Poolside and looking for a book? Consider these nursing-related reads to remind yourself why you do what you do.
1. Josie’s Story by Sorrel King
Josie’s Story tells the sad but inspiring story of Sorrel King and her daughter Josie who, after a series of preventable medical errors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, died of dehydration while being treated for burns. The events provided a breakthrough in patient safety, and Sorrel King went on to found the Josie King Foundation and Condition Help (Condition H), a program created to provide families with resources to call for help when they feel they aren’t receiving adequate medical attention in case of an emergency, or feel that something is going wrong.
Patient safety is of the highest importance to Pocket Nurse®, so once you’ve finished reading this one, you can purchase a copy of Building a Culture of Patient Safety Through Simulation for information on how simulation in health education can ensure the safety of patients.
2. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
Surgeon Atul Gawande takes readers around the world to examine how something as simple as a checklist can dramatically increase the level of care that patients receive. By drawing on examples and anecdotes from other professions, Gawande makes the clear case that even experts need help and all teams need an organizational structure.
As one reviewer summarizes, “…a team is only as strong as its checklist — by [Gawande’s] definition, a way of organizing that empowers people at all levels to put their best knowledge to use, communicate at crucial points, and get things done. Like no other book before it, The Checklist Manifesto is at once a restorative call to action and a welcome voice of reason.”
3. Creating and Sustaining Civility in Nursing Education, Second Edition by Cynthia Clark
In the newest addition of Cynthia Clark’s award-winning book, Clark dives into the issue of incivility in nursing education and includes practical strategies for stress-management, role-modeling and mentoring, and creating a positive learning environment that brings civility into nursing education, and bridges the gap between educational and clinical settings.
4. The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story by Christie Watson
Watson spent 20 years as a nurse in England, and in this book she tells the stories of the patients she encountered, the suffering she witnessed, and the inspiring experiences she had throughout that time. For students, this book will give a behind-the-scenes glimpse into daily life as a nurse; for current nurses, it will provide stories of compassion and care that resonate with their own experiences.
5. The Antidote to Suffering by Christine Dempsey
In this book, Christine Dempsey, Chief Nursing Officer at Press Ganey, proposes practical and heartfelt plans for diminishing suffering and improving the experiences of patients and caregivers. She looks into the ways that healthcare professionals can do their part to reduce the suffering that many patients and their families feel, even while acknowledging that some suffering is inevitable. Dempsey describes her book as, “aimed primarily at readers who care for patients every day,” but educators and students can no doubt benefit from this call-to-action and empowering guide to “Compassionate Connected Care.”
6. Too Busy for Your Own Good by Connie Merritt
Lastly, here’s one to help you relieve stress and relax over the summer. Based on her own experience of riding high on the waves of busyness and crashing hard when she suffered an unexpected panic attack, Merritt will give you actionable ways to prioritize your life, focus on what’s most meaningful, and not get caught up in what she calls the “competition for busyness.”
All of these titles are available at Amazon. In case you are looking for resource books for your students, head to the Book and Communications section at Pocket Nurse.
Nicki Murff is Marketing Coordinator I at Pocket Nurse.
