[merri666]

I am seriously considering writing a book about the last place I worked (a small county hospital). There is so much potential...sex, lies, backstabbing, awful working conditions, intimidation by administration...the list goes on and on. I think my story would be bizzare enough to sell. I am glad to see that someone has done that...she was fired. So what! She can probably make more money writing.

[prmenrs]

It was available on Amazon. I ordered it.

[Anxious Patient]

I know this book has been discussed here before, but I just now found a site that gives lengthy excerpts of what this nurse actually wrote. Zowie, does stuff like this actually go on?? Seems like fodder for a lurid TV show - R rated for sure.

Here are some excerpts from the book "Notes From the Mothership" by Adrienne Zurub (Warning - not language sensitive)

_____________

"A lot of talk in the OR centers on sex, sexual innuendo, dirty jokes, actually anything sexual...

" It is a distraction from the horrific truth of the moment; the blood, the bleeding, the smell of burning flesh, and pieces of flesh on the floor. I try to compartmentalize those eight, twelve, or sixteen or more hours so that I will not go home and kill the cat or kick the husband."

http://blog.cleveland.com/medical/20...or_center.html

"Some surgeons (mainly men) have called both male and female Staff (expletive) morons, and worse! I have seen nurses and residents set up for failure by jealous, controlling nurses seeking to make themselves look good or simply to continue their survival in this surgical ghetto."

"Over the long years, I have seen patients die because of what I judged to be the result of a surgeon's ego, or a surgical resident's faulty yet costly misjudgment and inexperience. I have observed angry, uncontrolled behavior from so-called educated people that on the street would get them arrested, beat up or shot."

"These behaviors are analogous to that prison environment where in order to survive, one has to have an alliance with a surgeon who affords that nurse or team protection by his stature within the hierarchy of the OR. Essentially, you have to be someone's (expletive)."

"In case you're wondering, I was afforded such protection by my association with one of the most difficult surgeons in that OR. This surgeon was brilliant and talented yet drippingly sarcastic, mean to those he did not like or respect and misogynistic. He actively dehumanized others in sport-like fashion."

"...obsessive-compulsive, neurotics, and maybe sociopaths working in concert to do absolutely brilliant, world renowned work!"

http://blog.cleveland.com/medical/20..._mothersh.html

[Otessa]

I have seen a lot of this behavior in my 20 years in health care but not all at the same facility.

[nursenessa82]

as a former employee in the surgical services department of that specific hospital, i cannot even begin to express how thankful i am THAT I LEFT THAT WRETCHED PLACE. that is all.

[elizabells]

The book is available again from Amazon, if anyone is interested. It goes in and out of print depending on which way the wind is blowing.

[pagandeva2000]

I have seen such over the years. <sigh>

[sirI]

Threads merged.

[PoetryInMotion]

She's a very smart woman. Haven't read the book, BUT she writes the book, then gets fired...instant news story and FREE publicity! Smooth move!

Can she now get unemployment as well?

Can't say that I'm upset with her at all.