Nursing
Critical Care - Canadian Nurses Speak for Change
No one goes through life untouched by nurses. They are there to cradle us at birth, care for us
when we are sick or injured, and to offer comfort at death. They unselfishly give advice, support
and genuine caring when we need it most.
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Three out of four health care professionals in Canada are nurses - yet nursing has been so often overlooked as our health care system is being radically restructured.
In Critical Care, award-winning journalist Andre Picard takes us to the front lines of a profession that is undergoing dramatic changes.
This fascinating look at the many facets of nursing through birth, childhood ad adolescence to maturity and old age, takes us into hospitals, mental health facilities, research laboratories, patients' homes and overseas to war zones. Critical Care features in-depth profiles of more than 40 nurses as they go about their daily jobs. We meet Kim Widger, a pediatric oncology nurse who every day must answer questions like: "What does it feel like to die?" Or Karen Johnson, a trauma nurse and educator, who must deal with the pressures of the "trauma season" between May 24 and Thanksgiving when there is a lethal mixture of cars and alcohol on the road. Or Anthony Arsenault, who is a burn nurse working with critically ill patients. Some nurses such as evacuation nurse Penny Triggs face the perils of airlifting patients out of Nunavut. Others such as Carolyn Adams, a palliative care nurse, help patients experience a "good death". Influential nurses such as Margaret Hilson, director of international programs at the Canadian Public Health Association, use their expertise to shape nursing policy and to guide the next generation of caregivers.
Woven throughout the profiles, Critical Care is Andre Picard's insightful commentary on the challenges of nursing today and recommendations for meaningful and efficient change. A passionate and thought-provoking portrait of a profession at a crossroads, this is a book not only for nurses but for all those who receive their care.
