Critical Care by Theresa Brown tells the story of a once English Professor at Tufts University who went on to become an oncology nurse at a hospital. She goes into great depth about what her first year working as a nurse was like for her after making such a big career change. She quickly learned what it meant to truly take care of patients from the time they arrive to the time they leave.
Of the several occurrences of death that Theresa Brown experienced, the one that stood out to me the most was her first experience. I thought that she was able to handle the situation she was in very well and very professionally. The death itself didn’t seem like it was a very easy death to witness or be a part of (well no death is easy to be a part of). While she had developed somewhat of a connection between the patient, Mary, and her family, she was still able to tend to her other patients and the responsibilities she had for them. When it comes to patient deaths, I don’t imagine it will ever get easier for a nurse as time goes on but unfortunately it is part of the job. Sometimes there is only so much a person can do to try and save a person’s life. I think that it is important to keep that in mind as a nurse but also it is important to not ignore any feelings that you as the nurse may feel after the death of a patient. I definitely think that the connection that is made between nurse and patient is very strong, so it is difficult for the nurse when a patient is lost.
One of the things that I felt Theresa could’ve been more critical of herself on was in chapter nine, when she was dealing with Irene’s situation. The surgeon invited her into the meeting with Irene’s family but since she had other patients to deal with decided that she couldn’t attend it, even though she thought of Irene as her number one priority. She also missed the meeting about what her family decided they were going to do with Irene in her deteriorating condition. While she did say she was wrong in that instance I feel that she should’ve acknowledged that she should have been at all these meetings with the doctors and the family. If I was in Theresa’s position, I would’ve tried to find a nurse that she could have delegated some of her other tasks to before just slipping out and missing the meeting. If she really felt that Irene was the patient that was her number one priority, then I think she could’ve tried a little harder to be in attendance of these meetings.
A section of the book that was meaningful to me was the part about her patients back splitting open. This part really stuck out to me because it just shows how unpredictable being a nurse truly can be. When she was assisting with a pretty standard move of a patient from the bed to a chair and had her patient’s fully healed skin just split open, Theresa was able to keep calm and do her job as a nurse. I found this part of the book to be so meaningful because she was able to show and maintain composure and act accordingly as the nurse despite not having as much experience as the other nurse that she was working alongside with. I know that this is not an easy thing to do in such a shocking and unexpected situation. It is a strong quality that shows she is a strong nurse and it is one that I hope to have if an unexpected situation like this arises.
When Theresa Brown relates a career in nursing the poem by Frank Bidart, I thought it was a very interesting take on one’s career choice. I do however think that this poem can relate to other careers beyond nursing. On certain days people are going to love their career and think that it is the best thing in the world and unfortunately other days they are going to think the very opposite. Nursing is not an easy profession and it is definitely not for everyone. With that being said, a person really has to love their work. There are many reasons that a person can love the work they do as a nurse, for me I love the idea of being able to actively help people in ways that others may not be able to. Knowing that I can help make a difference in a person’s life is enough reason for me to love a career in nursing. On the other hand, there can be some things that would make a person hate having a career in nursing. Having a difficult patient or a difficult family of a patient could really wear a person down and make them not like their career. I think as long as there is more love for a person’s career in nursing than hate then there’s nothing wrong with having a love hate relationship with nursing. I really enjoyed this insight into Theresa Brown’s first year as a nurse and I think it is really helpful for a new nurse to read.
