Roxy Hurlburt
Nursing
April 21, 2020
Critical Care Exemplar
Everyday in nursing, we will be tasked with different scenarios and we will have to work through them. This career is, by no means, easy, but it is definitely rewarding. We are the ones to save people, care for people and help them get through the toughest times. Theresa Brown writes about her experiences as a nurse after leaving her former profession as an English teacher. She writes about her love and hate for nursing, life and death and everything that she learns along the way.
As Theresa describes, there are times when you love where you are in nursing and there are time when it feels like you are in a prison. I think that nursing has so many aspects. As a nurse you must learn how to deal with and handle certain situations, whether you want to or not. I think that with any job, there are parts that you will love and parts that you will hate. I think that this feeling is normal and I think that in my career I will feel both love and hate. A career in nursing is always described as rewarding. I also think that a career in nursing can be draining. There is new-life, disease, sickness, death. All scenarios have an affect on a nurse and to be able to love all aspects of nursing would be hard.
Theresa writes about her first Condition A. This death was hard to read through, simply because there was no warning to the patient dying. It was amazing to me how quickly help came to try and get the patients heart to beat again. Theresa worked hard on CPR and other nurses and doctors were giving the patient medicine, anything to try and get her heart to beat again. I think that this experience would be shocking and hard. Theresa was describing how her day was calm, and then all of a sudden she got a call to report to room 1405. I think that working in a hospital is all about teamwork. Every team that needed to be in room 1405 was there and ready to help. I think that death is hard and no one ever wants to see someone pass away. It is hard for the family and for the healthcare teams that try everything in their power to save someone’s life. Death is never a fun experience and I don’t think that dealing with death ever gets easier. I think that I will struggle emotionally when it comes to death. I do think that knowing that I tried everything I could will have to be enough closure to move on and continue to work. I also think that there is power in knowing that although we can’t save everyone, we can save many people.
Throughout reading this book, I found that Theresa was always trying to do everything she could to help and always tried her best to do what was asked of her. In chapter 10, I felt that there were a few things that Theresa could’ve done to help her patient. Theresa needed to get platelets for her patient, David. She put an order in to the blood bank and when she received the platelets, there weren’t enough. Theresa thought that ordering platelets was just like ordering blood, but it is actually the opposite. I think that Theresa simply didn’t know this, but when it comes down to it, knowing how to order things properly is very important. I think that if I was in this situation and I was unsure of how to order platelets, I would ask a senior nurse to help. Theresa did make it work, so the blood bank got her more platelets. Theresa was new to working on this floor, so she didn’t know everything. It’s okay to not know everything, but most important is to know that it’s okay to ask for help.
There was a lot of meaning in this book. I connected with this book because one day, I will be experiencing some of the things that Theresa describes in her writing. In the first chapter of the book, Theresa goes into detail about why she chose nursing over teaching. I connected with one part in this chapter, in particular. “Doctors diagnose, treat and prescribe – work central to healing – but nurses really do tend to the whole person.” (Brown, 2011, p.8) I feel that one reason I am entering the career in nursing is to help people, not only to heal them physically but heal them in all aspects. Nursing isn’t only about treating health, but treating people with love and kindness and being by there side through it all. Patients feel safe because of nurses. It’s a meaningful career with not just one job, but many.
Nursing is a career of never ending learning and new experiences. I can’t wait to start my journey in this career and be able to tell stories like Theresa. The stories may not be easy to tell, but they are touching and have already made an impact on me and how I picture my career. There is happiness and sadness, tough experiences and touching experiences. Every experience a nurse has, helps them to prepare for their next patient. Nursing has it all, and I can’t wait to be a part of it!
References
Brown, T. (2011). Critical care: A new nurse faces death, life, and everything in between.
HarperOne.
