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)

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Paperback
2006
$21.14

In the United States and throughout the industrialized world, just as the population of older and sicker patients is about to explode, we have a major shortage of nurses. Why are so many RNs dropping out of health care's largest profession? How will the lack of skilled, experienced caregivers affect patients? These are some of the questions addressed by Suzanne Gordon's definitive account of the world's nursing crisis. In Nursing against the Odds, one of North America's leading health care journalists draws on in-depth interviews, research studies, and extensive firsthand reporting to help readers better understand the myriad causes of and possible solutions to the current crisis.

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. In Gordon's view, the public image of nurses continues to suffer from negative media stereotyping in medical shows on television and from shoddy press coverage of the important role RNs play in the delivery of health care.

Gordon also identifies the class and status divisions within the profession that hinder a much-needed defense of bedside nursing. She explains why some policy panaceas-hiring more temporary workers, importing RNs from less-developed countries-fail to address the forces that drive nurses out of their workplaces. To promote better care, Gordon calls for a broad agenda that includes safer staffing, improved scheduling, and other policy changes that would give nurses a greater voice at work. She explores how doctors and nurses can collaborate more effectively and what medical and nursing education must do to foster such cooperation. Finally, Gordon outlines ways in which RNs can successfully take their case to the public while campaigning for health care system reform that actually funds necessary nursing care.

Synopsis

In the United States and throughout the industrialized world, just as the population of older and sicker patients is about to explode, we have a major shortage of nurses. Why are so many RNs dropping out of health care's largest profession? How will the lack of skilled, experienced caregivers affect patients? These are some of the questions addressed by Suzanne Gordon's definitive account of the world's nursing crisis. In Nursing against the Odds, one of North America's leading health care journalists draws on in-depth interviews, research studies, and extensive firsthand reporting to help readers better understand the myriad causes of and possible solutions to the current crisis.

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. In Gordon's view, the public image of nurses continues to suffer from negative media stereotyping in medical shows on television and from shoddy press coverage of the important role RNs play in the delivery of health care.

Gordon also identifies the class and status divisions within the profession that hinder a much-needed defense of bedside nursing. She explains why some policy panaceas-hiring more temporary workers, importing RNs from less-developed countries-fail to address the forces that drive nurses out of their workplaces. To promote better care, Gordon calls for a broad agenda that includes safer staffing, improved scheduling, and other policy changes that would give nurses a greater voice at work. She explores how doctors and nurses can collaborate more effectively and what medical and nursing education must do to foster such cooperation. Finally, Gordon outlines ways in which RNs can successfully take their case to the public while campaigning for health care system reform that actually funds necessary nursing care.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 512
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 09 Mar 2006
ISBN 10: 080147292X
ISBN 13: 9780801472923

Media Reviews

One of the most comprehensive and insightful discussions . . . of the complex set of relationships that have developed over the years between doctors and nurses. Nursing against the Odds should be required reading for all nurses, doctors, and nursing and medical students, . . . who will find this book both provocative and enlightening. -New England Journal of Medicine, 29 September 2005

Exhausted by heavy work, mandatory overtime, and the stress of looking after hospital patients who are sicker, frailer, and in need of ever more high-tech intervention, nurses are leaving the bedside faster than they can be replaced. . . . People who are interested in the health care system or in their own health care should pay attention to the issues Ms. Gordon raises in this book. But nurses especially should read it. -Cornelia Dean, New York Times, 17 May 2005

Gordon uses anecdotes, research findings, and statistics to develop the list of contributing factors and potential resolutions to the current nursing shortage in more developed countries. She offers a comprehensive, international overview of the key issues. -Ellen Zupa, The Lancet, 27 August 2005

Gordon's detailed information in the form of interviews, documented research, groundbreaking advances and setbacks, statistics, and opinions about the state of nursing are compelling. . . . You will recognize that there isn't any issue related to nurses and nursing that Gordon hasn't examined. . . . This book isn't just for nurses. It is a comprehensive depiction of how nursing is indeed working against the odds to provide a safe, caring environment for patients. Nurses hold the key to the solutions. Gordon gives us the data and talking points to move to the action stage. -Kay Bensing, Advance for Nurses, 1 August 2005

Suzanne Gordon, a national award-winning journalist, author, and adjunct professor, is an advocate for all nurses. Gordon isn't a nurse, but believes nursing to be an honorable profession and the backbone of our health care system. . . . This book addresses the main forces that drive nurses out of their workplace; the crucial issues that deprive communities of adequate care of the sick, and the class and status divisions within the profession. But Gordon doesn't focus only on the problems, past and present, facing the nursing profession, but the remedies as well. -Terry Ratner, RN, MFA, Nurseweek, 9 May 2005

The nurses Gordon describes in multiple anecdotes are almost always clinically astute and are frequently the first, occasionally the only, professionals to observe, interpret, and respond appropriately to signs and symptoms that foretell disaster for the patient. Despite the horror stories of disasters and averted disasters, Gordon fortunately places the issues of nurses and doctors at work in a larger historical and sociological context. -Barbara A. Mark, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Journal of the American Medical Association, 17 August 2005

The nursing profession lacks many things, like decent working conditions, recognition, and respect on the job. But, with Suzanne Gordon, it has something other professions can only envy-a skilled reporter, brilliant analyst, and steadfast advocate. -Barbara Ehrenreich
Nursing is one of the most honorable professions I know. I'm proud of the service I provided during my nursing days. I learned so much about my beliefs, values, and passions as well as learning about others. Anyone who has spent time in a hospital knows that nurses are the true caregivers, the backbone of our health care system. Most doctors spend only a few minutes with their patients while nurses are there around the clock. This is an important book and needs to be required reading in all our medical schools. -Naomi Judd, RN

The shocking real-life stories Gordon describes in Nursing against the Odds echo what our members experience every day. Readers will not only learn how the nursing profession has suffered over the years due to the many pressures of the nation's evolving health care system-they'll understand exactly what needs to be done to meet the challenges nurses and patients continue to face today. Gordon takes a candid look at the current nursing shortage and paints a vivid picture of how nurses are uniting throughout the profession to raise patient-care standards. This book is a must-read for anyone involved in the healthcare industry. -Andrew Stern, SEIU International President

Nursing against the Odds is a brilliant and long-overdue assessment of nursing at a time of crisis in health care-what has gone wrong and what can be done to restore this once-esteemed profession to a position of equality with doctors. It should be read by anyone interested in the hierarchy of medicine, and the reasons why the nurse is becoming an endangered species. -Richard Selzer, MD, author of Letters to a Young Doctor

Suzanne Gordon's book contains a wealth of ideas for legislators and policymakers who want to protect patients from the consequences of managed care and hospital restructuring. Gordon shows that real health care reform requires strong coalitions between nurses and the communities they serve. -U.S. Representative Bernard Sanders (I-VT)

Suzanne Gordon provides new and important insights into the complexities involved in the current nursing shortage. Nursing against the Odds contains the right mixture of patient/nurse anecdotes and scientific evidence for the conclusions reached and finishes with constructive suggestions for steps that can be taken to correct the situation. -Margaret L. McClure, RN, EdD, FAAN

Author Bio

Suzanne Gordon is coeditor of the Cornell University Press series The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work and was program leader of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded Nurse Manager in Action Program. She is the author of Nursing against the Odds and The Battle for Veterans' Healthcare; coauthor of From Silence to Voice, Life Support, Safety in Numbers, Beyond the Checklist, and Bedside Manners; editor of When Chicken Soup Isn't Enough; and coeditor of The Complexities of Care, First, Do Less Harm, and Collaborative Caring, all from Cornell.