Nursing Books

I was inspired to become a nurse by stories of the "lady with the lamp" but it took more than 30 years before I found this book and learned just why Florence Nightingale deserved to be my inspiration. The pictures alone are worth the price of this book, and the story too is well told.

I knew of Florence Nightingale's nursing activities before reading this book but had no idea of the extent of her self-discipline, dedication and accomplishments. She was a systems analyst, administrator, networker and mystic who devoted her life to doing God's work. She was also a prolific writer of books, lay reports, pamphlets and thousands of letters. The author provides a wealth of background material describing the historic times and places associated with Florence Nightingale. One of the things I appreciated about this book were the many maps and photographs appropriately placed near the text about the person or places.

Dr. Barbara Dossey, founder of the American Holistic Nursing Association, has written an inspiring and insightful biography of Florence Nightingale that has much to teach us about being bold, tough minded, task oriented, creative, passionate and compassionate. Nightingale conscientiously developed the strongly focused conceptual, organizational and networking skills that contributed to her formidable accomplishments in the fields of nursing, housing, sanitation and statistics and did it all despite chronic illness, criticism, sexism and other major life challenges. Most of all, we learn that Nightingale was a visionary and mystic, whose life story challenges all of us to know, accept and realize our God-given purpose in this world.

learn about the history of the nursing profession... very interesting... lots of beautiful pictures

This is unquestionably the best biography of Nightingale ever written. The author reminds us that Nightingale was one of the first statisticians -- one of the first members of the statistical society in the U.K. and for many years the only woman member. Nightingale collected and published voluminous statistics about health care (she proved that the rate of childbirth fever was lower among women cared for by midwives vs those cared for by physicians and surmised correctly that the difference was that the midwives washed their hands and established hygiene in the birth chamber. The physicians came to the birth room covered with blood from dissections.) The germ theory of disease had not been developed -- but she was able to reduce the death rate in the hospitals in Crimea by ensuring cleanliness, safe water and good food for the patients.) She was also a suffragist and one of the first signers of a petition in support of suffrage put forward by her
friends, the philosopher John Stuart Mill and his wife Harriet Taylor, who were prominent proponents of women's suffrage. Mill asked Nightingale to dedicate herself to the cause of female suffrage and she replied that there were others as qualified as she; she was needed to reform the British military, hospital and medical systems. Nightingale shook up the British military, hospital and medical establishments. She had many enemies because of her work -- and they became even more virulent when she was proved right. Unfortunately their calumnies persist to this day. While doing the work which first brought her to public attention she contracted Crimean Fever -- a common complaint of those who served in the Crimea War. Dossey points out that recent research indicates that Crimean Fever was probably brucellosis which was and is epidemic and endemic in the Crimea. (It occurs now, too, in the U.S. among persons who work with infected cattle.) Nightingale was a very devout Christian. At 17 she sought a direction for her life. She came to feel that she was called to serve the sick and took a vow of chastity when she was 17. Barbara Dossey is an R.N. with a Master's degree in nursing. She has written texts on intensive care nursing and on wholistic health. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing -- which signfies the high respect of her research peers for her work. This is the finest contribution she has made and that says a lot.

I previously used earlier edition of the book. Not much of a difference. Orthopedics have their own way of dealing with fractures. This book is entirely intended for primary care providers. An excellent reference I can keep in my office. I think Essentials of MS offers more compare to this book. It features an easy to read box of what one ought to do. Highly recommended.

A great resource book to have on fractures. I am using it frequently in practice

I am an Internist who bought this prior to deployment to a Level 2 BAS in Iraq. This was very helpful not only in terms of diagnosis, but management. It lets you know just when to refer, so you are not taking up medical evac resources, or placing soldiers on the road unnecessarily. I highly recommend this book as part of your packing list if you are a non-ortho battalion surgeon.

This is an excellent reference to rapidly give you the plan of treatment for any fracture in a table form as well as a longer written discussion. It states when orto MD must be seen and when. Perfect as a ready reference!

Great photos of fractures plus this manual gives a description of how to treat - what the best type of casts or splints would be and what they look like as well. Excellent resource!

How to Protect Your Family's Assets from Devastating Nursing Home Costs by Gabriel Heiser is a terrific book. It clarified for me the issues surrounding Medicaid and asset preservation in a straight forward and easy to understand way. It provided me insights into complexities that are necessary for anyone who might be venturing down this path to be aware of and understand. It put into perspective the options that are available and perhaps most important of all, provided me with the background I needed to have a productive meeting with an elder attorney and to ask them the appropriate questions.

In particular, the book was written in a way that could be understood by a layman. It was presented in a very organized fashion and clearly went through the Medicaid process, a necessary pre-requisite for the subsequent chapters. The appendix was particularly useful in that it provided ways to find a qualified elder lawyer and other related resources as well as information on state Medicaid offices. But perhaps most interesting and helpful of all were the case studies. They provided a multitude of practical strategies, comparing and contrasting them throughout the book.

After reading this book, the bits and pieces of information I was able to discern from other books and from several lawyers I previously met with came together to form a clear picture like pieces of a puzzle. Armed with information and the possibilities presented and with an understanding of the implications of our decisions, we are now ready to move forward with plans for our parents with the confidence that we are prepared now to go down this very difficult road.

Thanks Mr. Heiser for all of your help!

I work in an industry where we have a need for such timely, topical and extensive information in the special needs planning area. I found Gabriel Heiser's book to be well written, easy to read, and very comprehensive. I have used it as a resource many times when I am questioned by one of our financial planners or attorneys in our network throughout the country. I have recommended his book to many who are struggling with the complexity of the medicaid system and how best to provide for a disabled individual. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a complete understanding of the rules and regulations pertaining to the special needs or elder law planning arenas.

Geri N. McHam
The Estate Plan

The System makes it hard to get accurate information about Medicaid coverage of long-term care--even for a former reference librarian like me. I'm recommending this book to Amazon customers and to my local library.

Attorney Heiser's book on protecting assets from nursing home costs is an invaluable and terrific read. For those of us unaware of the financial devastation a nursing home stay can do to a family it is a must read. It gives the reader a chance to ask important questions of attorneys and financial planners to get the most out of their advice and to get through the many different state and federal laws that vary from state to state. Don't see an attorney without reading this first.

This book provides valuable information on a complex subject. Although it may not answer your specific questions, the information given allows you to make informed decision when consulting an estate planner or attorney. Informative easy to read book on a complex subject.

excellent product, to get me started. I appreciate having it as a permanent fixture in my arsenal of references.

I received this book 2 day shipping as requested. I have had it for about a month now. It is easy to ready and goes well with the Kaplan course. Most importantly I am sure I will get a lot of use out of it as a reference. Great book!!

I received this product in a timely manner and in excellant condition. I have been very pleased with the sevice from Amazon and vendors.

this is a great essentials book for anyone interested in legal nurse consulting. i have read through some of it and will surely be using it even more as i am launching my new business. i got a used copy and it came to me in great shape!

This book is a great at home teaching tool on how to become knowledgeable in the field of LNC and how to start your business.

As a nursing student I loved this book. It gave a great perspective on some areas of nursing that nursing students may not be exposed to during clinicals. Toward the end of the book it did get into nursing/hospital politics and policy, which slowed things down. I wish that the author had ended with something better and more inspiring.

It's often said that in today's society we have no heroes. If you read this book, you will soon learn otherwise.

I really liked the aspects of this books that dealt with the three nurses performing their jobs in their perspective fields. That was great- but all the talk about nursing jobs getting cut really gets boring after a while. So much so I've been dreading reading the last chapter. Great book, just has some boring parts.

A must read for all those working IN or WITH the profession of nursing. Gordon discusses how the changes in our health care system have affected both the nurses role and quality patient care issues. The essential need for collaboration of all health care personnel is woven throughout the content. I required this book for a senior nursing course I just taught at Wayne State University in Detroit and the students were most impressed with the book and its approach to nursing, medicine and health care. A must read for nurses, physicians, hospital administration, potential students and the general public. Afterall, we are all potential patients and we should be aware of what is happening to the largest population of health care providers, the nurses!

The most under rated people in our society are nurses,this is an introduction to the ever present caregivers in healthcare today.The most varied role and most significant in all aspects of health care is the nurse.This was a wonderful read for all of those who may ever be the receiver of any aspect of their care from nurses in our country, basically everyone,a must have.For those considering the profession as a career,and the family members who would like an overview of "all in a days work", this will invoke serious thought.Yes, I am a nurse and for me to recommend a book written on nursing....kudos to all involved in the creation.

Not only do I rate "Making the Assist", but I rate Dr. Pitcher as well with five stars. Dr. Pitcher is the perfect example of what a health professional and a human being in today's society should be. I have always been the kind of person that takes the time to smell the roses and be thankful for all that I have been so furtunate to have, but Dr. Pitcher has influenced me and shown me that more could always been done. I am a health provider as well and I always try to be there for my patients unconditionally, but Dr. Pitcher has put me to shame. I truley inspire to give more because of him and the cancer that I am surviving. I am a cancer survivor because of Dr. Pitcher. "Making the Assist" is an excellent sourse for all people. Cancer or not, we all need to "Make the Assist"! - Thank you.

This is an excellent book tnat will help those who are in need of understanding and help caring cancer patients. It is also a good spiritual aid to those in need.

I am fortunate enough to personally know Dr. Pitcher. Not only is he an excellent doctor, he is an extraordinary person.

I feel his book has positively generated the message that we are never to give up and to always trust in God.

Thank you Dr. Pitcher!

Many books written come from the mind to the pen, we find Doctor J. David Pitcher's book "Making The assist " is written from the heart to the pen, typewriter or computer.
We are delighted to congratulate you Dr.Pitcher on your heartfelt, warm ,touching splended tribute to your ability and achievements in writing this fine book to help everyone who is experiencing this dreadful diesase.
We pray God our Father through his Blessed Son the Lord Jesus
that he continue to Bless you and yours in all endeavors.
The University Of Miami School of Medicine is fortunate and Blessed to have J.David Pitcher, Jr.,MD.

i am an OR nurse and have personally worked with Dr Pitcher. His book is just completely inspirational and should be read by anyone who has a loved one with cancer or any long term terminal illness or anyone involved in the care of patients with terminal illnesses. This book reminded me of why I became a nurse and how God chose this profession just for me all those years ago when my own father suffered with heart disease and then passed away six months later. That Dr Pitcher would be given the gift of mercy, as he was called to be a physician AND the gift of teaching through his writing and have the strength to do both is a testimony. Buy this book and read it and then share it with others, you won't regret it.

This book is very easy to understand. The exercises are interesting and helpful. It has taught me so much.

Good book for beginners...I am a nurse and my daughter is starting school for her Associate towards her nursing degree...good book.

I'm an interpreter and this book is being very exciting to read, easy to carry around and easy to understand. It has graphics, and tests is a very good book.

Great book. Easy to understand and programmed text creates a good way of reinforcing what is learned. I have bought copies for all of my office staff and they find it very helpful.

The only medical terms I knew, before I got this book, were from "House" the Tv show. I didn't even understand much of it then. I can't wait to go back and watch it over and understand what they are saying.

I had just signed up for long-term nursing care insurance, a very expensive commitment. I had a number of books I had been waiting to read, and I picked up OLD FRIENDS, thinking I would read a piece of nostalgia.

I was wrong. I picked up and read enthusiastically a book about nursing homes. Tracy Kidder's book makes clear what my long-term insurance is all about. No brochures could have described what he does here.

I became enmeshed in the lives of the residents. I watched them become "nudnicks." I overheard their conversations about life and death. I, too, looked forward to Lou's rambling memories. I worried about Joe's toe and if he'd lose it.

Both of my parents died suddenly, and as a result I had no experience with long-term care. I say "God bless" to all the workers in nursing homes and to Tracy Kidder who made this entire experience so vivid.

I now feel prepared myself if I should ever need this care.

