Theresa Brown (1)

Wonder what a day in the life of a nurse at a US based hospital is like (pre-covid)? This book tells you, since it's written by a nurse.

"This job would be easier if there weren’t such a narrow divide between being the canary in the coal mine and Chicken Little."

"The patients are the key to the entire shift: they can make a day intolerably frustrating or unbelievably rewarding, or occasionally both."

"I wish I had more time to sit and hold every patient’s hand. To really listen."

There are many details in this book, and some may glance over some of it as it doesn't take away from the book.

The author likes to include poets and poems in the book. She doesn't specifically say why, but my guess is because has a PhD in English.

There is a great wrap-up at the end that includes just about everyone the author talks about.

"And sometimes we don’t know how a patient’s story ends. People are “lost to follow up,” move, get treatment elsewhere, never again come to the hospital because they’re transferred to outpatient care. I often don’t know what happens to patients I’ve laughed with, cried with, gone toe-to-toe with a doc for, or talked at length with family members about."

"There will come a time when each of us will need a clean, well-lighted place that stays open all day and night, offering shelter from life’s storms."… (mehr)