When the world needed them most, they showed up. This is what it cost them—and what brought them back.
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed nurses to a breaking point that the public rarely saw: the exhaustion, the grief, the moral injury of caring for the dying while the systems around them strained and faltered. RN: Resilient Nurses gives those experiences a voice. Through intimate storytelling and striking collage art, nurse researcher Dr. Carol Flegg weaves together five nurses’ pandemic journeys—including her own—to reveal what resilience truly looks like on the front lines. These are not stories of heroes who felt no fear. They are honest, human accounts of women who were shaken, who struggled, and who found their way through. Drawing on arts-based research, RN: Resilient Nurses explores how creativity became both a tool for healing and a way of bearing witness—and asks urgent questions about what nursing education and healthcare institutions must do differently to sustain the people who sustain us all.
For nurses, for educators, for anyone who has ever relied on the courage of a stranger in scrubs—this book is a reckoning and a roadmap.
$27.95
Dr. Carol Flegg is a nurse who holds a master’s degree in Adult Education and a PhD in Education. She has worked in several roles across Western Canada, gaining valuable experience in women’s health and community health settings. As a committed educator, Dr. Flegg encourages lifelong learning among her post-secondary students, drawing on her diverse background in nursing and academic research. Her combination of
practical nursing experience, academic expertise, and artistic talent enables her to incorporate her passion for art into her teaching. This approach fosters critical reflection and knowledge translation among the nursing students she teaches. Her firsthand experience as a nurse during the pandemic adds a deeply personal and insightful perspective to her work.
Dr. Flegg is an Assistant Professor at Cape Breton University (Acadia Campus) School of Nursing.
“Nursing is an art and the essence of nursing is caring, witnessing and attending to meaning. Carol Flegg exposes how the experience of nursing during the pandemic was impacted by historic and systemic assaults on our resilience. For the author and her contributors, art became both a story- telling tool and a source of healing. This book should be workshopped in every nursing school in the country.”
— Cathy Crowe, long-time street nurse, C.M. 2018 Member of the Order of Canada
“No matter your professional role, this book is essential reading for all nurses. By sharing the stories of five nurses and their personal journeys through the pandemic, Dr. Flegg not only demonstrates how collage art played a vital role in these nurses’ healing but also illustrates the power of resilience in navigating challenges.
This work amplifies nurses’ collective voice by naming some of the conditions that give rise to their pain as they attempt to provide the best possible care. Serving as a compelling reminder of the resilience required— and demonstrated—by nurses everywhere, this book is a wakeup call to nursing education programs to include the subject of resilience in the curriculum and to employers to create work life conditions that support nurses’ resilience in professional practice.
Thank you Dr. Flegg for naming our truth and showing us a pathway to the art of the possible in creating our professional future.”
— Barb Fry, RN (retired), BN, MAdEd
“Carol courageously shares the challenges she experienced during her nursing career, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and their resultant impact on her resilience. She reveals how art became a source of healing and recovery, while also bringing to life the pandemic experiences of four other nurses. Through compelling artistic collages and shared stories, the book powerfully grips the reader by conveying nurses unwavering dedication to care for those in need despite risks to their own health. The book beautifully and poignantly illustrates stories of adversity and resilience, offers insights to strengthen nurses’ resilience, and stands as a vivid example of creative resilience and the potential power and utility of arts-based research.”
— Dr. Carrie MacDonald-Liska, RN, PhD
paperback
9781990137761
6 x 9/103 pages
