The Nurse's Story

I read this book 18 years ago and it made an impression on me. Over the years I've thought about the book over and over again--the different stories, the people, the morals, etc. I think about the socialite with breast cancer and the dilemma of administering a fatal dose of morphine to a patient in pain. This is a book that definitely stays with you.

I found this book at a goodwill store, at first expecting not to find anything at all. I bought it for a dollar then started reading it just to check it out, but then found myself deeply attached to it. My mother is a nurse and the only reason this book got my attention on the shelf was because I wanted a narrative true story of what her life *must be like* at work. All in all, this is a very well-written book. **Someone above made a comment about her home life story not being "worth a reader's time," but hey, it's reality and I didn't expect her to start telling stories of her glass slipper or eating a poisoned apple. Anyone with compassion would understand what she's been through (especially waiting anxiously for her husband to return before she realizes she's been abandoned again and again) and and the only reason it doesn't sound "exciting" (to some readers) is because she obviously skipped more painful and complicated details. Any reader should be able to understand that. And isn't this a story about *nurses* after all?Anyway, the book is amazing. It opened my eyes a little to what nurses really go through and what they have to do to keep their sanity. It made me understand my mother's work more. It is one of the toughest jobs out there and the author definitely gives us a great & down-to-earth tour of her journey. Go ahead and read it. You'll laugh and cry.

"The Nurse's Story" is a book about patients. Carol Gino tells about her years of nursing without writing a book about herself. Instead, she focuses on her patients, on their courage, pain, and the lessons they pass on to all of us. In "The Nurses Story" we see nursing rise above science. Ms. Gino makes this a book about caretaking, a book we can all use to aid in our own healing.

This novel tells the tale of a nurse and her life in a way that has had me laughing and crying throughout the story. The characters became so real to me I could hardly put the book down. I really felt for them. The way I view the field of medicine since reading this book has drastically changed.

This story is about a compassionate young nurse who wants to take away pain and heal everyone because she believes that between good doctors and miraculous medicine, all suffering can be taken away. She works in all areas of a hospital, from the burn unit to pediatrics. We follow her through a couple of cases where you can almost feel the pain of her patients and her anguish at not being able to do much more than make them as comfortable as possible or being a friend to a women in confinement with a contagious disease. She learns of a system that ties her hands and the stress from understaffing, but she also learns of healing on all aspects and that there is a higher power, and no amount of screaming and yelling will change some outcomes. She tells it like it is. Read this book and you will never see hospitals in the same way.