Critical Care: Canadian Nurses Speak for Change

Ian W. Toal is a registered nurse in Barrie, Ontario.

Although nurses are an integral part of the health-care system, their
precise role is hard to define. As the author notes, “When I asked
patients what the nurse does for them, the response was often surprised
silence. Many said simply, and quite accurately, ‘She cares for
me.’” The status of nursing as a relatively “invisible
profession” is, according to Picard, “at once a blessing and a
curse”: it allows for an almost unprecedented amount of trust in the
profession, but promotes the devaluation of nurses in our society.

Rather than analyzing the profession, Picard has chosen to profile
nurses in order to shed some light on the quality and diversity of their
work. He loosely follows the human life cycle, looking at nurses who
work in pediatrics, with adolescents and adults, and ultimately in
geriatrics and palliative care. Separate chapters are devoted to mental
health and to nurses who work in a more political role. A
“disproportionate” number of nurses working in the community have
been included to reflect the need for preventive (as opposed to
curative) health care. This well-written book captures the spirit of
nursing, not just the mechanics. The nurses in these profiles are more
than workers—they are advocates for health-care reform.