Caring vs Curing

In this volume the personal journey of why a nurse chose to leave Acute Care nursing to be involved in Palliative Care nursing connect with a broader culture of Palliative Care nursing by interviewing those who chose palliative care nursing and examine the reasons for changes in careers from acute, curing based, nursing to Palliative Caring for those in end of life nursing. The longest section of the study travels the world of Palliative nursing with participant observers. It is about the actively working nurse and includes extensive analytical discussion of an attempt to understand the sense of professional change, and the significance of beliefs for the reasoning behind vocational transformation. The second section examines the interviews, the third addresses the heart of the research question and examines nursing moving from a curing model to a caring only approach when death of the patient is inevitable. The volume ends with a letter written by the author to her sons asking them to be there when her time comes at the end of life through a life limiting illness and requests her sons and the Palliative Care professionals observe her final wishes.

Susan Bardy is an Australian based Registered Nurse who has worked in Palliative Care nursing and advocacy for over thirty-five years with a Phd which examines issues in Palliative Care nursing.