I was Charmed to be informed that the Licensed Practical Nurse to Registered Nurse site has chosen OUTLANDER as one of its (Fiction) Must-Read books for Nurses! Thanks so much to you, and all the nursing profession!
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I worked as a nurse at the jails in Phoenix for about 18 years before retiring and moving back to Georgia. Several of us were reading your books. We loved them. I didn’t dare loan one out for someone else to read for fear of not getting it back. Most of the nurses I worked with liked to read. We didn’t have time at work, but exchanged books we had read and didn’t want to keep.
I am thrilled to hear about the selection of your books as a must read for nurses. As a long-time cardiac ICU nurse and an avid Outlander fan, I have found Claire’s medical descriptions, treatments, etc, to be fascinating. It is amazing how many drugs still in use today were/are derived from many of the plants so brilliantly described in your novels. When I was on a tour in Denali National Park last year, our guide stopped to point out a willow bark tree, describing its therapeutic effects on fever and pain, and how crucial it was to the early explorers and miners in that region. I stood there and thought…ahah…I know that from Outlander!!!
This is awesome. My mom was a nurse & I was floored when I found out that she was reading your series.
I of course had discovered you & devoured your books, but I always thought my mom was too prudish (shows what I know) to enjoy your books. She loved them, as I do.
I discovered a very battered paperback copy of Outlander while cleaning out my parents’ home after their move to care centres. During the two years following, I was so busy both with my nursing job and my parents’ needs I didn’t have much time for reading. Then, when my dad had only a few days left, I needed something to read while I kept vigil at his bedside and rediscovered this little red book. The first (and last) night I spent listening to him breathe, with a recording of his own Dixieland jazz band playing in the background, I became hooked.
I have read and reread the entire series countless times since then, and although the books have awakened an interest in my Scottish roots on my mother’s side, it’s my German-American dad and old-time jazz music that are the unlikely associations I make with these wonderful stories.
Sad to say, I no longer have the original copy, as the last nurse I loaned it to had it disappear practically from under her nose (she and so many others I’ve introduced are now fans). I only hope that the person who took it will enjoy and share! My next book purchase will undoubtedly be the Anniversary Edition of Outlander.
I’m an RN and have read all your books (more than once) and LOVE everything that you write! Sooooo looking forward to the next installation of Claire and Jamie’s story. Am always pleasantly surprised when I hear other Nurses talking excitedly about your books. I’m now listening to the narrated audiobooks on my ipod – Davina Porter is wonderful by the way – at the Hospital on my breaks. I love the new dimension and perspective hearing the words spoken. Can’t wait to see you again if you make another tour stop in beautiful Kelowna, BC, Canada.
Ditto!
My daughter is an R.N. and is hooked on Outlander series. Congratulations Diana!
I have been reading Diana’s books since the early 90′s and have loved every one of them! This was a few years before I myself became a nurse! I now have my 2 daughters hooked on them and my oldest is starting nursing school in the fall! She also agrees that Diana is the best!
Congratulations Diana! Have been a fan for over 15 years, and a nurse now to 9. Your books are my annual read, and I listen to the unabridged audios while I knit, do housework, and just relax…I love them! Maybe Claire was my inspiration to go to nursing school at the age of 46! Keep them coming Diana, your fans will never tire of your gifts!
I am not surprised. I have been an ER RN for 40 years and I was most impressed with the medical references and descriptions in your books. You have obviously done your research. That attention to realistic detail is one of the reasons I love this series. Can’t wait for the next one…
Congratulations, Diana! Young nurses will learn much from these books. History is so important and helps us understand why we do the things we do. We are so high-tech today, most of us can hardly imagine what life was like in the 18th century (or even 75 years ago)). When I was in nursing school, “The Cry and the Covenant” was required fiction reading. This was the life story of Semmelweise (spelling?), the first physician who wanted doctors and nurses attending women in childbirth to wash their hands to prevent purpural fever (milk fever) which killed so many women. He was laughed at by most doctors, but thank goodness he persisted.