Larry Rochelle, author of GULF GHOST, BLUE ICE and GHOSTLY EMBERS: VISIONS OF TOLEDO

After spending a year at Linda Manor, a nursing home in Massachusetts, Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder offers no generalized discourse on the problems of aging in America, but rather a touching story of friendship, reconciliation, and peace.

Joe Torchio is 72-years-old, a former probation officer, and has suffered a stroke. Bitterly railing against the losses that have beset him in life, the death of a son, the birth of a retarded daughter, Joe has forsaken his Catholic faith.

At 92 years of age, Lou Freed is blind yet resolutely curious about everything. He is a Jew who is not terribly religious but is sometimes given to pondering theological questions.

The pairing of this unlikely duo as roommates might bode bickering and discontent. Not so in Kidder's hands - we find a gradually blooming friendship which enables both men to live in their new environment and face limited futures with equanimity, courage, and grace.

This is not just Lou and Joe's story, it may be your story or mine. Of course, it is a tale of old age and approaching death. It is also a toast to life.

- Gail Cooke

This reads like eloquent fiction, but is in truth the story of Tracy's father. He doesn't say which character his father is, and he doesn't insert himself into the story. But what a wonderful, heart-bending story it is. At all times the sadness of the situation is eclipsed by the bravery and courage of people without hope; people who do the best they can, and it is more than enough. For any of us who will grow old, which is most of us, this is a must read.

This book chronicles a year in the lives of the residents of an ordinary American nursing home. From 1989-1991, Kidder spent much time getting to know the residents of nursing home on the outskirts of Northampton, Massachusetts. In this book, he describes some of the characters he met there, and some of the friends he got to know well. He describes some of the special events that occurred in the nursing home that year, but also relates much of the ordinary daily occurrences in nursing home life, from the morning bowel movement survey, to watching a demented resident try to pick the flowers in the carpet, to chatting with the guys in the breakfast club supervising the dining room set-up.

Although Kidder tries to present a cross-section of nursing home residents, from the former vaudeville performer, to the bank vice president, many of his tales focus on the drama and antics of two roommates, Lou and Joe. The pace of the book can be agonizingly slow in places, as we wait for something to happen. The pacing is one way for Kidder to capture the sense of the place, a place where every day is more or less like the next--"Beautiful day," as one resident writes in her journal every morning. It's an eye-opening experience to read this book, and come to understand the heroic effort it takes to present a smiling face to the world when trapped in a body wracked by aches and pains while stuck in an institution away from family and friends, most often against one's wishes.

This is a beautifully meandering story of two nursing home residents, their year spent in a growing friendship within the walls of "Linda Manor." And it's more than that-- In this story, Tracy Kidder involves a whole cast of residents, interacting in ways that paint a more creatively human picture of a nursing home than most would imagine is the case. They make up a community in and of themselves, even planning and taking part in a play put on for other residents, staff, & families. It's a place of friendships, laughs, worries, dread concerns, but mostly of friendships and the efforts of the elderly characters in reaching out to their fellow residents during the last chapters of their lives. I appreciated the realism Kidder offers in this book, clearly based on his own one-year experience at the actual "Linda Manor" in Massachusetts.

Hillary Johnson's fascinating book, first touched upon in her article in Rolling Stone is a compelling read. The poor response by the CDC and the NIH to an epidemic that has now affected more lives than both AIDS and Lung Cancer is tragic. Ms. Johnson's beautifully woven story (though at times technical) would make for a very moving film in the tradition of And the Band Played On.

The author does an outstanding job of revealing how some of our most "respected" agencies in western medicine attempt to deal with what they can not define, despite what the patient says. Through constant shifts in focus, we are shown how several different groups deal with this syndrome. The writings illicit a tremendous amount of rage at the incompetence, pain at the ignorance, and confusion in the beurocratic anchors. This book reads like a mystery, and keeps you intrigued until the last page. It concludes like the reality of the search for this anomoly- with no 'pat' answers.

