Product Description
"A beautiful, profound, and profoundly important book. . . . Gordon's message is simplicity itself: sick people need skilled, humane, and insightful care that keeps their interests paramount. Registered nurses have historically provided that care, but now their ability to fulfill their crucial role faces the greatest jeopardy in the history of the profession. . . . Life Support belongs in the august company of Silent Spring, The Other America, The Feminine Mystique, and other pivotal works with the power to shape the nation's consciousness."--Washington Post "In this enlightening, involving, in-depth book, Gordon interweaves the history and philosophy of nursing with on-the-job observations of three nurses at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. Gordon lets the nurses speak for themselves, effectively illustrating their commitment to their profession and involving readers in real-life dramas."--Publishers Weekly "For patients, physicians, nurses, and health policy analysts, Gordon's passionate and accessible account of the impact of managed care on skilled nursing provides clear grounds for concern."--Health Affairs In this book, Suzanne Gordon describes the everyday work of three RNs in Boston--a nurse practitioner, an oncology nurse, and a clinical nurse specialist on a medical unit. At a time when nursing is often undervalued and nurses themselves in short supply, Life Support provides a vivid, engaging, and intimate portrait of health care's largest profession and the important role it plays in patients' lives. Life Support is essential reading for working nurses, nursing students, and anyone considering a career in nursing as well as for physicians and health policy makers seeking a better understanding of what nurses do and why we need them. For the Cornell edition of this landmark work, Gordon has written a new introduction that describes the current nursing crisis and its impact on bedside nurses like those she profiled in the book.

Amazon.com Review
Health care systems often seem hobbled by rules and scrubbed clean of personality. Life Support displays their warmer, messier human side by trailing three outspoken nurses on their rounds. One works with cancer patients, another with homebound elderly, while a third mediates between patients and families, doctors and nurses. Between glimpses of large and small life dramas, author Suzanne Gordon (Prisoners of Men's Dreams) considers prejudice and ignorance about nursing. Does lack of ambition or intelligence bar nurses from medical school? Why is their care denigrated, while doctors are elevated? How will sweeping changes in health care affect them and, ultimately, us? Her responses are provocative and far-ranging.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 12 reviews)

Great Book by R. Folger (E. Bridgewater, MA USA)

5 Stars
August 21, 2006
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.

Powerful by cdona998 (Boston, MA)

5 Stars
August 03, 2005
It's often said that in today's society we have no heroes. If you read this book, you will soon learn otherwise.

Great Nursing Book- could do w/o political commentary by Michele

3 Stars
July 05, 2005
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.

Summarizes nursing's role in the current health care arena. by ginnyhos@aol.com (Rochester Hills, Michigan)

5 Stars
May 08, 1998
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!

Essential reading for all health care consumers . by ffighter@spec.net (LI,NY)

5 Stars
October 03, 1997
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.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	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) by Suzanne Gordon (Author) Gordon examines how health care cost cutting and hospital restructuring undermine the working conditions necessary for quality care. She shows how the historically troubled workplace relationships between RNs and physicians become even more dysfunctional in modern hospitals.
	A Nurse's Story by Tilda Shalof (Author) The team of nurses that Tilda Shalof found herself working with in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a big-city hospital was known as “Laura’s Line.” They were a bit wild: smart, funny, disrespectful of authority, but also caring and incredibly committed to their jobs. Laura set the tone with her quick remarks. Frances, from Newfoundland, was famous for her improvised recipes. Justine, the union rep, wore t-shirts emblazoned with defiant slogans, like “Nurses Care But It’s Not in the...
	Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk (Kaplan Voices Nurses) by Sandy Summers (Author), Harry Jacobs Summers (Author) Popular TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and House lead people to think that nurses simply push gurneys, drive romantic plots, and provide an attractive backdrop for the real action. However, 12 million nurses worldwide know the reality is far more fascinating, demanding, and important. Written by the leaders of The Truth About Nursing, the organization at the forefront of challenging and changing representations of nurses, Saving Lives is destined to change the way people look at the...
	From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know And Must Communicate to the Public, Second Edition by Bernice Buresh (Author), Suzanne Gordon (Author) From Silence to Voice provides essential information that will heighten nurse's awareness of issues that systematically deny the critical contributions of nurses to patient care. Buresh and Gorden meticulously examine the influence of history, culture and gender that have affected theimage of the nurse and therefore the care of the patient. Intuitively, nurses know what the authors have documented: that nurses silence about their vital role in patient care portends invisibility which results in...
	Tending Lives: Nurses on the Medical Front by Echo Heron (Author) A critical-care nurse in coronary and emergency medicine for eighteen years, Echo Heron has seen and heard it all. Here she recounts narratives of real-life medical dramas experienced by nurses across the country, sharing with us the inspiring, the tragic, and the outrageously funny: a penitentiary nurse who wasresponsible for orchestrating a murderer's execution; a stroke victim who rose out of his depression when his nurses began telling him jokes; and, perhaps the most riveting testimony,...