Theresa Brown ’88GSAS wants to deconstruct the notion that “nurses are just an appendage of doctors.” In her new book The Shift, the registered nurse and New York Times contributor takes readers behind the scenes of a twelve-hour shift in a hospital’s cancer ward. In the course of one workday, we follow Brown as she navigates a diverse patient load and an unimaginably large stack of paperwork.
Following the book’s release in September, Brown, who earned an MA in English from Columbia, sat down with School of Nursing dean Bobbie Berkowitz at a Columbia Nursing alumni event to discuss The Shift and issues in nursing today. In order to combat what she calls the nursing field’s “internalized low self-esteem,” Brown says that nursing programs should give students greater confidence in their abilities, and medical schools should teach doctors how to work in partnership with nurses.
