by Vennie Anderson (Author)
Stories About Nursing by a Nurse is the subtitle of Nursing Shorts, and a perfect brief description of this fascinating book. From her first tentative hospital experiences as a volunteer to her final thirteen years of paid employment at a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Anderson brings us along as she remembers, relives, and writes about her career as a registered nurse. A sixteen-year-old girl bathes a dead man to prepare him for the funeral home. Student nurses wait apprehensively while police search for a mass murderer. A disabled child is badly beaten and dies with no one held accountable for the beating. A cruel doctor blames his own patient for her stillborn child. A belligerent drunk threatens those who are trying to help him. A desperate, depressed veteran locks himself into a bathroom and commits suicide. Some stories may shock and surprise you. Some may make you happy, sad or angry. Humor and tragedy exist side by side in these captivating stories. Compassion, humor, and honesty give the ring of truth and reality to this extraordinary career-based memoir. Of herself and fellow nurses Anderson says, "Nursing isn't what we do, it's who we are."