It Will Be Your Icu Nurses Who Save Your Life

Lined notebook journal for the critical care nurse in your life. Perfect bound 120 page 6 x 9 journal features cream-colored lined writing paper. The simple interior has plenty of room to write in and the cover is a durable soft matte finish. Great appreciation gift idea for ICU intensive care unit nurse, head nurse or charge nurse. Also makes a great gift for nursing school graduate or current student.

"Doctors heal, or try to, but as nurses we step into the breach, figure out what needs to be done for any given patient today, on this shift, and then, with love and exasperation, do it as best as we can."—from Critical Care "At my job, people die," writes Theresa Brown, capturing both the burden and the singular importance of her profession. Brown, a former English professor at Tufts University, chronicles here her first year as an R.N. in medical oncology. As she does so, Brown illuminates the unique role of nurses in health care, giving us a deeply moving portrait of the day-to-day work nurses do: caring for the person who is ill, not just the illness itself. Critical Care takes us with Brown as she struggles to tend to her patients' needs, both physical (the rigors of chemotherapy) and emotional (their late-night fears). Along the way, we see the work nurses do to fight for their patients' dignity, in spite of punishing treatments and an often uncaring hospital bureaucracy. We also see how a twelve-hour day of caring for the seriously ill gives Brown herself a deeper appreciation of what it means to be alive. Ultimately, this is a book about embracing life, whether in times of sickness or health. As she takes us into the place where patients and nurses meet, Brown shows us the power of human connection in the face of mortality. She does so with a keen sense of humor and remarkable powers of observation, making Critical Care a powerful contribution to the literature of medicine.

A collection that provides a compelling and insightful look into the world of ICU nurses. This is a compelling collection of stories by twenty-five nurses working in the ICU, a fast-paced, highly technological environment where patients’ lives are at stake. From cardiac, medical, surgical, and trauma units, these nurses share their experiences of caring for critically ill patients after major surgery, illnesses, accidents, traumas, and even multiple-organ failure. These skilled professionals impart their knowledge and insights, along with accounts of the many challenges, stresses, joys, and dilemmas they face in the ICU. The intense emotional and psychological issues that patients, families — and the nurses, themselves — undergo are also explored. This fascinating collection allows us to peer over the shoulders of nurses while they provide life-saving care to patients.

This book is the first available practical manual on the open abdomen. Practicing physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and physiotherapists will find in it a ready source of information on all aspects of open abdomen management in a wide variety of settings. The coverage includes, for example, the open abdomen in trauma, intra-abdominal sepsis, and acute pancreatitis, step-by-step descriptions of different techniques with the aid of high-quality color figures, guidance on potential complications and their management, and features of management in different age groups. The book contents illustrate the most recent innovations and drawing upon a thorough and up-to-date literature review. Useful tips and tricks are highlighted, and the book is designed to support in daily decision making. The authors include worldwide opinion leaders in the field, guaranteeing the high scientific value of the content.

This classic primer takes nurses inside the hospital, the exam room, and the locker room to help you survive and thrive on the job—now updated for the post-pandemic world. “A must-read guide for new nurses and even those who have been practicing for years.”—Echo Heron, R.N., New York Times bestselling author of Intensive Care In this thorough, readable guide, Donna Cardillo, known as “The Inspiration Nurse,” pulls back the curtain on what it’s really like for first-year nurses, with practical tips for navigating the healthcare system as a new member of the workforce in a world that looks vastly different from ever before. Drawing on her thirty-year nursing career and brand-new insights and perspectives from real healthcare workers, Cardillo shows nurses how to use the principles of self-care, assertiveness, and mindfulness to navigate the interpersonal dynamics that are so key to nursing success and preserve their own longevity in the field. New graduates, second-career nurses, and healthcare workers of all kinds will learn to: • find a job that’s a perfect fit • navigate clinical settings with confidence • develop positive relationships with physicians, patients, and co-workers • stay upbeat, deal with conflict and adversity, and avoid burnout With newly updated material on holistic patient care, empowerment, wellness practices, and cultivating resilience, Your First Year as a Nurse is an essential guide for nurses and healthcare workers looking to survive and thrive in today’s health-services landscape.

For millions of people worldwide, nurses are the difference between life and death, self-sufficiency and dependency, hope and despair. But a lack of understanding of what nurses really do -- one perpetuated by popular media's portrayal of nurses as simplistic archetypes -- has devalued the profession and contributed to a global shortage that constitutes a public health crisis. Today, the thin ranks of the nursing workforce contribute to countless preventable deaths. This fully updated and expanded edition of Saving Lives highlights the essential roles nurses play in contemporary health care and how this role is marginalized by contemporary culture. Through engaging prose and examples drawn from television, advertising, and news coverage, the authors detail the media's role in reinforcing stereotypes that fuel the nursing shortage and devalue a highly educated sector of the contemporary workforce. Perhaps most important, the authors provide a wealth of ideas to help reinvigorate the nursing field and correct this imbalance. As American health care undergoes its greatest overhaul in decades, the practical role of nurses -- that as autonomous, highly skilled practitioners -- has never been more important. Accordingly, Saving Lives addresses both the sources of, and prescription for, misperceptions surrounding contemporary nursing.

This is a true story about my life experiences and the years of circumstances that went beyond my control and the abuse I have suffered starting at age 3. I was abused by my father as a child and then by my husband as an adult. My marriage of abuse lasted 18 years. I am a survivor, not a statistic. This book is full of the truth. It takes you through the tragic and triumphant moments and the struggles I've lived through. I tell of my addiction that was forced upon me by my abuser and the trauma that caused my Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Through it all there was one constant, my faith. My belief that God has a better plan for me is what kept me going.

The team of nurses that Tilda Shalof found herself working with in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a big-city hospital was known as “Laura’s Line.” They were a bit wild: smart, funny, disrespectful of authority, but also caring and incredibly committed to their jobs. Laura set the tone with her quick remarks. Frances, from Newfoundland, was famous for her improvised recipes. Justine, the union rep, wore t-shirts emblazoned with defiant slogans, like “Nurses Care But It’s Not in the Budget.” Shalof was the one who had been to university. The others accused her of being “sooo sensitive.” They depended upon one another. Working in the ICU was both emotionally grueling and physically exhausting. Many patients, quite simply, were dying, and the staff strove mightily to prolong their lives. With their skill, dedication, and the resources of modern science, they sometimes were almost too successful. Doctors and nurses alike wondered if what they did for terminally-ill patients was not, in some cases, too extreme. A number of patients were admitted when it was too late even for heroic measures. A boy struck down by a cerebral aneurysm in the middle of a little-league hockey game. A woman rescued – too late – from a burning house. It all took its toll on the staff. And yet, on good days, they thrived on what they did. Shalof describes a colleague who is managing a “crashing” patient: “I looked at her. Nicky was flushed with excitement. She was doing five different things at the same time, planning ahead for another five. She was totally focused, in her element, in control, completely at home with the chaos. There was a huge smile on her face. Nurses like to fix things. If they can.” Shalof, a veteran ICU nurse, reveals what it is really like to work behind the closed hospital curtains. The drama, the sardonic humour, the grinding workload, the cheerful camaraderie, the big issues and the small, all are brought vividly to life in this remarkable book.