Short Synopsis
Critical Care is the powerful and absorbing memoir of Theresa Brown—a regular contributor to the New York Times blog "Well"—about her experiences during the first year on the job as an oncology nurse; in the process, Brown sheds brilliant light on issues of mortality and meaning in our lives.

Full Synopsis
In her former career as an English professor, Theresa Brown had been shielded from the harsh reality of death. That all changed the day she decided to become an oncology nurse. In Critical Care, Theresa writes powerfullyand honestly about her first year on the hospital floor. With great compassion and a disarming sense of humor, she shares the trials and triumphs of her patients and comes to realize that caring for a patient means much more thansimply treating a disease. Deeply moving and, at times, sobering, Critical Care sheds light on the issues of mortality and meaning in our lives.

"What Theresa Brown has managed to do with [Critical Care] is precisely what the best of nurses do with their patients – focus always on the heart of what matters. I loved this book." ---Pauline Chen, M.D., author of Final Exam

"This absorbing dispatch from the front lines of medical care captures the daily travails and triumphs of nursing with humor, compassion, and sometimes terrifying immediacy." ---Lisa Salomon, author of Hospital and The Devil's Candy