Why I write: how reflection and self-expression make me a better caregiver

2016-03-16

University of Virginia. School of Medicine

Theresa Brown became a nurse-who-writes quite accidentally:  she had a bad experience at work, wrote it down, and sent what she'd written to the New York Times. To her surprise, the newspaper published it, to great acclaim. From that column came the contract for Ms. Brown's first book, Critical Care, and she also began writing regularly for the Times, proud to have this chance to give voice to the often under-recognized nursing profession.

Only lately, though, while writing her second book, The Shift, did Ms. Brown realize not just how much her nursing gives shape to her writing, but also how her writing influences her nursing. There's much to mull over in health care and usually not much time to do that. Writing forces Ms. Brown to reflect. She learns both positives and negatives about her nursing work in the process of putting that work into words. In this Medical Center Hour, Ms. Brown talks about how writing, which she loves, makes her a better nurse.

The Catherine Strader McGehee Memorial Lecture of the School of Nursing
Co-presented with the School of Nursing, the Virginia Festival of the Book, and Hospital Drive

Brown, Theresa (Speaker); Childress, Marcia Day (Moderator); Fontaine, Dorrie K. (Moderator); University of Virginia. School of Medicine

Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Filmed lectures

Intensive care nursing; Nurse and patient; Personal narratives

Medical Center Hour

Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

English

The speakers in this presentation have given the University of Virginia permission to make it freely accessible online for all audiences to view. To request permission to reproduce, republish, and/or repost this presentation please contact the Historical Collections and Services Department of the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at the University of Virginia.

1 online resource (1 video file, 62:04 min.) : sound, color