I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out Audiobook By Lee Gutkind cover art

I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out

True Stories of Becoming a Nurse

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out

By: Lee Gutkind
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.47

Buy for $15.47

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out, a collection of true narratives, reflects the dynamism and diversity of nurses who provide the first vital line of patient care. Here, nurses remember their first "sticks", first births, and first deaths and reflect on what gets them though long, demanding shifts and keeps them in the profession.

The stories reveal many voices from nurses at different stages of their careers: One nurse-in-training longs to be trusted with more "important" procedures while another questions her ability to care for nursing home residents. An efficient young emergency room nurse finds his life and career irrevocably changed by a car accident. A nurse practitioner wonders whether she has violated professional boundaries in her care for a homeless man with AIDS. And a home-care case manager is the sole attendee at a funeral for one of her patients.

What connects these stories is the passion and strength of the writers who struggle against burnout and bureaucracy to serve their patients with skill, empathy, and strength.

©2013 Creative Nonfiction Foundation (P)2015 Tantor Essays Medicine & Health Care Industry Inspiring Heartfelt

Critic reviews

"Beautifully written stories." (Booklist)

"Tavia Gilbert’s narration of these essays written by nurses is beautiful and profound.... Gilbert translates all the emotions, including fear, gallows humor, gratitude, and empathy." (AudioFile)
Heartfelt Stories • Inspiring Experiences • Accurate Pronunciation • Relatable Narratives • Diverse Perspectives
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Great narrator, this keeps all books flowing. Good experiences, very true to the profession. from my 27 year experience. Gotta Love it😘😷

A nurse must read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I feel much more validated in my stresses now. Healthcare must be selfless which is taxing yet rewarding.

Inspiring book for nurses!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I’ve listened to this book a few times, and I can’t help but be inspired by the nurses who wrote these stories. They are real. Beautiful. Ugly. Truly an intimate inside look at what a nurse may see on any given day. As for the narration, I must admit that the angst in this woman’s voice becomes overwhelming after listening for more than an hour. I don’t necessarily dislike it, but it certainly won’t help you drift off to sleep. Considering the subject matter, I suppose it’s fitting.

Great stories. The narration is interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is fantastic. These stories are heartwarming and empowering. I’m a nurse and have forwarded this work to my coworkers.

Spot on

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have been an RN and an NP for ten years collectively, and every one of these nurses' stories resonated with me! This compilation has inspired me during a time in my career when I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Thank you so much for sharing!!

Exceptional compilation of nurses' stories!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What made the experience of listening to I Wasn't Strong Like This When I Started Out the most enjoyable?

being the husband of a nurse, this book helped me see the good work my wife is doing and be all the more proud of her.

Have you listened to any of Tavia Gilbert’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Any additional comments?

i gave my wife a paperback copy of the book for her birthday.

excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As a nursing student myself and someone who has worked in healthcare for 7 years I find these stories extremely relatable and inspiring. It's true that nobody but other nurses truly understands the challenges we face and why we love or jobs regardless. I'm so glad I found this book.

Loved this book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The stories are interesting and really pull on the heartstrings. I work in procedural nursing and reading this book makes me SO grateful I don't work on the floor, whew.

I appreciate the humanness of these stories however there is not much in the ways of clinical nursing. it's more about the human experience, which is great, but doesn't feel like the full picture.

The narrator keeps this perpetual tone of angst, worry, grief, intensity... it's a bit too much. I have to take breaks because it gets old.

Good stories, bad narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Any additional comments?

Started great and I think I will be great listen but I would never know. This was little too much for me, I too faint hearted for this. Some of the stories are little hard to bear.

Was not able to read it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I could relate to this book as could most nurses because of the honest and insightful way it was written. Anyone who is considering going into the nursing profession may want to read this book. It is well written.
I am a retired RN and I can relate to many of these experiences.

RNs will enjoy this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews