I found Critical Care by Theresa Brown an extremely interesting book. It was an easy read, and it made me feel more comfortable about the idea of becoming a nurse. I learned a lot about the life of a nurse. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking tobecome a nurse because it answers a lot of questions that one did not even know they had.
#1 Patient Death
The author of Critical Care, Theresa Brown, depicts multiple times where she had toconfront death head on with her patients. One account of death that Theresa encountered thatstuck out to me was Theresa’s first death. Her patient’s name was Mary and Mary had run out of options with treatment, her disease had completely taken over her lungs. I took a lot away from reading about Theresa’s experience with Mary. I liked that this was included in the book because this is something that every nurse is going to have to face. What surprised me about this situation was how Theresa was able to handle it with the family watching her every move, especially when performing end-of-life procedures. I admired Theresa’s strength here because since I have not had this experience yet, I can only imagine how difficult this must be. Obviously, no one looks forward to losing a patient, but it is inevitable. I will have to be physically and mentally strong, because the way Theresa describes the feeling is one of defeat. A feeling that makes you want to fall to the ground, but I know I will need to persevere and stay composed for the sake ofthe patients family and my profession.
#3 Hierarchy
In the hospital setting that Theresa worked in, she depicted many different medical professionals, surgeons, residents, nurse managers, clinicians, interns, etc. Different professions require different and sometimes more difficult schooling, which is where hierarchy in the medical profession stems from. One example where I saw hierarchy manifest in Critical Care was when Theresa was done with her shift but had to wait for her “superior”, Crystal, to finish her start of shift routine to go home. “She barked at people and saw it as her role to rigidly enforce policies and procedures, no matter how irrelevant they might be in specific situations”(Brown, pg. 137). Theresa explained that Crystal, along with the other clinicians, was just abully. An example where I saw a more egalitarian treatment would be when another nurse, Beth, helped Theresa with the PCA. Although Beth, is ten years younger than Theresa, she has been working as a nurse longer. Beth treated Theresa as an equal and gave her the opportunity to provide the PCA. She did not belittle Theresa when she had questions. Hospital teams often have disagreements, but it is important to work as a team to provide the best care for the patient, even if one has to put their pride aside.
#4 Meaningful
One section of Critical Care that I found meaningful was chapter 10, Access. The first part that I found inspiring in this chapter was when Theresa stood up to the OR nurse in defense of her patient. She knew how frustrated the David was and how much of a struggle he had already been, all she wanted was for him to get his treatment. After being discouraged time aftertime, David had just become that much more difficult. The next section of this chapter that I found meaningful was the way Theresa and Edna were able to discuss his treatment with him. I learned to appreciate communication between patient and provider. David was able to blossom after this conversation, it was truly amazing to hear how positive he came to be, simply because of communication.
#5 Frank Bidart
I found it interesting that Theresa related the poem by Frank Bidart to nursing. It says, “I hate and love. Ignorant fish, who even wants the fly while writhing.” I appreciate this relationship because I think that the idea of both loving and hating nursing is not that far-fetched. Some days will be easy, a nurse will save a life or make someone feel appreciated. Other days will not be so easy, a nurse will have to call the funeral home in regard to a patient, then will have to also empathize with the family. I see both aspect of love and hate, a nurse may love making someone feel appreciated but may have to do this by cleaning up their stool. This profession is definitely a love/hate relationship, but I believe that adds to the excitement of it.
