Customer Reviews

Condition Critical

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the sequel, as it were to Echo Hero's first biographical volume 'Intensive Care' and for the most part, continues in the same entertaining vein. I really symathised through the account of her burn-out, but felt the attraction for me dwindling during the Monserrat section of the book. None the less, definitely worth reading.

So far this is the only book that I have read by Heron but its indeed the best picture of the critical care nurse's work life. Incompetent physicians, critical patients, demanding families, lazy co-workers, and of course the constant surprises, are all highlighted in hilarious quips. I love how Heron makes nursing sound as challenging as it is. I have been working critical care for only a short time but its amazing the power that your knowledge has over determining a person's outcome. Heron highlights different scenarios and what interventions she had to do to make sure that the patient's condition improved. She is an extraordinary nurse and an excellent author. This book would rattle many would be nurses, while getting an appreciative nod from experienced ones. Its a great book and Heron should be proud of this work. It really shows people how hard nurses work and that there is a lot of compassion in this field.

This review comes from a non-reader. I read only if it keeps me reading. I read Intensive Care after a co-worker had given it to me and found a common bond with Echo Heron having been there myself. I bought Condition Critical when it first came out and she did it again. I left a hospital after the "assistants" came to help with our staffing problems. In this book, she tells it like it is and stands up for nursing--I wish she was still nursing and writing. We need nurses who can say what needs to be said and let the public know what's going on. All her books are entertaining and the real life one's are so funny, many a time I was laughing out loud!!

I loved Intensive Care and was thrilled to see Echo Heron's continuing story. The first two-thirds of the book had tales just as good, if not better, than the stories in her first book. However, her burnout and departure from nursing was an abrupt and sad ending. I hope that Ms. Heron has since reconsidered leaving the profession because it is obvious that she is a nurse with much to give. Though hospitals will never be perfect employers, there are many that are far better than "Redwoods Memorial" and I was disappointed that she did not try working somewhere else rather than giving up in disgust and despair. That said, I hope that laypeople as well as medical professionals read this book and see the things that are happening in medicine today that are driving so many excellent nurses out of the profession. Perhaps if enough people recognize the value of the contribution nurses make to medicine they can pressure hospitals into doing everything they can to recruit and retain the truly gifted ones like Echo Heron.

This book is great. It really gives a very accurate portryal of what a "real nurse" is and does. A great addition to any nurses book collection that you should read over and over again throughout your nursing career. We all can relate to her tales of a typical shift.

Echo Heron's novel proves an excellent read for anyone in health care or interested in health care. With a perfect blend of the human as well as, administrative side Ms. Heron moves the reader sometimes with tears other times with anger. A must read for anyone who wants to make a difference and care for their fellow mankind.

a book i could not put down, a real eye opener into the real life of the medical feild. this book will both make you cry, and laugh. i am a big fan of this writter, and went on to buy every book she has written.

This book was given to me by a friend, and I really enjoyed it. It's a very human, candid portrayal of a nurse and the people who touched her life. Definetely worth a read.

Heron's experiences are entertaining. She writes with humor and with honesty. However, her writing is somewhat choppy and even slow in places. I felt disappointed at the end of this book, somehow let down by her lack of 'depth' and insight into the suffering that she witnessed daily. Her clinical evaluations and uplifting sense of humor were a treat, but spiritual and psychological observations were not easily found in this work.

Echo Heron has written many books, about four or five that I have read. As a computer scientist, I loved the look into a nurse's life, which is difficult at best.