Just a Nurse – Lessons Learned

Catherine Driver writes with profound honesty about her journey as a nurse. Read about her transformation from a shy naive student, doubting her ability, to a confident expert nurse pushing the boundaries. Intense, raw, and gripping, her stories with patients, relatives and staff transport us to the health care world through the eyes of an ordinary nurse, experiencing extraordinary things. From caring for patients in large city hospitals to retrieving trauma victims from the jungles of Papua New Guinea, Catherine shares her reflections on powerful and, sometimes painful, lessons learned. Her stories remind us that every person and situation we encounter can provide us with rich learning opportunities if we are prepared to remain open, be able to see and overcome our own biases, and to challenge the status quo. It’s not just what you do but how you do it that matters. This book is essential reading for anyone curious about what nurses do, for those considering nursing as a career, for nurses beginning their professional pathway and wondering about future possibilities, and for more experienced nurses who have collectively been on a journey of learning through practice. Laurie Grealish RN PhD FCNA, Associate Professor in Subacute and Aged Nursing, conjoint appointment between Griffith University and Gold Coast Health.