Nursing against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)

This book has deeply influenced the way I see the profession and has inspired me to pay attention to the social, economic, and cultural forces at work in the hospital that can endanger patients. This book made me feel like nurses are victims of external forces that they are constantly struggling to defeat, but I know that her excellent purpose for writing the book was for us to stand up for what's right and take control of our work environment so we can care for our patients to the greatest degree of our ability and education. She calls for nurses to take responsibility and action for what is going on just as much as she hammers the media, cost-cutting administration, and abusive colleagues for making nurses powerless to affect positive change in their patients' care.Ms. Gordon did a great job including nursing data from all around the world and several different hospital systems, as well as dissecting in-depth a couple of hospitals that she discovered had lost respect for the value of nursing. However, some of her generalized assessments of the nursing profession were slightly inaccurate, which of course can be allowed for when such large generalizations are made. For example, she stated that Bachelor-prepared nursing students do not receive as much clinical training as Associate-prepared students. In my area, this is not true. Here it is known that ADN-prepared students receive much less clinical hours, and with less autonomy, than BSN-prepared students. In fact, the BSN preceptorships are twice as long.Thanks to Ms. Gordon for writing this book. I recommend it to all who enter the profession, but be aware that this is not a feel-good book. She uses much data and journalist expertise to draw a picture of the profession that might shock or surprise those who are not in healthcare. But for us who are, her words ring true.

I read the book and am going to graduate from a nursing program in June of '08. I was so disenchanted as to what went on in the book as I see it going on when I am in clinicals. I probably wouldn't have picked nursing as my number one profession after being in the hospital setting and it should be a read the first quarter of new nursing students. The book is very factual, as to what I have witnessed thus far. It is a shame it has to be the almighty dollar when it comes to health care. This country is so rich and yet it has so many people without coverage. Most of my fellow students are trying to RUN from bedside nursing as the patient ratio is not safe. Schools need to revamp their programs with more hands on experience. We get little to prepare us for the real world. Any nurse will tell you "You will start learning when you get your first job, that is when the real learning begins." It is no wonder there are at least 300,000 med errors a year. Let us shadow a nurse for at least a quarter to see what it's all about. If I wasn't older, I would pursue another degree.

This is a really interesting book. I have worked in a variety of nursing settings and have never had the issues that this book brings up(at least not to that extent), but that's not to say these problems don't exist. It's an easy read, because of all the anecdotes presented and how jarring some can be. But I would have liked a little less bias in the writing. It tends to sound like a rant on physicians after a while, and that can get annoying. The focus is specifically on RNs, and NPs and PAs are generally lumped in the MD category, so don't expect information on nursing from the NP perspective.To someone that has not worked in healthcare, this book can be really scary and should be taken with a grain of salt, but definitely a thrilling read.If you have experience working in a hospital, this is really interesting to compare your personal experience with nurses from across the country. Highly recommended, even though it is quite biased.

This book is a very astute examination of nursing's current state in healthcare and the systematic issues that plague the profession. Interestingly, though not surprising if you read the book, this author is not a nurse herself, but a journalist who writes about healthcare issues. I find this lends her arguments a bit more weight as an outsider with a perspective and not just "another nurse complaining about her job." I think that this book should be required reading for ALL NURSING STUDENTS AND FACULTY! I also believe that if anyone wants to truly understand the current nursing shortage, and why it's a recurrent trend in healthcare, that they should read this book as well. To the author, well done.

As I read Suzanne Gordon's account of nurses in todays world of cost cutting health care I could not help but admire her insight. While she is primarily a journalist her observations are so much of that of the nurse clinician trying to be there for the patient. Situation at my work place is identical to that of most hospitals Suzanne speaks of. This book is in the library at the university of which I am a graduate student. As an experienced nurse I would like to urge nurses entering the profession to read this volume and take heed before it is too late to make a difference.Susan BardyAdelaideSouth Australia

This a a very good, and easy to read nursing text book. It flows well because of the real life stories and examples that all of us at the bedside can relate to. It makes you think about what you do, and what you say. How these things can and do impact patient care, and relationships with staff, patients, facilty, etc. We are such a necessary part of the bigger picture, and this book helps support and encourage us to be the best that we can be and to stand up for what it right and good in nursing and health care.

Been a nurse for a few years now...and this book was written a while ago, but I have to say that this book hits the nail on the head. It describes everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) that has disappointed me about the nursing profession. Everything touched upon in this book is as relevant today as it was back then. It is disappointing that nothing has changed, and only seems to get worse.