Thursday, May 7, 2015

Q&A with Alexandra Robbins

Alexandra Robbins is the author of the new book The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital. Her other books include Pledged and The Overachievers, and her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The New Yorker and Vanity Fair.

Q: Why did you decide to write about nurses, and how did you conduct your research? 

A: Nurses asked me to write it because they wanted their stories told in the kind of book you can snuggle up with and get lost in. So I followed four nurses -- Molly, Lara, Juliette, and Sam -- throughout a year as a way for readers to get to know and root for real-life "main characters."

I interviewed hundreds of other nurses across the country, and the book includes some undercover reporting to uncover potentially life-saving tips and some things going on in hospitals that the public needs to know about. 

Q: You ask, “Why is hospital bullying veiled in organizational silence?” What did your research tell you? 

A: Many nurses are reluctant to report bullying because they think the perpetrator won't be penalized or that there will be some sort of retaliation. Bullying is such an ingrained part of the culture that many nurses assume that there's nothing they can do about it. They are often made to feel that it just comes with the territory. But it doesn't have to be that way! 

Q: You describe the impact of stress and overwork on nurses. Has this problem worsened in recent years, and if so, why? 

A: Good question. Yes, it has. Hospitals are overloading nurses with patients. California is the only state in the country with safe staffing nurse:patient ratio laws, meaning that nurses in every other state can be assigned more patients than is safe.

This is extremely important for the public to be aware of because the more patients a nurse is assigned, the higher the patients' chances of death, infection, falls, and other complications. It sounds simplistic, but one straightforward way to start fixing healthcare in this country is to push hospitals to hire more nurses and to treat them well. 

Q:  In the book, you describe hospital humor. How does “gallows humor” help nurses?

A: Gallows humor is typically a behind-the-scenes coping mechanism for health professionals. Nurses (and doctors, techs, paramedics, etc.) use it to be able to handle horrors and traumas so that they can best attend to the patient; to bond with health team members; and to keep themselves rejuvenated so they can be fresh for the next patients in line.

It's important to note that they do not intend to joke about the patients themselves; they're joking about symptoms, situations, and their own roles. 

Q: What are you working on now?

A: For now, I'm committed to spreading the word about nurses. They are a group of unsung heroes who deserve so much more appreciation than they get. 

Q: Anything else we should know? 

A: National Nurses Week is May 6-12 and International Nurses Day is May 12. There's never a better time to thank the nurses you know for working so hard. 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Alexandra Robbins will be speaking at Barnes & Noble in Bethesda, Md., on May 14, and will be participating in the Gaithersburg Literary Festival on May 16.

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