The novel Critical Care highlights both the positive and negative aspects that can happen in the profession of nursing. Theresa Brown describes the process of going back to school and becoming a nurse though she is already far along in her career as a professor. This novel tells the story of a struggling nurse while also teaching oneself that if one is passionate about their profession, even the difficult moments are worth it. 

Throughout Critical Care Theresa deals with multiple patient deaths. One particular death that had an impression on me was Theresa’s first “Condition A” patient. The patient was a middle aged woman with lung cancer that was stable apart from a low grade fever.. Then suddenly while Theresa was walking the hall another nurse told her urgently to go to that patient’s room. Theresa then went to the room to see the once stable patient spitting up blood which resulted in the patient’s death. This surprised me by how quickly a patient’s situation can take a turn for the worst. In terms of dealing with patient deaths, I understand it will be a challenge when I am a nurse though hopefully I can learn healthy coping mechanisms to deal with these hard situations. 

Another particular part of nursing that Theresa mentions is hierarchy in her workplace. An example of hierarchy in Critical Care is when Theresa describes her interactions with a nurse named Crystal . After a long day of maintaining the needs of a patient and their family, Crystal approached Theresa and belittled her in front of other staff on what she believed Theresa should have done in terms of caring for the patient. This hierarchy is often present between older and younger nurses in which this often occurs in hospitals. However, there were examples of egalitarian treatment as well in Critical Care. While working Theresa receives a request from Dr Gayatri for a trough level to be drawn at a specific time as well as a peak level an hour after. This request was important in which Theresa was able to complete the task efficiently and for that Dr Gayatri expressed gratuity. This represents how through balance Theresa had respect for Dr Gayatri as a doctor just as Dr Gayatri had respect for Theresa as a nurse.

Theresa describes the career of nursing as something she both hates and loves. Though some may find this concerning, I agree that there are always going to be aspects of one’s profession that they may hate as well as aspects that they love. In terms of nursing, there will be days where I may question why I chose nursing, but there will also be moments of clarity that I love the profession I chose. I see the aspect of hating nursing on the days where it feels you get nothing but bad outcomes or a particular patient dies in which this could cause one to be extremely upset. However, one must always keep in mind the aspects in which they love nursing like getting positive feedback from a patient or seeing someone finally get discharged after a long and difficult stay.

In the novel Critical Care, there was one particular passage that truly stuck out to me personally.. This was in Chapter 2 “Getting My Feet Wet” and discussed a comparison between nursing and sculpting. Theresa wrote, “Each patient comes to us as a blank canvas or a solid block of stone, and at first we will make only the simplest brushstrokes, the most obvious chisels. At some point, though, sooner than any of us wish, our artistic mettle will be tested.”(Brown, 2010, p 25). She goes on to talk about how as we grow as nurses we have our own personal artistic-like approach with patients that makes us better. I found this really moving because though the education most RN’s receive is more or less the same, what makes one a truly great nurse is how they personally connect to the profession which is what I really loved about this passage in the book. In conclusion, I feel as if reading this book gave me further insight on what it truly means to be a nurse. Theresa, though far along in her original career, made a change in her profession suddenly to do something that she is passionate about. I hope that like Theresa I am able to learn so much everyday in my career as a nurse and truly love my profession while doing it.

References

Brown, Theresa. Critical Care. HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.