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  • The Shift

  • One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives
  • By: Theresa Brown RN
  • Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
  • Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (53 ratings)

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The Shift cover art

The Shift

By: Theresa Brown RN
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

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Publisher's Summary

In a book as eye-opening as it is riveting, practicing nurse and New York Times columnist Theresa Brown invites us to experience not just a day in the life of a nurse but all the life that happens in just one day in a hospital's cancer ward. In the span of 12 hours, lives can be lost, life-altering medical treatment decisions made, and dreams fulfilled or irrevocably stolen. In Brown's skilled hands - as both a dedicated nurse and an insightful chronicler of events - we are given an unprecedented view into the individual struggles as well as the larger truths about medicine in this country. By shift's end we have witnessed something profound about hope, healing, and humanity.

Every day Theresa Brown holds patients' lives in her hands. On this day there are four: Mr. Hampton, a patient with lymphoma to whom Brown is charged with administering a powerful drug that could cure him - or kill him; Sheila, who may have been dangerously misdiagnosed; Candace, a returning patient who arrives (perhaps advisedly) with her own disinfectant wipes, cleansing rituals, and demands; and Dorothy, who, after six weeks in the hospital, may finally go home. Prioritizing and ministering to their needs takes the kind of skill, sensitivity, and, yes, humor that enable a nurse to be a patient's most ardent advocate in a medical system marked by heartbreaking dysfunction as well as miraculous success.

©2015 Theresa Brown (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about The Shift

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Moving read!

It was very well thought out and I enjoyed hearing all the other anecdotes and thoughts that came along with each of the different patients stories. It’s amazing to think that all of these events took place in a single day!

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interesting insight into nursing

great insight into nursing but too boring. too much generic yadda yadda with no clear storyline. i gave up after 3.5 chapters.

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an interesting take into the female nursing mind

i loved this story. well told it is interesting to hear how the female mind thinks.

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