This book is the first volume of short stories based on a collection of some successful blog posts I have written over the years. Many of them have been expanded from the original as I remember new facts. Use this book however you choose. Either start at the front and read to the end or click on a highlighted heading that may interest you from the table of contents.
Many of the stories are are downright funny. Some are irreverent and should be read with your tongue firmly implanted in your cheek. A few are poignant and are designed to have you thinking about your concept of nursing. There's a sprinkling from my time as a nursing teacher and contain subjective opinions on my ideas of what education and the nursing profession should be all about. You might have a completely different view, and that's fine.

Some have a philosophical bent to them. Each story has been written from a personal perspective and everything you read actually happened. Nothing has been made up, although occasionally one or two facts may have been slightly embellished to help the stories jump out of the page. Indeed, life can be stranger than fiction.

I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I've enjoyed reflecting on and writing them down for posterity. Even though some of the incidents I refer to weren't that much fun at the time, looking back in hindsight, I can see that they have contributed to my development as both a person and my nursing persona.

If you'd like to comment on anything you read here or would like to ask me a question about anything in this or the other books I have published, please send an email to my email address. It cab be found online by googling markdowneybooks.