Daily Miracles: Stories and Practices of Humanity and Excellence in Health Care

How do caring and compassion show up in the demanding, often chaotic experience of health care practice? This book, in full-color and supported by magnificent photography, seeks to answer that question and put caring and compassion back at the center of excellent health care in spite of the time-pressured, cost-conscious, high-tech focus of modern health care. Authors Alan Briskin and Jan Boller met with 20 registered nurses for a sustained dialogue at a California community hospital to work toward an answer to this very question. Telling stories and discussing key principles of caring, the group engaged in conversations that revealed the inner landscape of both caring and caretaker. Using principles of appreciative inquiry, reflective practice, generative dialogue, and the power of speaking in circle, the work was an affirmation that when people are ill, they need a team to care for them. Likewise, caregivers need to be part of a group that cares together. Illustrated with original photography by one of the authors, the book has a beauty and spaciousness that is reflective of the book's message and perfect for anyone who wishes to experience relationship-centered care as a lived experience.

Jan Boller, RN, PhD, has extensive experience as a clinical nurse educator, critical care nurse specialist, and scholar. She has held organizational leadership positions in the areas of clinical effectiveness and education, quality, case management, and clinical outcomes management. Jan s academic scholarship work has focused on the development of clinical nursing expertise. She is a health care systems consultant with AWR Associates in Benicia, CA, and assistant adjunct professor at Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, CA.