The Shift: A Nurse's Life-Changing Journey Through 12 Hours With 4 Patients

Heather: This book was a good read, but was very wordy and at times to descriptive. I work in healthcare as well and I love reading about other peoples experiences. But I feel like the author spent more time on descriptions then the actual individual stories. But as you read through and come to an end it’s a good book. It just didn’t grab my attention as much as I’d had hoped.

United States on Sep 05, 2023

Kindle Customer: Enjoyed reading. So true. So sad that nurse have to spend so much time on the COW, computer on wheels. No

United States on Jul 09, 2023

NeveB: This book delivered exactly what the title promises: a minute-by-minute description of a the 12-hour shift of a nurse in an oncology ward of a large city hospital. The author is both a good writer and a compassionate, conscientious RN who adeptly conveys the challenges, and rewards, of her profession. I was very interested in how the nurses balance the constant competing demands of treating patients, dealing with doctors, charting everything they do, and periodically stepping off the crazy treadmill to provide much-needed doses of empathy and compassion. I know, from my own experience, that the nurses are the glue that holds the whole insane American medical system together but this book deepened my appreciation. The book is a quick read (I read it in a day) but I think it will make anyone who shadows Theresa Brown, RN for a day a better-informed patient. I also highly recommend this book to the men and women in the long white coats who care about the perspective of their essential colleagues.

United States on Jan 30, 2023

Michelle: Feels grubby. Lots of underlining. Buy new

Canada on Mar 05, 2021

David A: The Shift is a wonderful book. I am reviewing it from the perspective of both a reader as well as a hospital-based physician.

The Shift is the most accurate depiction of a floor nurse's daily existence that I have ever read. It vividly describes the hectic and often chaotic demands that are placed on the people that actually take care for us when we get sick. The profession has always been demanding, both in terms of the amount of work involved as well as the responsibilities nurses shoulder, and that current runs through the narrative. The book reads fast, much as the typical shift an RN experiences runs fast - there is little time for idle gossip or relaxation. I found the read compelling, and I continually marveled at how accurately Ms/Dr (the author is a PhD in English, and it shows in the writing) Brown depicts and translates for a reader the care she and others provide, from the medical language that is used to the technology that must be mastered. I read the entire book in 2 days. Surprisingly, I found myself kind of exhausted at the end, much like most nurses are at the end of their shift, many having been too busy to even stop and have lunch and often staying 30...

United States on Jan 09, 2021

Kindle Customer: I enjoyed the book. It was very detailed and told the story of the nurses interaction with several patients. I was impressed with her diligence on her shifts. She also cared for her patients feelings as well as their health. Anyone who enjoys stories about the medical field will enjoy this.

Canada on Jun 09, 2017

GHG: An eye opener - not a minute is spare in this nurses day. Grateful

United Kingdom on May 29, 2017

bee: Interesting from a medical point of view

United Kingdom on May 25, 2017

Scott: An easy read but full of insight into life as a nurse. The demands and stresses we place on those who we should value. Why is it that we demand so much of nurses and yet not reward them adequately for their hard and tireless work?

Australia on Aug 02, 2016

Andy Orrock: "The Shift" by Theresa Brown, RN, is a very good read for medical personnel and lay people alike. I'm in IT and enjoyed it a great deal. I shared it with my wife who works at a hospital. She would see right through a flimsy or dishonest account. She, too, found it compelling and pronounced it a very accurate depiction of a workday and the constant struggle to keep up, stay up and provide quality care. As Brown indelibly puts it, steeling herself to face another day:

"Amid the many uncertainties of the shift there is one thing I know for sure. Am I ready and up to the job? Yes. Today, and every day, for the sake of my patients I have no other option; the answer has to be, and always is, Yes."

What makes Brown's account stand out: she's got serious writing chops. Not just "she can write," but she was an English professor at Tufts before a career change put her into nursing. So, beyond being just a good writer, she understands the art and craft of writing and storytelling well enough that she was employed by a prestigious university to explain it to others.

The quote above is at the beginning of Brown's day. She takes you through one long day's shift. So, her...

United States on May 28, 2016