This volume collects the stories of nurses at all stages of their careers: passionate, terrified, sometimes simply exhausted, as they discuss their experiences and the nursing profession, one of the most challenging and underappreciated jobs in the world. Often, nursing demands technical expertise; sometimes, as these stories reveal, patients also need something more basic: a hand to hold, or someone to listen closely. Being on the front lines of medicine requires empathy, fortitude, knowledge, and grace. Nurses, now, more than ever, are the backbone of the healthcare system, the first line in providing the best possible care for all patients.

Introduction : Anonymous, irreplaceable nurse / Lee Gutkind -- Foreword : Art of meeting patient need / Karen Wolk Feinstein -- Hitting the bone / Eddie Lueken -- Haunting / Thomas Schwarz -- Becoming a nurse / Laura DeVaney -- Next of kin / Josephine Ensign -- Healing Wang Jie's bottom / L Darby-Zhao -- Zeitgeber / Denise Elliott -- Long night's journey into day / Theresa Brown -- Don't ever forget me / Christopher Lance Coleman -- Heart lessons / Diane Kraynak -- Docking in Togo / Jennifer Binger, as told to Ann Swindell -- I see you / Tilda Shalof -- Listening and other lifesaving measures / Karla Theilen -- Careening toward reunion / Nina Gaby -- Nurse Nora at nineteen / Nora Casper -- Four sticks / Janice Dvorak -- Messiah, not otherwise specified / Janet Gool -- All alone and afraid: becoming a person through nursing / Anna Gersman -- Individually identifiable / Pamela Baker -- Approaching death / Kimberly A Condon -- Nurses whispered / Patricia A Nugent -- Becoming / Lori Mulvihill.