in need of some good reads: nursing fiction

LPN1974, LPN · Mar 21, 2005

i did a search and didnt find a thread already devoted to this...
i was hoping some of you could recommend some nursing fiction to read.
it is spring break and i managed to make it through finals without the flu that was running rampant through our area, but i think it has since hit me.
meaning, i feel like crap and all i want to do now is curl up with some good reading and maybe start a knitting project.
i know...lame for a 21 yr old's spring break but ::eh:: oh well.
so any good nursing fiction to recommend?

I don't know of any nursing fiction, but I like to true mysteries, sometimes murder mysteries with a medical twist to it.

Did you ever hear of that doctor, Anthony Pignataro?

He was a doctor, but not a very smart one. He really did some unusual and bad things in his career. He did, or tried to do a breast enlargment on a woman in his office. He had no anesthesiologist to monitor her breathing, he gave some medication, can't remember now what it was, by IV, to sedate her, and had nothing to help her breathe in case of resp distress.

His wife and an LPN were the only ones in the office to help him.

Won't tell you what happened to the lady.

Then he tried to murder his wife by poisoning her.

He was also the inventor of an unusual hairpiece that bald men could attach to their heads in an unusual way.

It's a true story, I even saw a segment on it on one of those shows that comes on late at night, where they try to figure out how someone was killed, etc.

I won't tell you the outcome, in case you want to read it.

directcare4me · Mar 21, 2005

I love to read, and have the luxury of reading as much as I want since I'm not in school. Not rubbing it in, you'll get there. I don't read nursing fiction, don't ususally read anything nursing-related on my time off, but I did read a very good non-fiction book last year called "We Band of Angels", by Elizabeth Norman, which is the story of the nurses captured on the Phillipines at the start of WW2, and their subsequent time of captivity. I think that these women were the first ever women American prisoners of war. It is a remarkable story, and Ms. Norman did many interviews to collect the stories. I think it is worth reading, to appreciate what they went through, how resourceful they could be, and the amazing ability of people to survive incredible ordeals. It was a compelling read.

Enjoy your spring break, sorry you're not feeling well.

Alicia18 · Mar 21, 2005

Two books I found out (sorry, they aren't fiction, but they're fun all the same!) are The Nurse's Story and Rusty's Story -- both by Carol Gino. I can only personally vouch for Rusty's Story since that's the only one I've read, but I enjoyed that so much that I'm quite sure the other book is good as well.

Hope you can find something to read and that you'll feel better soon.

jolie chatte · Mar 22, 2005

i decided to begin with "the spirit catches you and you fall down" to get a jump start on the reading for culture and nursing class. from what i understand it is about a clash that takes place between the doctors/nurses who are providing care for Laotian refugee child with epileptic seizures and her family. its non-fiction as well.

but i'd like to get to these other titles too if i have enough time. thank you for the input.

keep the suggestions coming!

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2005

I just read The Notebook, it made me cry.

Alicia18 · Mar 22, 2005

What's The Notebook about?

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2005

It starts as a love story and ends as a love story in a nursing home. I couldn't put it down. I read the whole thing in one afternoon.

QuilterLPN · Mar 22, 2005

I have to second "We Band of Angels". I read it last summer, and I found it extremely interesting. It is non-fiction, but what these nurses went through was extraordinary.

I am enjoying my spring break taking care of my sick 4yo, and my 8yo and 11yo are going nuts they are so bored.

Achoo!, LPN · Mar 22, 2005

I've been reading books by Patricia Cornwell. The main character is a medical examiner, so there is alot of CSI type stuff. DNA testing, autopy stuff, really neat.

elizabells, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2005

I've been reading books by Patricia Cornwell. The main character is a medical examiner, so there is alot of CSI type stuff. DNA testing, autopy stuff, really neat.

Love me some Patricia Cornwell!

Also "Nurse" by Peggy . . . Maxwell (?), is dramatized nonfiction, but it's an interesting look at nursing in the seventies. "Baby ER" is also nonfiction, but really cool if you're at all interested in NICU. It did make me cry once, though, so if you're feeling delicate hold off on that!

Lawnurse · Mar 22, 2005

Cherry Ames! She's every kind of nurse!

"Read all about the job-hopping, mystery-solving nurse who starred in a popular juvenile series by Helen Wells and Julie Tatham...between 1943 and 1968." from http://www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes/

I'm mostly kidding - I've never actually any of them, but from what I understand they are incredible campy. :rotfl: