From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public

B. Buresh, S. Gordon. Ithaca, NY. Cornell University Press. 2003. 312 pp. $19.95. (607) 277-2211. http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu

The first communication guidebook designed expressly for nurses, From Silence to Voice helps nurses understand and overcome the self-silencing that often leads them to downplay their expertise and contributions to caring for the sick and the public's health. The authors teach nurse clinicians, nurse educators, and nurse researchers the critical skills needed to explain their work to other healthcare professionals, journalists, policymakers, and political representatives.

The book features stories about nurses who ensure that patients receive appropriate, timely, and life-saving care; nurses who make all the difference while crises are underway but whose contributions are neglected in medical charts and thank-you notes; nurses who are left out altogether or obscured by the generic "nurse." The book also provides detailed accounts of nurses who do make their voices heard, who do make their concerns public-and it shows how those successes can be duplicated. The real-life experiences will help nurses to:

* gain self-respect as professionals,

* communicate well with both patients and health-care colleagues,

* understand how the news media work,

* collaborate with public relations professionals,

* write effective letters to the editor and publish op-ed pieces,

* appear on television and radio, and

* promote research on nursing.