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From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public
As nurses face the ongoing challenges of an increasing need for their services combined with economic pressures, members of the largest profession in health care must become more visible, vocal, and influential. The first communication guidebook designed expressly for nurses, From Silence to Voice helps nurses understand and overcome the self-silencing that often leads RNs to downplay their own expertise and their contributions to the care of the sick and the health of the public. Bernice Buresh and Suzanne Gordon teach nurses, nurse educators, and nurse researchers critical skills they can use to explain their work to other health-care professionals, journalists, policymakers, and political representatives. From Silence to Voice features stories about nurses who ensure that patients receive appropriate, timely, and even life-saving care, nurses who make all the difference while crises are underway but whose contributions are neglected in medical charts and thank-you notes, nurses who are left out altogether or obscured by the generic "nurse." However, the book also provides detailed accounts of nurses who do make their voices heard, who do make their concerns public- and it shows how those successes can be duplicated. Buresh and Gordon draw on real-world examples that will help nurses to gain respect for themselves as professionals, communicate well with both patients and health-care colleagues, understand how the news media work, collaborate with public relations professionals, write effective letters to the editor and publish op-ed pieces, appear on television and radio, and promote research on nursing.
- GenresNursingNonfiction
Paperback
First published December 15, 2000
65 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 26, 2009
This is a classic which should be read by every nurse, becasue it explores the psychologiucal issues of risk-taking and assertiveness with whcih every nurse must grapple.
The premise is simple: nurses see and participate in the most dramatic situations you can think of, every day, and yet people have no idea what nurses do, how they save lives, or what nurses are thinking. The authors ask the simple question - "why?"
The answer has to do with the hierarchical nature of nursing ( our yin-yand with the doctors and the medical profession) and the careful way in which we are taught to be "objective". Nurses write every day, it's called "charting", but the style of charting is very different than the style that would engage a wider audience. Nurses use a large voacbulary of code words to describe phenomemnon and get a handle on things. It's only in telling war stories amongst themselves that nurses let their hair down.
In my own writing process, I attended the San Francisco Writer's Workshop, which was an excellent event since it introduced me to the machnics of the publishing business ( it was partly a cattle call of aspiring writers). In the process, I realized that the last time I had been in a room with so many English majors, was my freshman year in college. Nurses lead sequestered lives starting in nursing school!
That is the central message, and indeed it is true in my case. Suizanne Gordon, the original co-author, is a dynamic and engaging speaker ( even though she is a journalist and not a nurse), and has a way to bring this alive.
The main reason I do not give this book five stars is that it goes off onto a side tangent in the latter third or so, talking about national health insurance and national health policy. I htought this was bit overly simplified.
The premise is simple: nurses see and participate in the most dramatic situations you can think of, every day, and yet people have no idea what nurses do, how they save lives, or what nurses are thinking. The authors ask the simple question - "why?"
The answer has to do with the hierarchical nature of nursing ( our yin-yand with the doctors and the medical profession) and the careful way in which we are taught to be "objective". Nurses write every day, it's called "charting", but the style of charting is very different than the style that would engage a wider audience. Nurses use a large voacbulary of code words to describe phenomemnon and get a handle on things. It's only in telling war stories amongst themselves that nurses let their hair down.
In my own writing process, I attended the San Francisco Writer's Workshop, which was an excellent event since it introduced me to the machnics of the publishing business ( it was partly a cattle call of aspiring writers). In the process, I realized that the last time I had been in a room with so many English majors, was my freshman year in college. Nurses lead sequestered lives starting in nursing school!
That is the central message, and indeed it is true in my case. Suizanne Gordon, the original co-author, is a dynamic and engaging speaker ( even though she is a journalist and not a nurse), and has a way to bring this alive.
The main reason I do not give this book five stars is that it goes off onto a side tangent in the latter third or so, talking about national health insurance and national health policy. I htought this was bit overly simplified.
July 11, 2007
This book has changed my nursing career. It pointed out to me why nursing has historically been a silent profession. We are the largest workforce in the healthcare industry, yet we are not heard. When was the last time you heard a nurse being quoted on CNN or in a newspaper? This book gives instruction on how to change our profession to one that speaks out as advocates for ourselves and our patients.
September 28, 2015
With the whole hubbub about "The View" and the Miss America contestant, I pulled the book of the good shelf and reread. The book is already well highlighted and tagged.
The book presents issues that nurse have with our image and gives suggestions on how to change that image. It's a book that should be mandatory reading for all nurses and nursing students.
Well written, keeps interest and even if you disagree in areas it keeps your attention due to the overall way the information is handled.
It covers both what others are doing and saying to affect us as a profession and what we're doing to ourselves.
The book presents issues that nurse have with our image and gives suggestions on how to change that image. It's a book that should be mandatory reading for all nurses and nursing students.
Well written, keeps interest and even if you disagree in areas it keeps your attention due to the overall way the information is handled.
It covers both what others are doing and saying to affect us as a profession and what we're doing to ourselves.
August 16, 2014
If you are a nurse or nursing student, read this.
Drop everything... well maybe not your patho book because that would hurt your toes. Let's try that again...
Drop everything except your overpriced textbooks and buy this inexpensive treatise on nursing. It will teach you how to speak for and fully inhabit your profession. For myself, it has also collated - translated - coalesced years of daydreaming and yearning into Go! time.
Drop everything... well maybe not your patho book because that would hurt your toes. Let's try that again...
Drop everything except your overpriced textbooks and buy this inexpensive treatise on nursing. It will teach you how to speak for and fully inhabit your profession. For myself, it has also collated - translated - coalesced years of daydreaming and yearning into Go! time.
March 7, 2013
This book is a must have for Nurses because Suzanne has done a great job unpacking the root cause of the oppression and horizontal violence in Nursing profession.
Suzanne Gordon is a true advocate for Nursing profession and explain powerfully how to empower nurses and the nursing profession in the media, workplace and public sphere.
Suzanne Gordon is a true advocate for Nursing profession and explain powerfully how to empower nurses and the nursing profession in the media, workplace and public sphere.
September 13, 2018
The book that made me realize that much work needs to be done in nursing! More interestingly, the book offers solutions to improve the public perception concerning nurses and their important work.
April 1, 2019
Great read! It empowered me to use my voice to advocate for my nursing profession.
January 19, 2021
Fantastic first half, lost me in the second half, bit US centric. Still a must-read.
September 22, 2009
Interesting book about how to get the word out about nursing's contribution and importance in health care as people equate health care = doctors. A lot of the focus is on how to market oneself as a nurse - at work, media, etc.
May 18, 2011
Awesome!
June 14, 2011
first few chapters were thought provoking. The rest will be a reference in the event I need it.
October 2, 2012
I didn't read the whole book (because it wasn't assigned). The parts I did read I didn't agree with %100. It seemed like she was a bit desperate. Trying to force her points.
January 11, 2013
This is a must read for all RNs!
November 16, 2016
Read for MSN
October 11, 2020
DNF-Required reading for NURS 510.
January 1, 2021
This was assigned for school but was a meaningful exploration of the public’s perception of nurses and how we as a profession have played into it to our detriment.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews