Taking care : the story of nursing and its power to change our world / Sarah DiGregorio.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

DiGregorio, Sarah, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nursing--History.

Nursing.

Nurses--History.

Nurses.

Genre:

Informational works.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 283 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2023]

Summary:

"Nurses have always been vital to human existence. A nurse was likely there when you were born and a nurse might well be there when you die. Familiar in hospitals and doctors' offices, these dedicated health professionals can also be found in schools, prisons, and people's homes; at summer camps; on cruise ships, and even at NASA. Yet despite being celebrated during the Covid-19 epidemic, nurses are often undermined and undervalued in ways that reflect misogyny and racism, and that extend to their working conditions--and affect the care available to everyone. But the potential power of nursing to create a healthier, more just world endures. The story of nursing is complicated. It is woven into war, plague, religion, the economy, and our individual lives in myriad ways. In Taking Care, journalist Sarah DiGregorio chronicles the lives of nurses past and tells the stories of those today--caregivers at the vital intersection of health care and community who are actively changing the world, often invisibly. An absorbing and empathetic work that combines storytelling with nuanced reporting, Taking Care examines how we have always tried to care for each other--the incredible ways we have succeeded and the ways in which we have failed. Fascinating, empowering and significant, it is a call for change and a love letter to the nurses of yesterday, today, and tomorrow."-- Publisher marketing.

Contents:

Origins: to nurse is to be human: reclaiming a history

Hierarchy: the making of a big lie: essentially female, always subordinate

Identity: who is a nurse? the wartime struggle for the right to care

Community: libraries, church basements, and tenement houses: nursing at work in everyday lives

Endings: nursing beyond cures: the radical promise of hospice

Autonomy: the fight for choices: a complicated story of nurses, birth control, and abortion

Environment: seeing the future: nursing in a swiftly changing climate

Addiction: staying alive: how radical acceptance can transform substance use care

Collective: no angels: nursing as labor

Power: taking charge: what we all gain when good nurses govern.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-266) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

9780063071285

0063071282

OCLC:

1338834044