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Sign up todayThe Shift
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Learn moreIn a book as eye-opening as it is riveting, practicing nurse and New York Times columnist Theresa Brown invites us to experience not just a day in the life of a nurse but all the life that happens in just one day in a hospital’s cancer ward. In the span of twelve hours, lives can be lost, life-altering medical treatment decisions made, and dreams fulfilled or irrevocably stolen. In Brown’s skilled hands—as both a dedicated nurse and an insightful chronicler of events—we are given an unprecedented view into the individual struggles as well as the larger truths about medicine in this country. By shift’s end, we have witnessed something profound about hope, healing, and humanity.
Every day, Theresa Brown holds patients’ lives in her hands. On this day there are four: Mr. Hampton, a patient with lymphoma to whom Brown is charged with administering a powerful drug that could cure him—or kill him; Sheila, who may have been dangerously misdiagnosed; Candace, a returning patient who arrives (perhaps advisedly) with her own disinfectant wipes, cleansing rituals, and demands; and Dorothy, who after six weeks in the hospital may finally go home. Prioritizing and ministering to their needs takes the kind of skill, sensitivity, and, yes, humor that enable a nurse to be a patient’s most ardent advocate in a medical system marked by heartbreaking dysfunction as well as miraculous success.
Theresa Brown works as a clinical nurse. Her regular column appears on the New York Times opinion pages as well as on the Times Opinionator blog. She has also been a contributor to the popular Well section of that paper and writes for CNN.com and other national media. Brown received her BSN from the University of Pittsburgh and, during what she calls her past life, a PhD in English from the University of Chicago. Before becoming a nurse, she taught English at Tufts University. Today her focus is medical oncology and end-of-life issues. She lectures nationally, is a board member of the Center for Health, Media, and Policy at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing at the City University of New York’s Hunter College. Brown was a panelist for TEDMED’s Great Challenges of Health and Medicine initiative and is also involved in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Flip the Clinic initiative and an advisory board member for Scrubs magazine. She lives with her husband and three children in Pennsylvania.
Tavia Gilbert has recorded hundreds of titles across a wide span of genres, including Erica Spindler romantic thrillers, John Scalzi science fiction, Jeaniene Frost fantasy. She received four Audies nominations and won three Audiofile Earphones Awards for titles The Obituary Writer, Sing Them Home and The Day of the Pelican. In addition to voice acting, Gilbert is an accomplished producer, singer and theater actor.
Reviews
“An engrossing human drama composed of interlocking stories of patients and their families, doctors and nurses, aides, chaplains, social workers, and others.”
“What makes Brown’s story shine are the touching and sometimes bizarre moments that make real life in a hospital stranger than fiction.”
“Brown does an excellent job of taking us moment by moment through her day.”
“Should be required reading for all incoming medical and nursing students.”
“Riveting…Raises important questions about staffing, shift lengths, various protocols, and the role of touch, empathy, and record keeping in health care.”
“This meticulous, absorbing shift-in-the-life account of one nurse’s day on a cancer ward stands out for its honesty, clarity, and heart.”
“Brown’s background as a university English professor is evident in her prose…Nursing students and professionals will appreciate the humor and will understand the situations involved.”
“An empathetic and absorbing narrative as riveting as a TV drama.”
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