Tending Lives

by Echo Heron

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449910768
• ISBN13: 9780449910764
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Length: 341 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

I loved this real portrayal of nursing!

I first read this book when I was in RN school. I thought to myself, "What am I getting into?" But I loved the book, and I couldn't put it down! I loaned it to a friend and have since bought two more copies. Now that I have been an RN for a year, I see more of what the nurses in Echo Heron's book go through every day. And, even though I am worried about what the future holds for my profession as the nursing shortage looms above us, I have never been more proud of the title that I have. I love my job, and all that it means. I am very proud to be a nurse, and am also very proud to share my profession with someone like Echo Heron, who is not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks, and she is usually right on the money. Keep writing Echo, and we will keep reading.

A true "touching" of the heart of nursing

I love reading Echo's non-fictional stories the best and this one is great. I feel as if I'm in the story with similar situations in nursing. And I learn so much from the many situations. Echo and her writings have been an inspiration to me to keep fighting for patients "lack of rights" concerning personal care/staff. How I wish I had seen her ad to talk with her, what an honor that would have been. Thank you Echo.

A great book to allow others to have a look into our lives!

I have read most of Echo's books, (I haven't read Paradox or Mercy yet) but this one is my favorite so far. It is nice to know that I am not alone and nurses throughout the nation experience the same feelings and experiences that I have on a daily basis. I'm glad that someone has provided a forum for us to tell our side for once. It lets the public know that we, the nurses are NOT the enemy. I have been a critical care nurse like Echo for thirteen years. When I read her stories, I find that she and I have alot in common. She is by far, my idol. we need more nurses like her in the practice.

EXCELLENT!!!

As a R.N. with 30 years experience, I look forward to Echo Heron's books because they depict the profession of nursing truthfully and with humor. I was not at all disappointed with this current release. Ms. Heron has put together a book of interviews with nurses that is fast-paced, gives such an interesting history of the profession, and aptly depicts nursing as the part of medicine that still focuses on advocacy and compassion. I am proud to be a nurse, and even more proud that there are people like Echo Heron who continue to speak out in favor of good patient care and bringing caring back to the practice of medicine. This is a book that is a "must read" for anyone in the medical field, while "lay" people will also find it totallly absorbing and impossible to put down.

The Heart of Health Care

As a Registered Nurse, I was very excited to see the arrival of Echo's latest new book. Echo was the first to give the most "honest" look at our profession, much to the dismay of some who feel that "good girls should not talk back". In this new book she gives voice to some of the 2.2 million nurses in our country who are, as a whole, concerned about the progess of health care away from the patient, and centered on the dollar. True, these stories may scare some about to enter the hospital, but being well-informed is your best weapon to fight against those risks. Hospitals ARE scary places these days, as they replace skilled nurses with lesser trained (and lesser paid) non-professionals, and the remaining nurses are "burning out" trying to give the best care that they can. Books like Echo's are important to correct that "handmaiden" image of nursing. Anyone who is enthralled by "ER" and other medical dramas will be drawn right into these tales. Nurses have far more to tell than other care providers about the real stories behind the drama, since by the amount of time spent at the bedside, and the intimate work that they do, they are much closer to the heart of humanity-with all its joy, pain, humor and tears.