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Summary: A true "touching" of the heart of nursing
Review: As a R.N. with 30 years experience, I look forward to Echo Heron's books because they depict the profession of nursing truthfully and with humor. I was not at all disappointed with this current release. Ms. Heron has put together a book of interviews with nurses that is fast-paced, gives such an interesting history of the profession, and aptly depicts nursing as the part of medicine that still focuses on advocacy and compassion. I am proud to be a nurse, and even more proud that there are people like Echo Heron who continue to speak out in favor of good patient care and bringing caring back to the practice of medicine. This is a book that is a "must read" for anyone in the medical field, while "lay" people will also find it totallly absorbing and impossible to put down.
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Summary: EXCELLENT!!!
Review: As a R.N. with 30 years experience, I look forward to Echo Heron's books because they depict the profession of nursing truthfully and with humor. I was not at all disappointed with this current release. Ms. Heron has put together a book of interviews with nurses that is fast-paced, gives such an interesting history of the profession, and aptly depicts nursing as the part of medicine that still focuses on advocacy and compassion. I am proud to be a nurse, and even more proud that there are people like Echo Heron who continue to speak out in favor of good patient care and bringing caring back to the practice of medicine. This is a book that is a "must read" for anyone in the medical field, while "lay" people will also find it totallly absorbing and impossible to put down.
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Summary: Emotional Overload
Review: Echo Heron is a Registered Nurse who writes medical stories on the side. Some novels are of her own experiences, others are fictional thrillers with lots of nursing thrown in, and many open your eyes as to what the RN's see and feel on a daily basis. This one is a collection of true nursing stories from nurses all over the USA. Some of the nurses were there for the victims of the Oklahoma bombing and tell their stories. Of course, all the names are changed and few details left out. But this book was one of the most fascinating to read. A word of warning though. I could not read this one straight through. I had to stop sometimes due to emotional overload. The book holds no punches back and you will be walking in the shoes of the nurses who tell the stories. I cried from despair and then laughed from wild humor in the very next story. You never know how they will end. But, of course, neither did the nurses as the events unfolded to them in reality.
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Summary: I loved this real portrayal of nursing!
Review: I first read this book when I was in RN school. I thought to myself, "What am I getting into?" But I loved the book, and I couldn't put it down! I loaned it to a friend and have since bought two more copies. Now that I have been an RN for a year, I see more of what the nurses in Echo Heron's book go through every day. And, even though I am worried about what the future holds for my profession as the nursing shortage looms above us, I have never been more proud of the title that I have. I love my job, and all that it means. I am very proud to be a nurse, and am also very proud to share my profession with someone like Echo Heron, who is not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks, and she is usually right on the money. Keep writing Echo, and we will keep reading.
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Summary: I checked the box in hopes of there being another cassette
Review: I listened to this on tape, and found myself finding excuses to go somewhere in the car. This collection on vignettes from nurses around the country is captivating. Aside from the sadness, fear, frustration, and joy, you will laugh a lot. A theme that keeps coming up throughout the tape focuses on cutbacks made in the medical profession. Just when you are lost in a story, the "reality slap" of how the system has been altered reaches out and gets you. Although I appreciate this now, I think only a nurse functioning within the constraints placed on them in some situations can truly appreciate it. Nurses are some of the real heroes out there.
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Summary: Should be required reading for all medical professionals!
Review: Reading Tending Lives by Echo Heron incites a feeling of joy one minute, anger and frustration the next. The book is a compilation of nurses' (and one paramedic's) frequently shocking but definitely real tales of the medical profession. Often while reading I thought to myself, "yeah, that too has happened to me so many times!" There are several stories critical of HMOs, hospital administration, and doctors, so beware if you are one of them! There are some "good" doctor stories too. Be prepared to hold your stomach for a number of stories; I thought I had seen just about everything, but after reading this book I realized I certainly had not.
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Summary: Realistic collection of poignantly powerful nursing stories.
Review: This best-selling nurse-author has created another exceptional book -- a powerful collection of realistic experiences from a diverse group of American nurses. Each chapter is written in realistic, first person narrative style, that takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster ride from scenes in a psychiatric ward, to the aftermath of the Oklahoma City Bombing. The author wants the reader to experience "the soul of nurses as they go on about their business of caring," a goal she brilliantly achieves. She borrowed from real-life incidents, and based many scenes on events that she had seen, or that were sent to her by contributors. Echo Heron refers to nurses as "proven heroes," and invites us to "come, take a walk in their shoes." She walks us through exquisite stories that were submitted by thirty-nine different contributors, as well as two of her own personal experiences as a critical-care nurse. Every chapter portrays a different nurse, identified by a fictitious name, who is introduces by a brief, personal portrait. Here are two examples: (Ellen) --"We get so much from the patients...they touch us deep down...They break our hearts, change our lives." (Kate) -- "...there are two kinds of patients who stick out in your mind -- those who might have died if it hadn't been for your intervention, and those who would not have died with dignity if it hadn't been for your intervention." The author shares each vivid scenario while sparing no detail. She takes the reader from tears to laughter in seconds. The short chapters facilitate reading in short increments of time. Because it is intense, reading only one or two chapters at a time will enhance appreciation of each emotional exposé. While doing research for her book, Ms. Heron contacted about four hundred nurses from all fifty states, one hundred permitted an interview, and less than half of these allowed their stories to be published. Many were apprehensive about reprisals, and one even insisted on being interviewed in disguise. As Echo Heron writes, "when a person becomes a nurse they sign on for life...there is a...spirit, a depth of soul... unique to the nurse." She describes nurses as "nitty-gritty hands-on people... Those who choose this profession are...as front-line as front-line gets." This book is for "the millions of nurses worldwide who dedicate themselves to the art of healing," in spite of the turmoil and transitions in healthcare today. This book is recommended for anyone considering nursing, definitely prescribed for those who are already working "on the front line," and for those who had been there at one time. Because of the vivid detail, this book might be too intense for the faint-at-heart or those unfamiliar with the nursing profession. It was my pleasure to relive pieces of my own nursing career as I shared this well-written book. This roller coaster ride was well worth the trip. I am inspired to continue writing my own stories and compiling stories for my own book about nurses, and anyone who was ever "touched" by one. I can't wait to read Echo Heron's next creation!
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Summary: You Must Read This Book if You are Concerned about Health
Review: With incisive insight, and broad oversight, Echo Heron captures the heart of health care. She treats the true stories of nurses, who spend carreers caring, and transforms them into jewels of knowledge about nurses who work at the heart of health care. This book is a clarion call from the depths of suffering of patients *and* nurses in the United States today. We must heed the voice of the knowledge and expertise nurses have built while sharing the best of themselves at the sides of suffering human beings. It is time to transform this knowledge into action to establish health care as a human right in the United States, once and for all.
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