Touched by a Nurse: Special Moments that Transform Lives [Paperback]

Jim Kane (Author), Carmen Germaine Warner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1999

Nurses narrate personal stories and encounters offering the opportunity for all nurses to be reminded of those meaningful events that constitute nursing. Real experiences enhance the image of nursing by presenting the special elements of the relationships between nurses and the people in their care. 126 vignettes from nurses around the world and in a variety of disciplines come together in this text to show how the drama of the daily life of nursing brings about universal, spiritual lessons. This is the perfect resource to show your students the human aspect of nursing and a perfect gift for a colleague or yourself!

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 1st edition (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781718732
• ISBN-13: 978-0781718738
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,487,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book, motivates and inspires, long overdue!, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Touched by a Nurse: Special Moments that Transform Lives (Paperback)

Touched by a Nurse is a collection of 126 vignettes written by practicing nurses throughout the world. In spite of the fact that most of the nurses have no experience in writing (or perhaps because of this fact), their stories come through clean, strong and memorable. The nurse co-editors envision this volume providing support to practicing nurses, underlying their often unrecognized intangible contributions. With fewer and fewer students entering the field of nursing, the editors aspire to enhance the view of nursing as a profession. As one reads the vignettes, the honesty and humility of the nurse storytellers shines through. One gains a new respect for the profession of nursing as nurses accurately and sincerely tell of mistakes, prejudices, and personal failings, and how they have learned from them. Nurses relate of being refilled spiritually by their patients, recognizing the gift they have received, then passing this unseen healing force along to patients to come. Several of the vignettes are humorous, as in one nurse who was robbed at gunpoint of her patient. A practical sort, not one to argue with a gun, she helped the robber wheel the patient out of the recovery room on a stretcher, then calmly called the front door security guard who retrieved her patient and brought him back. Another theme that emerges from the seemingly unrelated vignettes is the feeling of responsibility for the health of those with who the nurse comes in contact. This sense of responsibility extends not only to the family members of their patients, but to coworkers and neighbors. Clearly a nurse's job does not end when the shift ends. One is struck by how touched the nurses are by their patients. Story after story describes the nurse's joy at receiving a small remembrance from a special patient - a post card, an eclair, a letter. That nurses would recount such a token of appreciation fifteen to twenty years after the fact speaks to the fact that nurses treat their profession as a higher calling, but one undertaken by very human individuals. One thing is certain, after reading this book, everyone will feel very secure in trusting their lives to a nurse.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You do not have to be a nurse to enjoy this book!, May 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Touched by a Nurse: Special Moments that Transform Lives (Paperback)

This book contains compassionate and moving stories about the incredible impact nurses have on the care and lives of their patients. Often nurses feel overlooked and unvalued. This book teaches us to appreciate all the good that nurses do though it may go unseen. It lifts them up and validates how profoundly they touch our lives. It is clear that this book is a "must read" for everyone.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was a joy and an inspiration to read!, September 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Touched by a Nurse: Special Moments that Transform Lives (Paperback)

I have read many medical books but none have come close to the admiration and inspiration I felt while reading, "Touched by a nurse." I highly recommend this book for anyone in the healthcare field. It will inspire all readers with the honor of knowing that human to human caring is alive and well. (We call this caring the glorious profession of nursing!) I anxiously await the second edition!