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carolpk's review against another edition
5.0
My sincere thanks to Michael Rockliff and Workman Publishing for allowing me to read this in e-galley format to be published April 21, 2015
The Hook - As a non-practicing LPN, the subject of Nursing has always interested me.
The Line - Each chapter of Alexandra Robbin’s The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital open with three quotes. Here are just a few that I found interesting:
” ER nurse practice in an environment that has been called permanent whitewater, where constant change, challenge, and crisis are the reality. Amazing stories occur each day and some of these stories may never be acknowledged or written.”
--Emergency Nurses Association, Award Recognition Program.
“Pop culture would have us believe that nurses play a small, trivial roll in healthcare; medical television programs tend to show doctors lingering at patients’ besides while nurses flit and intone “Yes, Doctor” in the background.”
“Nursing is more than a career; it is a calling. Nurses are remarkable. Yet contemporary literature largely neglects them.” 1st chapter Secret Club
The Sinker - I came away with lots of thoughts and feelings after reading this.
Nurses laugh that people think their job is TV-series sexy.”
There are many inequalities between nurses, doctors, administrators and technicians.
Bullying, known as ”eating their young” continues to be prevalent amongst nurses.
Pg. 137 “Nurse bulling is a significant problem in many corners of the world, etc. Worldwide, experts have estimated that one in three nurse quits her job because of it, and that bullying—not wages—is the major cause of a global critical nursing shortage.”
This saddens me as the shortage of nurses would speak to the need for mentors and those willing to help the new become proficient in their career.
Alexandra Robbins not only shows, she tells in this revealing expose of the modern day state of nursing. Interspersing the stories of four women who chose nursing, as their career, is the reality of the good, the bad and the ugly of our nations hospitals, staffing and the health care system. Robbins balances this gloomy picture with testimony from nurses on why they sign up and sign on for this often-thankless job. Though those considering a career in nursing could be discouraged by this narrative, Robbins concludes with some practical solutions to correct the problem, leaving us with a sense of hope. It is an eye-opener not to be missed.
Nurses are the true champions, our caregivers, and deserve our utmost respect.
The Hook - As a non-practicing LPN, the subject of Nursing has always interested me.
The Line - Each chapter of Alexandra Robbin’s The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital open with three quotes. Here are just a few that I found interesting:
” ER nurse practice in an environment that has been called permanent whitewater, where constant change, challenge, and crisis are the reality. Amazing stories occur each day and some of these stories may never be acknowledged or written.”
--Emergency Nurses Association, Award Recognition Program.
“Pop culture would have us believe that nurses play a small, trivial roll in healthcare; medical television programs tend to show doctors lingering at patients’ besides while nurses flit and intone “Yes, Doctor” in the background.”
“Nursing is more than a career; it is a calling. Nurses are remarkable. Yet contemporary literature largely neglects them.” 1st chapter Secret Club
The Sinker - I came away with lots of thoughts and feelings after reading this.
Nurses laugh that people think their job is TV-series sexy.”
There are many inequalities between nurses, doctors, administrators and technicians.
Bullying, known as ”eating their young” continues to be prevalent amongst nurses.
Pg. 137 “Nurse bulling is a significant problem in many corners of the world, etc. Worldwide, experts have estimated that one in three nurse quits her job because of it, and that bullying—not wages—is the major cause of a global critical nursing shortage.”
This saddens me as the shortage of nurses would speak to the need for mentors and those willing to help the new become proficient in their career.
Alexandra Robbins not only shows, she tells in this revealing expose of the modern day state of nursing. Interspersing the stories of four women who chose nursing, as their career, is the reality of the good, the bad and the ugly of our nations hospitals, staffing and the health care system. Robbins balances this gloomy picture with testimony from nurses on why they sign up and sign on for this often-thankless job. Though those considering a career in nursing could be discouraged by this narrative, Robbins concludes with some practical solutions to correct the problem, leaving us with a sense of hope. It is an eye-opener not to be missed.
