This book, part of "The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work" series, is a must read for all nursing and medical students. Here, critical care nurse Kelly shares his experiences in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Lovelace Women's Hospital (New Mexico) over a 13-week period. He also perfectly describes the experiences of the ICU patients and their families--what they see, do, and reflect on during this time. Lastly, he discusses his interactions with physicians, and explains how nurses and doctors collaborate to accomplish the common goals of keeping patients comfortable, sedated, and alive. Kelly successfully depicts "the good" and "the bad" of ICUs. He tells the stories of individual patients and families, and describes the ICU subculture in a graphic, realistic manner. He conveys the nurse's perspective on the grueling experience of having to make life-and-death decisions on a daily basis. He clearly shows how emotional, and sometimes unemotional, a nurse must be to survive this type of professional setting. The book includes good descriptions of the geography of New Mexico and the Native American culture. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All health sciences students, researchers/faculty, professionals, and health care consumers. S. C. Grossman Fairfield University

Kelly (registered nurse, Lovelace Women's Hospital, Albuquerque) draws on his experiences as an intensive-care nurse to put a human face on the decisions made by the practitioners of medicine. He writes about patients not simply as biological problems, but as complex individuals whose health and decisions are deeply shaped by their families, histories, and economic circumstances. Interspersed with these portraits are reflections on the nature of medicine, the development of medical education, and the history of health care. At times the book seems overly critical of physicians; while some may not appreciate nurses, many doctors understand what nurses do and trust their judgments and opinions. Verdict Some patient portraits are moving, while others seem overly dramatized and filled with clumsy descriptive writing. In addition, general readers may find the unexplained medical terminology a hindrance to fully understanding Kelly's message. Despite the relative scarcity of nurse's memoirs, this is an optional purchase.-Aaron Klink, Duke Univ., Durham, NC (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.