'Taking Care' cuts through gendered mythos and illuminates the complexities of nursing

Nursing is a fundamental expression of care, as old and foundational as human touch. It’s also a highly technical profession that underpins our modern health care system, weaving together biological science with emotional labor.

In her new book "Taking Care," journalist and author Sarah DiGregorio examines nursing’s long history and its complicated and powerful role in our lives today.

She tackles some of the misconceptions society has traditionally projected onto nursing as a profession, like that it’s more “naturally” done by women; that nursing is subordinate to medicine practiced by doctors; that nurses should look or sound a certain way. DiGregorio also confronts the systemic barriers that keep certain kinds of nursing overwhelmingly white.

Nurses on the front lines during Covid raised their voices to demand better working conditions in hospitals and nursing facilities. And, DiGregorio writes, their struggle will determine if the American health care industry can ever get out from under a nursing shortage worsened by high turnover.

"We're losing the nurses who start working and realize that they cannot exist in this workplace," DiGregorio said.

Short staffing, workplace abuse, and burnout are all cited by nurses as reasons they're leaving the profession. And DiGregorio believes that hospitals often see nurses as a payroll expense, instead of seeing them as the keys to patient outcomes.

DiGregorio was inspired to write "Taking Care" after her daughter Mira was born prematurely. Mira spent time in the NICU, and also suffered from asthma attacks as she grew up.

As DiGregorio watched the NICU and respiratory nurses care for her daughter, a deeper desire to understand more about the complexities of nursing as a practice emerged.

"I think a lot of times, we do experience [nursing] perhaps as kindness, when in fact, it is incredibly complex. It is an independent scientific discipline. And I really think that our country would be healthier if we understood that better," DiGregorio said.

Sarah DiGregorio will be at Town Hall Seattle with Angela Garbes on Sunday, June 11 at 7:30 pm.

Ticket information can be found on Town Hall's website.

Listen to the full segment by clicking the play button at the top of this story.