Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care

Gordon, S. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005. 512 pp; $29.95; 1-607-277-2211;http://www.cor-nellpress.cornell.edu

Why are so many RNs dropping out of healthcare's largest profession? How will the lack of skilled, experienced caregivers affect patients? These are some of the questions addressed by Suzanne Gordon's account of the world's nursing crisis. Drawing on in-depth interviews, research studies, and extensive firsthand reporting, the author helps readers better understand the causes of and possible solutions to the current crisis. Gordon describes:

* How healthcare cost cutting and restructuring undermine conditions necessary for quality care.

* How the historically troubled workplace relationships between RNs and physicians has become even more dysfunctional.

* How the public image of nurses continues to suffer from negative media stereotyping on television and in the press.

* The ways in which RNs can take their case to the public while campaigning for reform that funds nursing care.