Wait, a book review about ER nurses? I know what you’re thinking, “First Case is all perioperative related, why tell us about a book about the ER?” Well, I’ll tell you why. In the healthcare world, we are all pieces of one big puzzle. The ER patient needs emergency surgery and then will head to the surgical unit post op. The surgical patient has an incident in the OR and now needs ICU care after. There is a lot we can learn about our patients, their families, and situations before they come to us.
Published less than a year ago, this book, written by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, is a tale of nurses dealing with everyday situations, as well as their dealings with the Covid-19 pandemic during its peak in 2020. While entitled E.R. Nurses, there were probably more stories from the ICU than the hallowed halls of the ER, but it was still a page turner none the less. A quick read, with short stories, I finished this book in just 2 days! As expected, it has its ups and downs when it comes to the stories these nurses shared, but it is written in a way that allows the general public an inside look at what goes on in these critical areas.
As OR professionals, we don’t always get to have that family/patient connection as other areas of nursing. We sometimes only get a fraction of the story as to why our patients are coming to us at all hours of the day. This book allows us a look into what brought the patient into ER in the first place, but in the eyes of the nurse. I’ve always said that the best fabricated story I could come up with pales in comparison to the real-life patient situations I’ve encountered. This book definitely reiterates that sentiment. As an OR nurse myself, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first-hand experiences of other nurses from big cities to small rural towns, from the United States to the Middle East.
You can find this book on Amazon here!
