When Chicken Soup Isn't Enough: Stories of Nurses Standing Up for Themselves, Their Patients, and Their Profession

by Suzanne Gordon (Editor)

The reassuring bromides of "chicken soup for the soul" provide little solace for nurses―and the people they serve―in real-life hospitals, nursing homes, schools of nursing, and other settings. In the minefield of modern health care, there are myriad obstacles to quality patient care―including work overload, inadequate funds for nursing education and research, and poor communication between and within the professions, to name only a few. The seventy RNs whose stories are collected here by the award-winning journalist Suzanne Gordon know that effective advocacy isn't easy. It takes nurses willing to stand up for themselves, their coworkers, their patients, and the public. When Chicken Soup Isn't Enough brings together compelling personal narratives from a wide range of nurses from across the globe. The assembled profiles in professional courage provide new insight into the daily challenges that RNs face in North America and abroad―and how they overcome them with skill, ingenuity, persistence, and individual and collective advocacy at work and in the community. In this collection, we meet RNs working at the bedside, providing home care, managing hospital departments, teaching and doing research, lobbying for quality patient care, and campaigning for health care reform. Their stories are funny, sad, deeply moving, inspiring, and always revealing of the different ways that nurses make their voices heard in the service of their profession. The risks and rewards, joys and sorrows, of nursing have rarely been captured in such vivid first-person accounts. Gordon and the authors of the essays contained in this book have much to say about the strengths and shortcomings of health care today―and the role that nurses play as irreplaceable agents of change.

Genres: Nonfiction, Medical, Nursing, Health Care, Medicine, Health

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2010

About the author

Suzanne Gordon is an award winning journalist and author who writes about healthcare delivery and health care systems. She is the author of more than 15 books, including Beyond the Checklist and First Do Less Harm, both published in 2012.

Reviews

[Brandy]

This book is incredible! I had initially tried to read Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul but couldn't finish because it was soooooo sappy full of stories of nurses falling in love with sick orphan babies rather than discussing their skills or professional obstacles. THIS book is exactly what I was looking for. It's a collection of short stories in which nurses of diverse nationalities, degrees, specialties, and experiences write about times they- just like the subtitle states- stood "up for themselves, their patients, and their profession." The personal is political! Unlike the Chicken Soup book, this book shows caring at its best- loving their patients and professions so much that they fight for them! These are nurses who perceived problems and then either alone or collectively sought to solve them in any way possible, sometimes by standing up to coworkers, doctors, managers, and/or administration, sometimes by performing research studies, sometimes by demanding state and/or federal legal changes, and sometimes by challenging the anachronistic stereotypes of nursing that persist. Not only did I learn a ton from this book, but it made me extremely excited to become a part of such an incredibly strong profession.

[Abigail Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved how real these stories were! I could relate to a lot of them even though I am not a nurse yet.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the stories in this collection are inspiring. Some not as much, such as the nurse who called in sick to protest the lack of equipment. But the final story by Faith Simon entitled, "Standing By One Patient," should be given to all new nurses to remind them of the simple elegance and beauty of a nurse fighting all types of barriers on behalf of a patient.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The usual feel good stories that the Chicken Soup books promote, however this one goes a little deeper looking at what nursing actually involves. I must admit that after reading the first half I skimmed the second half - there are only so many stories a person can read.

[Emily Flesher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, nice short stories. Many were inspiring. Some were boring. Most are written by nurse leaders (managers, researchers, union-leaders, etc.). As a bedside nurse myself looking for some inspiration, I would have liked to read more stories from other bedside nurses.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing compilation of stories that really challenges nurses to truly advocate for their patients, not just wishing they could.

[Gwendolyn Lehmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed in how few real life actual nursing stories there were in this book. I wanted to hear about specific cases and how nurses acted during them.