I read this book when it first came out. I would highly recommend it to any health care professional, any sufferer, or any relative of any sufferer. Society has come a long way over the years. Around 1990 I took a copy of one Dr. Jay Goldstein's books on chronic fatigue to a lecture on another subject. One of the other attendees picked it up, read the title, and disdainfully tossed in back on the table declaring, "Chronic fatigue? There is no such thing. It's only depression." On the other hand, myths are still all too common.

Back to this book. It leaves me dumbfounded how many of the issues clearly dealt with in this book are still reported incorrectly. Example: Epstein-Barr virus. It has widely been reported that since EB virus does not appear in clusters/epidemics, and that antibodies are present in a very high percent of the population, attributing chronic-fatigue to and EBV outbreak is, well, wrong. And that the doctor(s) should have known that.

However, in the book is it made clear that the doctors at Incline Village where an outbreak occured did know that. So when one of the doctors started seeing many of his patient's showing up with positive blood tests for EBV, he sent some samples to a researcher. The researcher found an antibody pattern that was not indicative of new infections, but rather of a recurrence or reactivation of a prior infection. This was a pattern the researcher had never seen before, and implied another cause, possible a weakening of the immune system. But not an epidemic of new EBV cases. By the way, that also argues against the assertion some have made that EBV is a possible cause, although it should be ruled out clinically.

The book is replete with many stories and issues, that differ remarkably from what is commonly reported about this issue.

One final chilling note. In the book dozens sufferers are introduced, some in depth, some obliquely. In an annex at the end of the book, the is a short follow up on many of the sufferers. What is chilling is how many have died.

This is the most informative book I've read on Chronic Fatigue. The reading is dry at times, but very informative. This book is about the Center for Disease Control (CDC) involvement in investigating CFS up to the date when the CDC was found quilty of misappropriation of funding for CFS research. Anyone new to the illness should have this book in their library, even if it is just used for references.

This book really gives you an understanding of how and why ME has been stigmatized, ridiculed and ignored as much as it has. It makes it very clear that it was not a mistake or an oversight at all but that it was in fact utterly deliberate. The pure stupidity and lack of basic human compassion involved is astounding. It's important to know how we've ended up in this mess so we can see how we might get ourselves out I think. It's also important that we not underestimate how low these people will go - its lower than you could even imagine.

A must read if you are well enough to tackle such a long non-fiction book, it'll just blow your mind and really fire you up about how badly we have all been treated historically and the...well you'd have to call them evil, people behind it all. A fantastic book to fire up your activism urges.

An Expert Look at Love, Intimacy and Personal Growth
I Love You Madly! On Passion, Personality and Personal Growth, second edition
Yes it is a masterpiece in nosology, but it is not just for professionals who need to diagnose for a living. ANYONE who wants to understand personality- I mean the FULL range of personality should read as least pages 1 to 31! You will read the non-dogmatic culmination of over 100 years of research, case study and wisdom that is applicable to all theoretic orienations. I have taught the PDM to non and even anti-psychodynamic psychologists. What happens? Except for very few defensive types, the all loved it. [...]

The PDM is very helpful and a good complement to the DSM-IV. Every good clinician should consult it...

I found this manual a useful resource for the evaluation and treatment of our consultants.
It's also an invaluable aid for teaching psychotherapy.
As it presents personality traits as a continuum, with emphasis in healthy functional patterns and healthy personality, the comprehension of psychopatology results a dynamic process, not a cold list of symtoms.

I have found the manual very detailed and informative. A very useful resource to add to my reference library.

If you're anything like me (by like "me" I mean you're not necessarily fond of the DSMs) chances are you'd like this alternate classification. All of the heavyweight psychoanalysis organizations joined together to produce a diagnostic manual that takes into account the subjective experience of the patient, beyond the description of a general diagnosis. The reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because I'd like it to have important information on transference and countertransference. Being created by the psychoanalytic organizations you'd expect it to include some notes on the Transference/Countertransferece experience in general for each pathology. But the truth is that this manual is actually useful even for therapists outside the psychoanalytic field, so the transferences/countertransference would have probably narrowed the group of psychotherapists it can reach being written the way it is.