A Nurse's Story: Life, Death and In-Between in an Intensive Care Unit

With less than a year working on a grueling medical/surgical unit and with aspirations of becoming a critical care nurse, Shalof's book lays out for me in black and white what we go through at the bedside and beyond. She has become the mentor I've yet to find and she makes me proud to be a nurse.The book is riveting and well written and I know everyone in it - even though I practice in the Southwest United States and she in Ontario. We all know all of these patients and their families and we all have our own lives and our own families to deal with. Shalof shares herself in an unimaginably honest way and she opens the doors to the nursing field's triumphs, frustrations, political absurdities, and the educational disparities found within. She's taught me a lot with this book and has validated many of my own feelings as a new nurse.I sped through this book and am now reading her next book, "The Making of a Nurse," where she delves more deeply into her own personal life, her nursing stint in Israel, and on through her registry jobs and back to the ICU. All of it incredibly honest, however, I wish she would have, or could have, maybe mentioned some of her early nursing mistakes - she must have made some. I can understand why in the litigious society we live in and I'm sure she doesn't want to scare patients, but it would be helpful for those of us who are still wet behind the ears to know how a real nurse handled real mistakes and how she overcame them, learned from them, and went on to become the seemingly great nurse she is.Five Stars - Well Deserved!

I read every word of this marvelous book. As a retired nurse I enjoyed her aspects toward nursing and her characters are very real. The situations also were very believable. The life of a nurse is very much as she depicted in her book. I reveled in every word and could barely put it down, except when absolutely necessary. The story lines were so true to life, some of which I experienced in my practice. I worked in the NICU so faced many of her situations. I am very proud to be called a nurse and anyone in the field should read this book. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Good book, can make you laugh and cry all in a few pages. Gives some realistic good insight to ICU nursing. I enjoyed the read even though it was required reading for a class

Tilda Shalof writes in a manner that makes me believe that I am in the ICU with her. The relationships between nurses, doctors, and families of patients is a dynamic and shifting force. The patient is caught in between. However, the nurse is the one that is closer than any of these parties to the patient, even the families, as they are in their current state. How do the nurses handle such a huge responsibility and role? In different ways but not lost on them is the importance of their job.Ms. Shalof writes honestly about the dilemma of nurses and the changing focus in their profession. Education, training, layoffs, cost cutting, replacement with less skilled workers, pushy families, patient satisfaction surveys. It's all there but the reader gets to know the personalities caught up in this storm and not from a journalistic detachment. Ms. Shalouf is right in there in the story, getting involved and admits when she is wrong and can see her shortcomings. Her honesty is a great positive in A Nurse's Story. For instance while she relays how some viewed her as too sensitive, for a patient that can be a welcome character trait in an uncertain world.A Nurse's Story should be read by anyone considering nursing as a profession, for those in nursing, and for anyone who wonders what goes into the care of really sick people. It helped me understand what nurses endure and how they cope. As if the ICU nurse wasn't already high on my respect list, A Nurse's Story pushed it higher.

What a pleasant surprise to discover this gem of a book. Truly written and not to "smooth" so that you know this is a real person writing. As a member of the profession I found that Tilda presented many of the things we often feel and struggle with, and that our leaders tend to miss. Working in a socialized medical system, the same dilemmas arise all over the workd and are no defferent in Canada than in Israel, England, or elsewhwere. The only difference may be in the way that each society chooses to address them or resolve them. and the bottom line is that we as nurses are the ones who have to implement the decisions, whether they are to our liking or not. We have not chosen an easy profession. I felt that Tilda had the courage to say many of the things that I feel, and that are not acceptable in the modern world. Yes, I choose to care for people even when they are revolting to me as a person. I believe, as Tilda appears to, that learning to accept them and to exercise compassion is of the essence in our profession. And with these acts we also grow as humand and nurses/ Loved it and would recommend it to anyone who asked.

I gave this 3 stars as I felt it was repetitive and rather self promoting. I did not feel it was a particular well thought out, clear picture of nursing. Perhaps in Canada they can sleep on duty. In the many years I worked at night, sleeping was a firing offense. She complained but never really explained what she did to try to change anything. She does present the issues with administration and doctors as difficult which it is and they are not with the patient for the 8-12 hours as the nurse. The stories are common and present some of the difficulties nurses face.

Best book for all nurses

So real! The push to do everything to prevent death occurring. Health concerns and safety being overlooked in favour of the mighty dollar. Well written and thought provoking.

I find books written by members of the medical professions absolutely fascinating reading and this is one of the best in my opinion. The author spent many years working in Intensive Care Units in hospitals in Canada and she recounts her experiences in this book.There are tragic cases and cases with happy outcomes. There are incidents which will make you laugh and incidents which will make you cry and many will stay with you long after you have finished reading the book. This is medicine at the frontiers of knowledge. The question of when it is better to let nature take its course is always hovering there is the room with the nurses and their seriously ill patients.Technology can do marvellous things in modern medicine. People can be kept alive for very much longer than they've ever been before and can recover from illnesses which would have been an automatic death sentence even in recent years. But having the ability to do something does not mean we should always use that ability. Families do not always see it like that and demand the very best of treatment for their loved ones when perhaps it would be more compassionate to let them go.This book makes the reader confront some very difficult and unpleasant problems and I would recommend it to anyone - in good health or not - because these issues need to be considered by all of us at some time in our lives. This is not a comfortable book to read but it is very worthwhile reading.

really well written. Canadian content. mix of all the feels. humour is nice woven through.

Love this book. Bought it after reading 'midwife on call' or 'call the midwife' - i get confused which one.Can't wait to be a midwife now:)