Nurses in War: Voices from Iraq and Afghanistan

This is no doubt the most significant work on military nursing recorded since Florence Nightingale wrote her "Notes on Nursing." You definitely want to have this book for your private bookshelf."--Society of Air Force Nurses (SAFN) Newsletter

"This book speaks to the strength, skill, professionalism, and determination of US military nurses, clearly identifying them as unsung heroes of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars....Recommended."--Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

"Nurses in War" embodies the core values of each of the military services and is a personal testament to the integrity, excellence, selflessness, devotion to duty, courage, and commitment that exemplifies military nursing...This book should be in every nurse's personal library. It has a well-deserved place of honor in my own nursing literature collection." Brigadier General Linda J. Stierle (Retired)
United States Air Force

Thank you to Beth Scannell-Desch and Mary Ellen Doherty for documenting this critical period of nursing history. It is a true classic, deserving a prominent place in your library. Lucille A. Joel, RN, EdD, FAAN
Professor, Rutgers College of Nursing
Former President, American Nurses Association
Former First Vice-President, International Council of Nurses (ICN)

Powerful, poignant, riveting account of nurses in war...This book captures the palpable essence of what it is like to live and work in Iraq and Afghanistan as a military nurse during the current wars. Based on three research studies, this book reads like a novel. The reader gets up close to these 37 nurses as they care for casualties in combat support hospitals, on medevac aircraft, and on forward surgical teams. You can feel the tension as mortars fall in hospital compounds. You can hear the sound of helicopters ferrying patients. You can feel the adrenaline rush as nurses respond to mass casualties in the emergency room or triage area as they fight to save the lives of soldiers, local villagers, and children caught in the chaos of war. This book is a must-read." Wendy C. Budin, PhD, RN-BC, FACCE, FAAN
Director of Nursing Research at NYU Langone Medical Center, NY
Adjunct Professor, NYU College of Nursing
President-Elect, Eastern Nursing Research Society
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Perinatal Education

This unique volume presents the experience of 37 U.S. military nurses sent to the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of war to care for the injured and dying. The personal and professional challenges they faced, the difficulties they endured, the dangers they overcame, and the consequences they grappled with are vividly described from deployment to discharge. In mobile surgical field hospitals and fast-forward teams, detainee care centers, base and city hospitals, medevac aircraft, and aeromedical staging units, these nurses cared for their patients with compassion, acumen, and inventiveness. And when they returned home, they dealt with their experience as they could.

The text is divided into thematic chapters on essential issues: how the nurses separated from their families and the uncertainties they faced in doing so; their response to horrific injuries that combatants, civilians and children suffered; working and living in Iraq and Afghanistan for extended periods; personal health issues; and what it meant to care for enemy insurgents and detainees. Also discussed is how the experience enhanced their clinical skills, why their adjustment to civilian life was so difficult, and how the war changed them as nurses, citizens, and people. Key Features:

Describes verbatim the experiences of 37 nurses in two brutal, chaotic theaters of war Offers poignant encounters with patients Includes advice, clarity, and lessons learned about nursing in war Offers a women's health perspective on working and living in a war zone Demonstrates the dedication, expertise, and spirit of military nurses