Before there were blogs, there were books. Nurses told their stories the old fashioned way, and they were just as intriguing as blogs today. Just out of nursing school I came across Echo Heron. I first read her book Intensive Care: The Story of a Critical Care Nurse. I was impressed with what she accomplished; returning to school as an adult with a child, helping to establish a critical care unit in her hospital, her expertise in caring for complex patients. I devoured the sequel, Condition Critical, The Story of a Nurse Continues, like dessert.

Although not a nurse, Suzanne Gordon is probably one of our biggest advocates. Again, soon after becoming a nurse I stumbled across her book Life Support. It follows several nurses at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) and the struggles they face. This book was written during the mid-1990’s when dust from managed care’s take over was settling, and Gordon does a great job showing how it effected the health care system and nurses. I’m waiting for a few spare moments to read Nursing Against the Odds, her latest look at the nursing profession.

One of the more recent nurse authors on the block is Tilda Shalof. Her first book, A Nurse’s Story, tells it like it is for an ICU nurse. Her follow up, The Making of a Nurse, reveals her first experiences as a nurse.

In my search for nurse authors, I came across Janice Hudson, self proclaimed Trauma Junkie. Seeing I like to live out my adrenaline nursing fantasies vicariously through others outside of labor and delivery (we have our own style of adrenaline nursing), I am going to have to check this one out.