The Call of Nursing: Stories from the Front Lines of Health Care

The Call of Nursing is not your typical book about nurses. In its twenty-three candid self-portraits, we go behind the curtain of silence that often hangs between us - the patients who rely on the health care system - and the women and men who form the backbone of that system. We hear why nurses today do what they do, and see what has mattered most to them in their professional careers.

A hospice nurse describes a search for ethical practice that led her from Russia to the United States. A nurse corps officer in a traumatic brain injury ward recalls his deployment to Iraq while still in nursing school. An emergency and critical care nurse describes 9/11 as a rookie paramedic. A pediatric nurse describes her unwavering devotion to victims of sexual abuse.

The Call of Nursing succeeds at helping us see more clearly the kinds of challenges nurses face and accept on a routine basis, and offers a rare glimpse into the lives of women and men dedicated to care and service.

FINALIST 2013 Foreword Book of the Year (Education)
If you are a nurse, you'll recognize yourself somewhere in here. If you're lucky enough to have a nurse as a friend or family member, you will probably rush through reading it so you can share these stories with them. And, if you aren't a nurse yet, I guarantee this book will make you consider becoming one.

—Gertrude Hutchinson --Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History

These first-person testimonies capture the full sweep of the profession, here and abroad, and in many different institutional settings. In every role they play, these skilled and experienced nurses help make the difference between life and death.- Suzanne Gordon --Nursing Against the Odds and From Silence To Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public