In Just a Nurse: Memoir on the Heartbeat of Healing, Ashley Chancellor shares the raw emotions and events that left her nearly crippled physically and emotionally after a decade of working bedside. Crushed that her passion for caregiving devoured a spirit of love and service, she explores the ups and downs of her nursing career in the hope of offering compassion and insight to those who also dedicate themselves to the care of others.
Ashley Chancellor began her nursing career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in intensive care before becoming a traveling nurse, working in dozens of hospitals across the US. Her experience in various health-care organizations and settings allowed her to experience firsthand erosion of a broken system that hurt patients and nurses alike. After working through the pandemic and suffering debilitating burnout, she is learning how to become her own caregiver, healing emotional and physical wounds. She currently resides in Arizona with her cat, Sadie, and is rediscovering how to be a nurse on her terms.