Description: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Shift, this richly drawn portrait of four nurses in four different sectors of our broken healthcare system reveals where solutions are actually possible--to make care about people rather than profits.
Theresa Brown worked as a oncology nurse for years before finally burning out, but instead of leaving the healthcare system behind entirely, she set out to find places where it's actually working. She embedded with nurses in four key areas of care that cover the human lifespan--a maternity center in Pittsburgh, a primary care facility in Portland, an elder care home in Denver, and hospice services in the midwest and in Connecticut--and came back with gripping, and often deeply moving, on-the-ground stories of patient-centered care. Taking us into the daily lives and the exhausting yet rewarding shifts of these four practitioners, Brown gives readers a rare window into what kinds of healthcare facilities are actually doing things well, taking care of patients, keeping things affordable, and supporting staff. Even as the system feels like it's crumbling around us, Brown reveals scalable solutions and reminds us that there's still hope--all through the eyes of the people we know keep the whole thing running: nurses.Review Quotes: "Theresa Brown captures what every nurse knows but rarely sees reflected on the page: even in a healthcare system that often feels impossible, there are people quietly changing lives every single day. The Cost of Care is compassionate, honest, and deeply hopeful without ever looking away from the system's flaws... a reminder of why so many of us chose this profession in the first place." --Hadley Vlahos, RN, New York Times-bestselling author of The In-Between