Murder Mysteries - A Way to Improve the Image of Nursing

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

From nurse executive to murder mystery writer, Dr. Pamela Triolo made this intriguing change in her lifework. Some of you may know Pam. For many years, she was nationally known for her work in leadership development across all disciplines; her focus on the image of nursing in the media, and her research on the attributes of successful middle managers.
She received the ANCC President’s Leadership Award for the new Magnet Model (2008) and has received numerous awards for her leadership including one of ten most successful women in Houston, the Texas Executive Women “Women on the Move” award. Dr. Triolo also achieved the highest honor in international nursing, Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She has since left nursing leadership to follow her other passion and has become a very successful murder mystery writer.

What is unique about Pam’s current work is that she is using murder mysteries to tell the story of professional nursing and provide an inside look at the healthcare delivery system. It is often said that important messages can be better conveyed in fiction. Our attitudes, fears, hopes, and values are strongly influenced by story. Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than writing that is specifically designed to persuade through argument and evidence.

Last week, I heard Pam talk about her work at a nurse editor’s conference. She described her current writing journey as humbling, exhilarating, and great fun. She reported learning more writing her book than she had in years — not just about the structure of writing a mystery but how to describe and tell the story in a meaningful way to engage the reader. After the session, I downloaded her first book Death without a Cause onto my IPAD and began reading it. I was immediately hooked on the story which is fast paced and I am not a big fiction reader.

The mystery is set at a Texas Medical Center in Houston. The lead character is an engaging young Hispanic critical care nurse who works closely with an interdisciplinary team. The novel places the healthcare team in the epicenter of a malicious game plotted by a killer who has created an elegant, perfect crime. The book is meticulously researched and the character development is excellent. Pam has done an outstanding job of presenting what it really takes to be a nurse in the healthcare system today. I felt like I knew these characters because I had worked with professionals like them throughout my career.

So much of what is in the media about nurses today minimizes our role in patient care and decision making. Pam Triolo is changing that dynamic with her books. Her characters are bright, engaged and caring health professionals. They are interested in pursuing higher education. They care about the experience of patients and their families in the ICU. She does not minimize the complexity of healthcare, the vulnerability of patients and the interdependence of team members on one another. This is what makes the storyline of murder in an ICU so believable. She is also very adept at educating the lay reader about processes used in healthcare such as a root cause analysis.

Not surprisingly, readers have given her books high marks on sites like Amazon. Her stories are riveting. Pam Triolo is changing perceptions about the image of nursing and healthcare – one murder mystery at a time.