BOOK REVIEWS

Nursing Without Borders: Values, Wisdom, Success Markers

Edited by Sharon M. Weinstein, MS, RN, CRNI, FAAN, and Ann Marie T. Brooks, RN, DNSc, MBA, FAAN, FACHE, FNAP

Reviewed by Karen J. Fletcher, RN, MN, CON(C)

What happens on the other side of the globe impacts us all, and the stories in this book will be of interest to all nurses. Sharon Weinstein and Ann Marie Brooks have collected stories of leaders and innovators who reached out, built relationships, contributed to the growth of the nursing profession and advanced the health and well-being of many worldwide. As these leaders share their values, wisdom, success stories and lessons learned, they illuminate what might be possible if we create and sustain national and international networks.

Nursing Without Borders contains contributions by 52 nurse leaders from diverse cultures, all working to improve health outcomes from their unique perspectives. Parts I and II of the six-part book introduce the reader to early nurse leaders from many countries, including Mary Seacole, heroine of the Crimean War, and St. Camillus de Tellis, an Italian nurse who, in the mid- to late 1500s, cared for those afflicted by the plague. To bring the reader to the present, Barbara Dossey, Deva-Marie Beck and Cynda Rushton describe development of the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health, which aims to decrease global differences and divisions while increasing cooperation and collaboration among nurses and other health care workers to provide “decent” care for all.

Other parts of the book incorporate modern-day stories of success in collaboration, practice and education with partners around the world. We see the war in Croatia through the eyes of children as Leah Curtin describes her collaboration with the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor Health System to raise funds to restore and rehabilitate injured children. We read about Mary Alexander and members of the Infusion Nurses Society working with partners in Mexico to develop and deliver the first infusion therapy course in Mexico. We also learn about a biennial cruise conference, held on Russian waterways between St. Petersburg and Moscow, that has helped nursing in Russia evolve into a modern profession by providing a collaborative forum between its Russian and Western participants.

Lessons learned by leaders who share their stories in this book include: Do your homework. Be open and sensitive, and you can learn as much as you give. Clarify, never assume. Identify champions who support the initiative with which you are involved. A little humility goes a long way. Global work is resource-intensive and requires long-term commitment. The role of nursing may vary. Watch out for your own safety.

Although the benefits of international collaboration are substantial, the work has gone largely unnoticed by international nursing and health care organizations. Read this book. All nurses need to know about the important work our nurse colleagues are doing. We are, indeed, all one and need to be, as Kathleen Bower suggests, “curious … very, very curious.” In our curiosity, we will find, as contributors to this book have found, that nursing is a universal phenomenon and that health care needs and issues around the world are very similar. RNL

Karen J. Fletcher, RN, MN, CON(C), is a member of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

For more information about Nursing Without Borders, click here.