbook was entitled "The Recovery Room."

"To publish a fourth edition of a book is so rare," Drain said. "It certainly is a wonderful indication that the readers of the book are pleased with my work."

Drain was appointed dean of the School of Allied Health Professions in April of 1997. Prior to that appointment he served as chair of the Department of Nurse Anesthesia. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and a master's degree in adult pulmonary nursing from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Drain earned his doctoral degree from Texas A&M University.

"Dr. Drain has done an outstanding job of sharing his knowledge of perianesthesia nursing," said Hermes A. Kontos, M.D., Ph.D., VCU vice president for health sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System. " Twenty-five years ago his first edition was head and shoulders above other books on the subject, this new edition maintains that lofty position."

Before coming to VCU, Drain had a distinguished 27-year career in the U.S. Army. Selected for the first class of the Army's anesthesiology nursing course, he was a distinguished honor graduate of the phase II portion of the course in 1971. After graduation, he was assigned to the 121st Evacuation Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, where he was the chief nurse anesthetist. Prior to his retirement from the Army, at the rank of colonel, he was the anesthesia branch chief at the U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

The new fourth edition of Drain's book has some outstanding guest authors with VCU connections. They include Stephen P. Long, M.D., VCU Board of Visitors and clinical associate professor in the Department of Anesthesiology; Michael D. Fallacaro, D.N.S., C.R.N.A., professor and chair of the Department of Nurse Anesthesia in the School of Allied Health Professions; William Hartland, Ph.D., C.R.N.A, assistant professor in the Department of Nurse Anesthesia; Charles H. Moore, Ph.D., C.R.N.A., adjunct associate professor in the Department of Nurse Anesthesia and director for nurse anesthesia in the Department of Anesthesiology at the VCU Medical Center; Mimi Hotchkiss, M.S.N.A., C.R.N.A., assistant professor in the Department of Nurse Anesthesia; Donna Johnson, M.S.N.A., C.R.N.A., assistant professor in the Department of Nurse Anesthesia and a staff nurse anesthetist at the VCU Medical Center, Kenneth R. White, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor, Department of Health Administration in the School of Allied Health Professions; and Karen Swisher, M.S., J.D., associate professor in the Department of Health Administration.