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Nursing America: One Year Behind the Nursing Stations of an Inner-City Hospital
A behind-the-scenes look at the inner-city nursing profession is based on the daily experiences of specialty nurses from the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee, in a volume that offers insight into their relationships with doctors, each other, and their patients in a variety of situations. 20,000 first printing.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published February 3, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 30, 2011
I had great hopes for this book. I am very interested in socio-cultural aspects of medicine and one of our daughters is a nurse so I am also aware of some of the political and economic issues in nursing. I am also familiar with a wonderful (although quite academic) 2001 book by Keith Wailoo –Dying in the City of the Blues – that addresses many questions of race, religion, southern culture and medical care.
Nursing America is the story of nurses at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis (called “The Med”. About 1/3 of The Med’s patients have no health insurance and it sees high numbers of accident and gunshot victims, HIV patients, and distressed deliveries. Although the author supposedly addresses these and other critical issues, for the first 100 pages I kept looking for some sort of organization and coherent information but everything seems to be addressed superficially. There is a good bit of repetitiveness that I think the author believed makes some point. The second half is slightly better, or maybe I gave up expecting much.
I did learn that nurses (at least those at The Med) are compassionate and like their work. They like that they make money but the respect and autonomy they are given at the Med is more important that high salaries at other hospitals. There seem to be good opportunities for advancement – e.g., becoming a nurse anesthetist or earning other advanced nursing degrees or certification.
I kept comparing this book to the terrific (though very academic) 2001 book by Keith Wailoo – Dying in the City of the Blues. It did not seem that the author had consulted this or any other works.
Poor writing, poor organization, and probably poor research. What a waste of the author’s time - he spent a year interviewing nurses and following them at work. Still, it was a quick read and probably worth reading – it is only 200 pages.
Nursing America is the story of nurses at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis (called “The Med”. About 1/3 of The Med’s patients have no health insurance and it sees high numbers of accident and gunshot victims, HIV patients, and distressed deliveries. Although the author supposedly addresses these and other critical issues, for the first 100 pages I kept looking for some sort of organization and coherent information but everything seems to be addressed superficially. There is a good bit of repetitiveness that I think the author believed makes some point. The second half is slightly better, or maybe I gave up expecting much.
I did learn that nurses (at least those at The Med) are compassionate and like their work. They like that they make money but the respect and autonomy they are given at the Med is more important that high salaries at other hospitals. There seem to be good opportunities for advancement – e.g., becoming a nurse anesthetist or earning other advanced nursing degrees or certification.
I kept comparing this book to the terrific (though very academic) 2001 book by Keith Wailoo – Dying in the City of the Blues. It did not seem that the author had consulted this or any other works.
Poor writing, poor organization, and probably poor research. What a waste of the author’s time - he spent a year interviewing nurses and following them at work. Still, it was a quick read and probably worth reading – it is only 200 pages.
May 29, 2024
idk why people are disliking the book so much HAAHAH i thought it was perfect for me. I just wanted a glimpse into what nurses do and the book delivered. I was exposed to other areas of nursing like the burn ward and helicopter nurses LOOL. also the book ended in a way that made me think ... so I liked it.
The attitude at the Med felt similar to Grady so I thought that was cool. Made me think about what kind of institution I might work at in the future.
Balfour ended with saying that all the nurses at the Med are there because there's a sense of belonging. It's not the salary or specialty necessarily but the sense in which one belongs. And I thought that was p cool. I definitely am looking for a place of belonging~
The attitude at the Med felt similar to Grady so I thought that was cool. Made me think about what kind of institution I might work at in the future.
Balfour ended with saying that all the nurses at the Med are there because there's a sense of belonging. It's not the salary or specialty necessarily but the sense in which one belongs. And I thought that was p cool. I definitely am looking for a place of belonging~
May 21, 2025
A very enlightening read. As someone who is about to enter university to pursue nursing, you here stories and there are many ideas that float around about nurses. This brought to life those who work in various wards around a singular hospital and the ebb and flow throughout the year. The disparities and financial crises are evident throughout, but this just demonstrates what an amazing field nursing is.
November 5, 2007
I was excited to read this book based on the description - I haven't had any experience with the nitty-gritty of nursing in an inner-city hospital and so I'd like to learn about it. But while Balfour did a great job of portraying the personalities and convictions of the nurses he shadowed in Memphis, he shied away from the medical details. For example, I was intrigued by the burn unit nurse who said, "I love to clean a dirty burn!" but there was no following description of what she would actually DO. However, Balfour did hit on some very serious and pertinent issues in nursing in a public hospital, such as the constant budget strain, race relations, noncompliant patients, and the stress of working under all of those pressures and more.
July 27, 2010
I loved all of the extended quotes from nurses, which grounded this book firmly in reality. Very insightful.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews