1. From Exhausted to Extraordinary: Strategies to Reverse Nurse Fatigue by Renee Thompson, DNP, RN, CMSRN
Most nurses – from clinical nurses to nurse entrepreneurs and nurse educators – are familiar with “nurse fatigue,” even if they call it by a different name. Burnout, exhaustion, and overwhelm are all-too-common side effects in a profession that involves constantly caring for others, dealing with high-stress situations, and juggling multiple tasks at a time. With empathy drawn from her own experiences as a nurse, Thompson explores causes of nurse fatigue and provides thoughtful, practical advice for finding joy in the profession again and learning to de-stress from the inside out.
From Exhausted to Extraordinary: Strategies to Reverse Nurse Fatigue is available in eBook format, and can be read on a Kindle or any smart device with Amazon’s free Kindle App. If you enjoy this book, you can take a look at Thompson’s other nursing-related works, including “Do No Harm” Applies to Nurses Too: Strategies to Protect and Bully-proof Yourself at Work.”
2. Teaching College by Norman Eng, Ed.D.
This practical guide combines marketing practices with K-12 approaches to help college instructors learn to better engage their students. Author Norman Eng explains how to tailor everything from your presentation slides to your syllabus to your classroom activities in a way that will help students better understand and retain your lessons.
Yong Zhao, a Foundation Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas School of Education describes it as “a great resource for college instructors who are interested in excellent teaching – accessible, practical, and full of actionable research-based suggestions.”
3. When Nurses Hurt Nurses: Recognizing and Overcoming the Cycle of Bullying by Cheryl Dellasega, Ph.D.
In this book, dedicated to the problem of bullying among nurses in the workplace, Dellasega both explores the reasons for incivility and bullying behavior, and provides solutions for readers to put in place right away. Dellasega has authored other titles on the topic of bullying and nursing, including Toxic Nursing: Managing Bullying, Bad Attitudes, and Total Turmoil, and Mean Girls Grown Up, among other titles.
4. Confessions of a Male Nurse, by Michael Alexander
In Confessions of a Male Nurse, author and nurse Michael Alexander tells his story of becoming a nurse at a young age, accepting his first assignment as the only male in a gynecology ward, and working as a nurse in a foreign country. This often humorous and honest tale of Alexander’s life in nursing is a light-hearted but touching reminder of why nurses do what they do, and the impact a career like nursing can make on the individual that pursues it.
5. Florence Nightingale: A Life Inspired, by Lynn M. Hamilton
Nurses everywhere know Nightingale as the mother of modern nursing, and most even know that her dangerous and courageous work during the Crimean war where she visited patients during the night earned her the nickname, “the Lady with the Lamp.” However, not everyone knows that she had to struggle against Victorian constraints to achieve all that she did, and that long after her work in the Crimean war was finished, she set about writing all that she felt she could have improved on. Her reflections would go on to serve as the foundation for nursing education and the modern-day respect for the nursing industry. Hamilton covers all this and more in her biography on Florence Nightingale.
6. On Living, by Kerry Egan
In this touching tale, Egan shares stories she gathered during her time as a hospice chaplain. While many of the stories were related to her as she sat next to a patient’s deathbed, On Living, “isn’t a book about dying – it’s a book about living,” according to its description on Amazon. Nurses will undoubtedly relate to the conversations that Egan found herself having with patients in hospital beds and living room couches alike – reflections on their experiences, regrets, best memories, and the meaning of life itself.
The colder months are the perfect time for curling up with a warm drink and a good book. If you are looking for resource books for your students for the upcoming semester, head to the Book and Communications section at Pocket Nurse.
