By Patrice Rancour, MS, RN, CS

“I think courage isn‘t about looking like Grace Kelly as we walk into the lion‘s den. It‘s about being stinking afraid and walking in anyway.”

* * *

So says Patrice Rancour, a strikingly humane, honest, funny, and poetic new voice, as she ushers readers through the 32 encounters in this day-in-the-life at a modern-day cancer hospital, her pager serving as her link from one human in need to the next, while she tends and ministers to both the living and the dead.

Praise for Tales From the Pager Chronicles:

“This wonderful collection of stories captures both the miraculous and the prosaic work of nursing. These stories remind us of the intimate and profound work of the nursing profession. As this book illustrates, a day in the life of a nurse is a lifetime of meaningful work. In addition to amazing stories, Patrice Rancour gives us insight into what it‘s like for patients, families, doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to face the challenge of the end of a life.”

–Betty R. Ferrell, PhD, RN, FAAN
Research Scientist
City of Hope

While reading this book, my first and overall response was, “Wow, what a great book! ” Patrice Rancour writes in such a way that the reader is drawn into each situation as if he or she is actually part of it. This book exposes the harsh reality that although the goal of nurses and other health care professionals is to “fix” patients, a cure is not always possible. Sometimes health care professionals need to allow patients to follow their own paths, understanding that what we feel is best from them may not in fact be what they want. This book will remind nurses why they became nurses: a chance to care, listen, nurture, and sometimes console.

–AORN Journal Book Review

“Tales from the Pager Chronicles is a moving book—and a call to action. The many dramatic scenarios presented by Patrice Rancour confirm the importance and urgency of the need for palliative care services to be available in every acute-care hospital. The drama, the exasperation, and the crises management could be avoided as a result of proactive palliative care management, thereby creating the dignified quality of living each and every one of us so desperately want under these circumstances.”

–Judy Lentz, RN, MSN, NHA
CEO, The Alliance for Excellence in
Hospice and Palliative Nursing

“Anyone who has experienced one of these many human crises knows how helpful it is to have a guide and companion along on the journey. However, if one is fortunate enough to have a skilled guide like Patrice Rancour, who is informed by the intellect and empowered by competent caring, then one has been more than lucky. One has been blessed.”

–Grayce M. Sills, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor emeritus, College of Nursing and
Department of Psychiatry
Ohio State University

“This is a ‘tell-it-like-is’ book that gets to the raw emotions that we deal with daily—and hourly—in busy hospitals. Rancour has used patients‘ stories to bring to us the pain and joy of life—and death. She is a talented nurse and writer. The book will be enormously helpful to people going through cancer.”

–Jimmie C. Holland, MD
Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology
Attending Psychiatrist
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY

The stories are short and can be read in a break room or when relaxing before bed. This is a ‘delightful book that explores the meaningful, intimate, and profound work of nursing’... Any and every nurse, from new graduates to educators, staff nurses to managers, will appreciate the beauty and depth of Rancours writing and experience.

–Journal of Christian Nursing

Read a Nursezone.com article about author Patrice Rancour.

To view a list of the table of contents, click here.

Click here to view excerpts from this book.

This book is also available as an e-book (electronic format). Click here for more information.