It isn’t often enough that nurses and other healthcare professionals hear the words, “thank you.” And now more than ever, you deserve to be recognized, which is why we’re offering this eBook for free. This collection of 101 heartwarming stories will encourage, inspire, and reassure you that it’s not only your patients and their families who appreciate your compassionate service, but our entire country. From the bottom of hearts, thank you. Every nurse can use a little pick-me-up these days, and this collection of personal stories will remind you why you became a nurse. All types of nurses share their experiences, their emotions, and even some great tips that will help you make a difference in the lives of patients and their families.
The reassuring bromides of "chicken soup for the soul" provide little solace for nurses—and the people they serve—in real-life hospitals, nursing homes, schools of nursing, and other settings. In the minefield of modern health care, there are myriad obstacles to quality patient care—including work overload, inadequate funds for nursing education and research, and poor communication between and within the professions, to name only a few. The seventy RNs whose stories are collected here by the award-winning journalist Suzanne Gordon know that effective advocacy isn't easy. It takes nurses willing to stand up for themselves, their coworkers, their patients, and the public. When Chicken Soup Isn't Enough brings together compelling personal narratives from a wide range of nurses from across the globe. The assembled profiles in professional courage provide new insight into the daily challenges that RNs face in North America and abroad—and how they overcome them with skill, ingenuity, persistence, and individual and collective advocacy at work and in the community. In this collection, we meet RNs working at the bedside, providing home care, managing hospital departments, teaching and doing research, lobbying for quality patient care, and campaigning for health care reform. Their stories are funny, sad, deeply moving, inspiring, and always revealing of the different ways that nurses make their voices heard in the service of their profession. The risks and rewards, joys and sorrows, of nursing have rarely been captured in such vivid first-person accounts. Gordon and the authors of the essays contained in this book have much to say about the strengths and shortcomings of health care today—and the role that nurses play as irreplaceable agents of change.
This collection of true narratives reflects the dynamism and diversity of nurses, who provide the first vital line of patient care. Here, nurses remember their first "sticks," first births, and first deaths, and reflect on what gets them though long, demanding shifts, and keeps them in the profession. The stories reveal many voices from nurses at different stages of their careers: One nurse-in-training longs to be trusted with more "important" procedures, while another questions her ability to care for nursing home residents. An efficient young emergency room nurse finds his life and career irrevocably changed by a car accident. A nurse practitioner wonders whether she has violated professional boundaries in her care for a homeless man with AIDS, and a home care case manager is the sole attendee at a funeral for one of her patients. What connects these stories is the passion and strength of the writers, who struggle against burnout and bureaucracy to serve their patients with skill, empathy, and strength.
Take care of your patients by taking care of yourself with these 100 self-care activities specifically designed to help nurses reduce stress, feel their best—and ready to make a difference! There’s no doubt about it: today’s healthcare workers have a lot on their plates. Between balancing the needs of your patients and giving your all to support your coworkers, getting burnt out and overwhelmed is a real risk. So how do you make sure you take time for yourself to recharge? With Self-Care for Nurses, you’ll find 100 activities specifically designed to help you relax, take a break, and feel reenergized. Whether you need a quick pick-me-up in the middle of your shift or are looking for some new ways to unwind after the workday is over, you’ll find helpful solutions like: -Writing a list of your accomplishments -Practicing yoga -Learning how to ask for help -And much more! Whether you’re a new nurse or a seasoned veteran, self-care is important for all. Start your nursing self-care practice—today!
A lighthearted, inspiring, and timely look at the daily challenges and triumphs nurses face—all while reminding nurses exactly why they continue to work on the frontline. Being a nurse is not an easy task. From the endless hours battling COVID-19 to an often-times stressful work environment to those delightful patients who always insist they somehow know more than the medical professionals helping them—RNs everywhere know the struggle. What It Means to Be a Nurse takes an amusing look at some of the challenges these medical professionals face on a daily basis. Adding a laugh-out-loud spin that is both entertaining and relatable, this must-have book reminds nurses exactly why they love their hospitals, doctors, and patients, even on the tough days. With a heaping helping of humor and love, this book shares the inspiring and heartwarming stories that show us all why nurses are our heroes.
'Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad. Chicken Soup for the Father and Son Soul takes a peak into the lives of fathers and sons, sharing the important male milestones from birth through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, the senior years, and every step in between. This is a celebration of how fathers and sons carry each other along life's journey. Share the story of one man who didn't think much of becoming a father until the day he laid eyes on his son, and how in a matter of moments his perspective on life and being a dad had profoundly changed forever, and the touching story of a young boy who finds the father he always longed for in a special stepdad, as well as the story of the love and respect between a father-in-law and son-in-law that appears when least expected. Readers will be inspired by the stories of sons looking up to their fathers and learning by example, and fathers recollecting their own childhoods and relationships with their own dads. These insightful stories show men and boys working through the ups and downs of life, learning as they go and becoming better because of their relationship with each other. These powerful and poignant stories are written from every point of view—fathers, sons, grandfathers, mothers, and wives—everyone who has been deeply touched by the father and son relationship.
It only takes a few magical words to solve a big problem, reorient your focus, or change the trajectory of your life. Have a few words of wisdom changed everything for you? Has a piece of advice from a friend, a relative, or even a stranger opened your eyes? We’ve been reading these stories for years—stories about how one little piece of advice can make a life-changing difference. So we asked the public to send us stories about the one piece of advice that reoriented them, solved a problem, or changed the trajectory of their lives. Now we present an amazing new collection—101 stories that have the power to change your life, too. You’ll read great advice in these pages about how to live your life to the fullest, achieve success in your career or vocation, keep your marriage fresh, raise happy, healthy children, face your fears, and be confident. We also have plenty of stories containing great advice for counting your blessings, pursuing your passion, moving forward after loss, making your best effort, and taking care of yourself. We even have a chapter full of stories that will help you pick your battles. What a great gift of hope and inspiration, with something that will resonate for everyone! Chicken Soup for the Soul books are 100% made in the USA and each book includes stories from as diverse a group of writers as possible. Chicken Soup for the Soul solicits and publishes stories from the LGBTQ community and from people of all ethnicities, nationalities, and religions.
Through the ages up to and including ours, Catholics have witnessed or heard about miraculous events that offer supernatural evidence of God's existence and involvement in our lives. Here is a selection of astonishing true stories that will leave you convinced of the reality of God like never before. This remarkable collation includes the accounts of: Angry 15-year-old Cynthia, who scorns her mother's belief that God will always provide—until she sees an incredible result. (“Thanksgiving Angel”) Dawn, who although not Catholic is asked by her dying son if she too can see “Mary” at his bedside. (“Pretty Lady”) Courtney, in tears and praying in the back seat of her mother's car after it had stalled, watches the impossible as the gas gauge needle suddenly begins moving above E. (“Fueled by Faith”) Terrie, a cash-strapped newlywed who skips a weekly milk purchase only to marvel at how long their one gallon lasts. (“The Milk Jug”) Martha, who after 50 years still feels the flood of God's love for her nine-year-old self, who had asked Him for healing and then looked in the mirror. (“Warts and All”) Romona, who felt a tapping on her shoulder—twice!—before turning and rescuing her brother. (“My Brother's Keeper”) James, a six-year-old whose confidence never wavers, even after losing his trusted knife when fishing. (“The Fish, the Knife, and Saint Jude”) Gene, who works three jobs to care for his family and prays for $311—exactly. (“Ask and You Shall Receive”) The Everyday Catholicism series from Chicken Soup for the Soul and Sophia Institute Press are books not only about “living the Faith,” but also about a Faith that is living. These powerful, uplifting stories show the love of God and His actual presence and engagement in our lives—if only we have the eyes to see! A great gift for Confirmation, RCIA, birthdays, weddings, and holidays.
