Crisis in an award-winning journalist delivers a dramatic account of
the challenges and opportunities of nursing today.
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 offer comfort at
death. Yet nursing has not only been an invisible profession, but a silent
one. Only recently have we begun to hear from Canada's nurses, as they
react to cutbacks, job losses, overwork, and lack of respect for their
skills. These grievances have resulted in unprecedented shortages and a
life-threatening crisis.

In Critical Care award-winning journalist Andre Picard brings us to the
front lines of the nursing crisis, providing a remarkable portrait of the
state of the profession through the eyes of nurses themselves. He
interviewed more than 40 nurses and what he discovered is, in some cases,
shocking, in others, heartbreaking. Yet the stories reaffirm our image of
nurses as caring, knowledgeable and dedicated - invaluable members of
Canada's public health system.

Take Kim Widger, a pediatric oncology nurse who every day has to answer
questions "What does it feel like to die?" Or Karen Johnson, a trauma
nurse and educator, as she describes the rigors of the "trauma season," the
period between May 24 and Thanksgiving, when there is a lethal mixture of
many more cars on the road and increased alcohol consumption by young men.
Or Penny Triggs, a medical evacuation nurse working for a private air
ambulance service in Nunavut. or Cathy Crowe, a nurse-practitioner whose
work with the homeless has transformed her into a political activist.
Woven throughout Critical Care is Andre Picard's insightful commentary on
the challenges of contemporary nursing, plus a passionate and thoughtful
prescription for change. This is a book not just of interest to those in
the health field, but to anyone who cares about the future of health care.

About The
Andre Picard is The Globe and Mail's public health reporter. He is the
author of the acclaimed The Gift of Confronting Canada's Tainted
Blood Tragedy, which won the Science in Society Journalism Award and was
shortlisted for both the Gordon Montador Award for Public Policy Journalism
and the Q-SPELL Award for non-fiction. He also received a Michener Award
for Meritorious Public Service Journalism and a National Newspaper Award
nomination for his coverage of the scandal. One of the top public policy
writers in Canada, Andre Picard traveled across the country to research
Critical Care and was offered unparalleled access to nurses on the job.

Critical Care : Canadian Nurses Speak for Change

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