What I Wish I knew about Nursing
By Allie and Marty Wilson
Are you a nurse who is struggling with the ever-increasing demands of the job? Do you have a friend or colleague who you can tell is feeling stressed and disheartened because they simply don’t have enough time to provide the level of care they’d like to? Are you worried about how many nurses are leaving our wonderful profession because it’s all too much?
Allie Wilson understands exactly how nurses feel because she is a Registered Nurse who burnt out herself. So to help, she has hijacked her husband’s bestselling What I Wish I Knew series and written a book full of all the advice she wishes she had when she became overwhelmed.
To produce What I Wish I Knew about Nursing Allie collaborated with the Royal College of Nursing, Australia and interviewed over 200 nurses, from all backgrounds and from all over the world, and asked them ‘If you could turn back the clock to when you just started in nursing and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?’ Then, because she's aware of how resistant most of us are to being told what to do, she made sure that each interviewee’s wonderful insights were next to a slightly daggy photo of them in their younger days - complete with cape, gloves and ‘flying nun’ cap - just so all this wisdom doesn’t get too preachy or ‘holier than thou’.
The result is a book that is definitely not another bland collection of fluffy nursing quotes. What I Wish I Knew about Nursing is raw, honest and full of real stories, great advice and just the right amount of black humour that makes if feel like you’ve had a chat in the coffee room with each person!
The stories, the quotes, everything, are just what we all need to stop so many of us burning out and leaving. Your book could literally save public and private hospitals hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Liane Powell, Nurse and Midwife
What a wonderful, wonderful book! What I Wish I Knew about Nursing should be on every student nurses booklist. It’s insightful, honest and tells it exactly how it is. It’s brilliant!
Sandi Waters-Lewis, RN
This is just what nursing needs. It made me laugh and almost cry! Congratulations, and thank you.
Liz Spaull, National Workforce Planning & Development Manager, Ramsay Health Care
My pride in my professional heritage bloomed as I read this powerful record of nursing practice, coping, wisdom, courage, and raw honesty of our work. I love it!
Kadie Cheney, Nursing Lecturer, Central Queensland University
Allie says, ‘I loved allowing individual nurses to have a voice and share their own little piece of the nursing puzzle. Writing this book made me laugh, cry, feel inspired and challenged all at the same time. You know, just like nursing. But most importantly it's reignited my passion for the profession. And I hope it will rekindle your passion too'.
What I Wish I knew about Nursing, RRP $24.95 is available from www.whatiwishiknew.com/nursing and www.rcna.org.au