Trauma Junkie

by Hudson, Janice

• ISBN13: 9781554076147
• ISBN10: 1554076145
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-05
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

"Trauma Junkie gives us a view over the flight nurse's shoulder from liftoff until the patient is delivered to the hospital and the agonizing minutes in between. These fascinating true stories are impossible to put down." -- James M. Betts, MD, Chief of Department of Surgery and Director of Trauma Services, Children's Hospital, Oakland"An exciting portrayal of emergency nursing." -- Library Journal"Fast-paced nonfiction that reads like an adventure story." -- School Library JournalIn Trauma Junkie, readers accompany veteran flight nurse Janice Hudson as she races in response to emergency calls in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her workplace is a cramped California Shock Trauma Air Rescue (calstar) helicopter in which medical personnel try to fix the human carnage wrought by shootings, accidents and natural disasters.In this new and expanded edition, Hudson updates readers on how she and her colleagues have fared since moving on to different medical roles -- including her own battle with multiple sclerosis, which ultimately forced her to give up the job she loved.The new Trauma Junkie also contains several previously unpublished stories, including a new addition to the lineup of "stupid human tricks" Hudson witnessed and an all-new chapter describing a call involving the most heartbreaking of patients: a child who didn't make it.Hudson is a natural storyteller who conveys the excitement of her days with calstar -- heroic rescues, tragic deaths and the hilarious incidents that made the tension bearable -- and the deep commitment of her team to keep patients alive in the most perilous situations.

Author Biography

Janice Hudson was a flight nurse from 1987 to 1997. She has also worked in the ERs and ICUs of several San Francisco Bay area hospitals. In 1996 she became a registered nurse anesthetist, a career she left due to illness in 2009. She lives in San Mateo with her husband, Mark, who is also a registered nurse, and her beloved mare, Tiramisu.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	p. 5
Lifting Off	p. 11
A Day in the life	p. 29
Emotional Bunkers	p. 38
The Amazing Jim	p. 55
We're Not Omnipotent	p. 68
In the Dead Zone	p. 81
Hard Lessons	p. 92
Blown Away on Interstate 5, and Other Stupid Human Tricks	p. 115
Why I Missed Vince's Party	p. 132
Too Close to Home	p. 149
High Drama and Low Comedy	p. 165
Aren't You Afraid You're Going to Crash?	p. 174
The Day Oakland Burned	p. 192
Two Feet on the Ground	p. 212
A Time to Die	p. 223
The Hardest Drive Home	p. 236
Afterword	p. 254
Glossary	p. 265
Index	p. 271
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.