I am an ER nurse and absolutely live these books!! I live how Claire try’s to explain germs to someone who has no idea what they are but still believes in her! I also like how she uses the alcohol to sterilze things and people and the response she gets because of it!!! I think we all get so caught up with all the gadgets we have that we forget how it used to be! Also that she is big on hand washing is so important! I recently loaned my little paperback outlander copy to a fellow nurse to read and she was hooked!!! I have 4 complete sets of these books, hardback, small paperback, large paperback and iBook. I also bought the 20th anniversary one!!!! I would recommend these to all nurses to read! And even to those who aren’t nurses!!! Awesome reconginition!!!
I’m a registered nurse with a background in critical care. I can tel you that nurses love your book and we identity strongly with Claire. What a great job you do explaining why we do what we do! I am a nurse and I love the Outlander books!
I’m so pleased (but not at all not surprised) to hear that you’ve received this honor! The medical/nursing facet of this series has always been one of the most fascinating for me. And as a nurse whose particular clinical focus is wound care, I’m ever fascinated by the detail provided in situations involving Claire’s care of wounds. It’s fitting that my first exposure to these books was from a fellow nurse. Congratulations, DG!
I’m a surgical ICU nurse and I started reading these befor i went to nursing school. I’ve read them all at least a dozen times since. Can’t wait for the next one. Thanks Diana!!
Just “fell into this ” blog and totally amazed. I have read all the books and I am in love with my Jamie and Claire. I once made my daughter drive to New Bern just because. I was so happy to see this reference to nursing. I have always been impressed with Claire’s ability to use her modern medicine in the 18th Century. After 20 years of nursing I love her method. Keep going Diana you sure have the right dose !!!
I have read the Outlander at least 10 times. I have worked midnights in nursing for the last 18 years and discovered Diana Gabaldon that first year when I couldn’t sleep. Last Christmas I received a Fire Kindle along with all of Diana’s book from my husband. I am up to date with Jamie and Claire and am
starting to read Lord John. I have given away so many paperback copies of the Outlander. Every RN I work with knows about how much I love Jamie and Claire. I can’t believe the absolute detail Diana gives on everything. Can’t wait for that 8th book!!!!!!
I have re read several times all of The Outlander Series books, I bought the first book as soon as it came out in paperback. Reading them has given me a greater understanding about the background of my ancesters, Irish, Scot and Welsh. Although I know it is a piece of historical fiction. Whenever I think of Culloden and it’s after effects, I become overwhelmingly sad. Reading them has also given me a time to relax and not worry about whatever stress I have in my life at that moment, it is like I have been at a spa for a time. Needless to say I have enjoyed your series greatly and look forward to what awaits in the future for Claire, Jamie and their offspring. I am also an LPN and would put in my vote for this series to be a must read for nurses.
Thank-you again
My Mom wasn’t a nurse, but did work as a haematologist in a hospital. Once I got her hooked, she did pass along the recommendation to her coworkers. It’s not just nurses who benefit, my parents are both historical reenactors, and Mom loves the accuracy with the historical references. Thanks for the amazing books!!
As a pharmacist, I have LOVED all the medicinal/botanical references in the series. I have to admit that the “weeds and seeds” portion of my formal education was not my favorite at the time (apologies to Dr. A Awad!), but these books, plus the upsurge in interest in “natural” remedies (a misnomer in my way of thinking…even the weeds and seeds are chemicals!) beginning waaay back when we were first gifted with Outlander, has certainly piqued my interest. I just wish the books had been around back in the day when I was first learning the stuff….but no, no pharmacy student would have time to read for pleasure….especially those mammoth tomes that we all love so much!
Congrats on the nursing must read! Frankly if there is a must read list out there of any kind I think you should be on it. I know you hear this a million times a day but you really are my all time favorite author. I’m sorry to say I had never even heard of the Outlander series but luckily my mother was looking for a book for me for a Christmas gift and some random ladies told her these were good books. So she bought all the ones that were published at the time but only gave me the first three. Like two weeks later I told her I needed the other ones That Day!! She was a little surprised they hadn’t lasted me longer but when I get in to a good book I tend to neglect the important things like the children…sure you can watch 75 hours of sponge bob!…any way I thought the story was done until I happened to stop in at Barnes and noble and I saw An Echo in the Bone. I tell you I screamed out loud, it was a little embarassing after I got over the excitement. Any way now I am so patiently waiting for the next one!! I just wanted to say thank you, these are the best books ever, and I love everything about them. Ok I’m done now :0)
Dear Heather–
Haha! Thank you very much–and thank your mother for me, too, please! [g]
–Diana