Reviewed by Patti M. Rager
“Nursing lies at the very heart of humankind’s commitment to caring for one another,” states Archbishop Desmond Tutu, known for his work in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. He recommends Nurse: A World of Care as a book that “shines light on the remarkable work of nurses and their struggles to reach all people, despite severe nursing shortages that threaten health care worldwide.”
In the foreword to Nurse, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter credits his mother, Lillian Carter, a nurse, with inspiring him to found The Carter Center to improve the health of individuals and communities, to nourish hope and self-respect. Recognizing that nurses are in a pivotal position to influence these outcomes, Carter partnered with the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing, affiliated with the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, to underscore nursing’s contributions to worldwide health care and challenges faced by nurses around the globe. Their work is featured in Nurse: A World of Care.
Marla Salmon, RN, ScD, FAAN, senior editor of this magnificent book, is director of the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing, as well as dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Her commitment to nursing and global health is evident throughout Nurse. These three luminaries—Tutu, Carter and Salmon—shine the light on what too often remains invisible: the work of not-so-ordinary nurses. In fact, throughout this book, nurses are doing the extraordinary—at the beginning and end of life, and all times in between.
The book begins with “Passages of Life: A Portfolio,” a stunning photographic portrayal of nurses at various stages of life. The remainder of the book is divided into five sections. The first, titled “A Timeless Legacy,” describes nursing from its early roots to its present stature as a profession. For generations, nurses have cared for those who are sick or in need, no matter who they are or where they may be. Nurses are pictured working in battlefields, as well as in feeding centers for undernourished children in sub-Saharan Africa. Nurses continue to speak for those who have no voice, and their faces show their tireless commitment.
The second section, “Advancing the Profession,” portrays nurses in advanced practice roles as varied as working in remote rural areas with children orphaned by AIDS to working in urban retail health clinics. Section Three, titled “A Crucial Partner,” focuses on the effort of nurses to improve the practice of nursing by building a solid base of scientific research. In Section Four, “The Looming Crisis,” the author describes a severe and worsening worldwide shortage of nurses that erodes quality of care in many areas of developed countries, and jeopardizes efforts to improve care in poorer countries.
Finally, Section Five, “Brave New World of Care,” outlines initiatives that address the global nursing shortage. Examples include Johnson & Johnson’s “Campaign For Nursing’s Future” and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Transforming Care at the Bedside” program, as well as programs of the International Council of Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau International, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the World Health Organization. Jean Yan, RN, PhD, chief scientist for nursing and midwifery at the World Health Organization, sums it up: “We must promote and nourish this profession if we are to address the inequities in access to health care and improve care for everyone.”
This book of unforgettable images and thought-provoking commentary paints a rich and proud portrait of nursing—a beautiful, yet endangered, profession. It is an instructive tool that can be used to communicate nursing’s powerful message and its critical needs. Nurse: A World of Care is a must-read for those who work to promote social justice and the right of all people to have a fair chance to live healthy lives.
Patti M. Rager, RN, MSN, MBA, is a court-appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA. She is past president and publisher of Nursing Spectrum/Nurse Week, a Commonwealth Fund executive nurse fellow and former director of nursing support services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
For more information on NURSE: A World of Care, go to the Nursing Knowledge International Web site.
