One chapter that stood out to me in Theresa Brown’s Critical Care is Chapter 9: Switch. In this chapter, she deals with coworkers who are less than kind to her and makes her work life miserable, making her dread to come into work. Overall, the environment on her floor was not ideal with the constant berating and bad energy that she experiences. This was on top of the stresses of taking care of a chronically ill patient Irene who is rapidly deteriorating. It forced her to change units in the end, which was the perfect solution. This chapter opened my eyes to the hierarchy within the hospital and it honestly made me nervous thinking about being a new nurse. The idea of being unfamiliar in my surroundings and having other nurses bully me is a terrifying thought. However, I do also know that there are many nurses out there who are more than willing to help everyone succeed on the team.
The Nursing 103 objective that connects to this chapter is the 5th objective. This objective focus on professionalism as a whole. Very clearly in this chapter Theresa is a victim for poor professionalism. There are many instances of blatant rudeness and coworkers putting each other down instead of supporting and building each other up. Having a constant negative influence doesn’t promote a motivating and safe workplace. This can cause employees to hate their job, or dread coming into work, all feelings Theresa felt during her stay in her old unit. Once she moves to the new unit, only a sister unit, her environment and attitude completely shifts. In this setting, her coworkers show proper professionalism and she feels like she can do her work adequately. This slight change in professional conduct makes an important distinction between a work environment that is ideal vs. not.