Nurses are the true champions, our caregivers, and deserve our utmost respect.
lweihl's review against another edition
4.0
To all my nursing friends....if you have to put up with some of the stuff I read in this book then I respect your choice to be in nursing even more. Very enlightening read.
bloodymargie's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting but extremely repetitive. The author discussed the same issues nurses face and the proposed solutions over and over again, when it really only needed to be said once. The actual nurses’ stories were really interesting, but the repetitiveness was so boring I couldn’t finish the book. Stopped halfway through.
meganpalmer731's review against another edition
4.0
Quick read and enjoyed narrative nonfiction format. Compelling stories for sure--organization was just a bit off for me.
kristin_thereader's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
meaustin's review against another edition
2.0
I received a free advance copy to review.
I will start off by saying this isn't my usual genre - I am much more of an avid fiction reader.
That being said, I was extremely interested in the premise of this book: shadowing different ER nurses and providing a peek inside their lives. It started off strong, I was hooked in by each of the different unique women and their perspectives. However, I ended up not finishing this - it just couldn't hold my interest. I liked the parts that involved the nurses and their day-to-day, but the informative, essay-like commentary in between just didn't interest me. It was too many facts and research, and a lot of it started sounding all the same. It felt weird inserted in between the real life stories.
I would have preferred a different format... less essays and research and more just a look inside the nurses' days, then drawing my own conclusions about how flawed the system is and how hard they work. This may be just because I don't typically read a lot of non-fiction.
I will start off by saying this isn't my usual genre - I am much more of an avid fiction reader.
That being said, I was extremely interested in the premise of this book: shadowing different ER nurses and providing a peek inside their lives. It started off strong, I was hooked in by each of the different unique women and their perspectives. However, I ended up not finishing this - it just couldn't hold my interest. I liked the parts that involved the nurses and their day-to-day, but the informative, essay-like commentary in between just didn't interest me. It was too many facts and research, and a lot of it started sounding all the same. It felt weird inserted in between the real life stories.
I would have preferred a different format... less essays and research and more just a look inside the nurses' days, then drawing my own conclusions about how flawed the system is and how hard they work. This may be just because I don't typically read a lot of non-fiction.
readerpants's review against another edition
4.0
This came highly recommended by a nurse I know: she's been an NP for 20 years and was a NICU and ER nurse in Baltimore for 19 years before that, so if she tells me that a book on nursing is gripping, accurate, and worth recommending to new and aspiring nurses, I believe her (and you probably should too).
It was definitely gripping. I spent a week telling everyone snippets of the (mostly horrifying and funding-related) facts I was learning. Every time I left work exhausted after multiple storytimes, outreaches, difficult desk shifts, whatever, I said (to myself and everyone around me), "If I were a nurse, I'd still have six hours left to work AND I wouldn't have had a lunch break AND I wouldn't have been able to pee AND I probably would have been assaulted! And I definitely would have had to clean up a lot of bodily fluids!" So, perspective. Thanks, book.
The writing was smooth and readable, totally the sort of nonfiction that has a lot of potential readers and is a great one to have in your back pocket for RA. I'm grateful that it ended on a positive note, because mostly it left me feeling terrified of hospitalization, and concerned for nurses and hospital funding everywhere. (Give them adequate staffing and let them pee!) And honestly, the appendix of helpful tips if you're ever in the hospital was so practical and useful that I'm considering photocopying it for future reference. Also, I'm never paying attention to "patient satisfaction" ratings ever, only nurse-patient staffing ratios. Not that I'm likely to be someone with a choice of hospitals, but still.
It was definitely gripping. I spent a week telling everyone snippets of the (mostly horrifying and funding-related) facts I was learning. Every time I left work exhausted after multiple storytimes, outreaches, difficult desk shifts, whatever, I said (to myself and everyone around me), "If I were a nurse, I'd still have six hours left to work AND I wouldn't have had a lunch break AND I wouldn't have been able to pee AND I probably would have been assaulted! And I definitely would have had to clean up a lot of bodily fluids!" So, perspective. Thanks, book.
The writing was smooth and readable, totally the sort of nonfiction that has a lot of potential readers and is a great one to have in your back pocket for RA. I'm grateful that it ended on a positive note, because mostly it left me feeling terrified of hospitalization, and concerned for nurses and hospital funding everywhere. (Give them adequate staffing and let them pee!) And honestly, the appendix of helpful tips if you're ever in the hospital was so practical and useful that I'm considering photocopying it for future reference. Also, I'm never paying attention to "patient satisfaction" ratings ever, only nurse-patient staffing ratios. Not that I'm likely to be someone with a choice of hospitals, but still.