Official Review: A Nurses's Life by Mary Ellen Huckestein

[Gabrielle Sigaki]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Nurses's Life" by Mary Ellen Huckestein.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Mary Ellen Huckestein started her journey when she entered the Future Nurses Club in high school. There she started volunteering in the healthcare system and learned subjects of great value, which would be helpful in her future career, such as anatomy. Afterward, she started nursing school at the age of seventeen. In no time, she worked in prominent hospitals, and she even became a nurse practitioner hospitalist in internal medicine. However, her path wasn’t easy, and she passed through various problems, for example, her issues with other healthcare professionals, jealousy of some colleagues, and the lack of disposable material.

A Nurse’s Life is a non-fiction book narrated by Mary Ellen Huckestein herself that tells her story, a few curiosities about the book’s historical background, some upgrades, and developments of the hospital equipment. One aspect that caught my attention was the fact that, when the author chose her career, there were only a few options available for women, such as secretary, teacher, and nurse. However, most of the women still had to work at home as housewives. It’s something that is changing, but the discrimination still exists.

My favorite feature of the book was the fact that the author brings fascinating aspects of her work, but she also talks about the problems and difficulties in it, which is great for people who are looking for a job in the healthcare system. Huckestein writes about what she thinks about the future and the past of nursing with conciseness and engagement. She also makes the book intense and captivating using black and white pictures at the end of the book, and those images are helpful to illustrate her viewpoint and her feelings about the hospital equipment.

There is nothing to dislike in this book. The author constructed a well-written, informative, and professionally edited volume. Nonetheless, one detail that might bother some people is the fact that the author uses a lot of words from the health area vocabulary, which can be a discouraging aspect to some readers. However, since the writer also explains the terms, it wasn’t annoying for me, so I’m not taking a star off my rating.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. Huckestein brings a charming and marvelous book with her life experiences in the healthcare system. I recommend this book to readers who want to become nurses or hospitalists. I also recommend it to people who are looking for a biography that brings aspects of medical progress. However, I don’t recommend it to those readers who aren’t interested in the health area since it’s the principal theme of this book.

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A Nurses's Life
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[Tablito]

For some of her colleagues to be jealous of her, Mary must have been a great nurse.

[Joseph_ngaruiya]

The notion that some courses are meant for males or females is absolutely not coherent to the modern world. I believe everyone is entitled to follow their dreams. This book will be a good example that hard work pays.

[Luluwa79]

I guess she was a hardworking and an intelligent nurse. I think the book is for those have passion for medicine or nursing.

[SarahShebl]

I'd love to read this book to get familiar to the hospital environment and the nurse-doctor relationship, as I am currently in medical school. I also think the medical terms would be helpful. Thank you for your informative review.

[Nqobile Mashinini Tshabalala]

I'm grateful to be living at a time when I am not limited in terms of career choices. Although discrimination is still rife in some industries, women today are a bit better off. In my experience, I've noticed how hardworking nurses are but are unfairly treated. Nice review.

[HannahsReads]

I have close friends and family in the healthcare field, so this sounds like a great book to read to understand the difficulties they face. Thank you for a thoughtful review.

[Makosa2000]

Dealing with jealous or frustrating workmates such a burden. Being able to work in such a negative environment and still excel speaks greatly about the drive and inner strength of the nurse. It's inspiring.

[Tarilan]

I have always admired medical workers. I respect them alot and I think Mary must have been great at her work because of the competition from her work mates.