These weeks have been hard on everyone this time more than ever makes it hard for me to think

My second clinical day took place on September 24th, 2015 at Saint Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, New Jersey. My preceptor Maria Brilhante, MSN, RN, allowed me to observe the morning huddle that took place with all the nurse managers that are in the hospital. The purpose of this huddle was to keep the director of nursing informed about the census on each unit. I found this processed to be very uniformed and professional because the DON was engaged. The day went on with me attending meetings on how managers could implement plans to contain cost for the hospital. Maria did her daily rounds on her patients and her nursing staff. She has a folder that contains papers on how each nurse is progressing from the time they get off orientation. Her motto to the nurses is, “You are good at what you do, so when I coach don’t take offense. I am only trying to get you to be great”. This boost their confidence which I thought to be important.

The oppressor, or antagonist, of the story is Nurse Ratched, or the Big Nurse. Her methods of oppression, including attempts to emasculating the men in the medical ward, is the foundation of the work. The nurse uses her power to manipulate the patients as well as members of the staff in the hospital. Since she is in charge of the entire ward, she runs it with an iron fist while concealing her feminism and humanity behind a patronizing façade. As the story progresses, Nurse Ratched loses some power over the patients with the introduction of a new patient on the ward, Randle McMurphy. As McMurphy continues to fight her oppression, her façade breaks down and falls apart as she loses control.

The following essay is a reflective account on an event that I, a student nurse encountered whilst on my first clinical placement in my first year of study. The event took place in a nursing home. All names have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the patient (NMC, 2008).

Second in a discussion of power are the women associated with the patients. The supervisor at the hospital is associated with the patients by controlling who is employed to take care of the patients. Nurse Ratched and the supervisor served in the Army together as nurses. They are still very close and have a good relationship. Because of this relationship, Nurse Ratched’s employment is secured and others won’t stand up to her for fear of losing their own jobs. Harding states “In this hospital, the doctor doesn’t hold the power of hiring and firing. That power goes to the supervisor and the supervisor is a woman, a dear old friend of Miss Ratched’s” (61). The receptionist on the ward is Nurse Ratched’s neighbor

Nurse Ratched is a former army nurse who works in the ward, she has manipulates the men in many ways. One way is having the patients “spy on each other” making them write things down, they think she would want to hear, or know. Bromden described Nurse Ratched as having the ability to “set the wall clock to whatever speed she wants”, a metaphor for her control, showing how the patients lose track of

Though she smiles a lot and talks sweetly, she’s not a kind or charming woman; instead she is a woman with a strong will for control. She pursues power with intensity and is very successful at getting people to do what she wants. Nurse Ratched has the ability to present a false superficial self, and she has complete and total control over the ward and her emotions at all times. This exemplifies that the mechanistic and oppressive forces in society build up through the abuse of power and dishonesty by authoritative figures. (Lead in) “Manipulative to the core, the only thing that really matters to Ratched is her desire to control everything around her- the environment, the staff, the patients” (Novel For Student 224). The abuse of power and authority cause individuals to be broken. Explain how the outside quote integrates into your thesis and your quotes from the book. The narrator says, “What the chronics are - or most of us - are machines with flaws inside that can’t be repaired, flaws born in, or flaws beaten in over so many years of the guy running head-on into solid things that by the time the hospital found him he was bleeding rust in some vacant

Nurse Ratchet held in place an extensive system of rules and regulations, as well as an ordered routine. McMurphy taught the patients that sometimes it is acceptable to rebel against the rules and that they do not have to rely on their schedule to keep their minds together. For example, McMurphy states “Is that what your schedule does for you?” (Forman One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Film). The schedule is a part of the institutionalization of power that Nurse Ratched employs to maintain control and keep the patients compliant to her sense of order. McMurphy points out that it is in fact a sham that cannot cover the messiness of real life. Obviously, they all realize that the schedule is only a made up method for arranging time. Be that as it may, none of them have ever been able to admit it.

Nurse Ratched (also known as Big Nurse) was used to being forceful to get what she wanted. She stopped at no end to have complete oversight over the men in the ward. When the men were in the nurse’s presence they were either saying what they knew she wanted to hear or cleaning something that she ordered them to clean. They knew not to speak out against her and to not say something that would make you stand out too much. Ratched’s tactics to get them to be fit for society were normally some kind of procedure on the man

Both Taber and the men view Nurse Ratched as a counselor of their decisions, a mother. In fact, he tells the others, “This is Miss Ratched. I chose this ward because it’s her ward. She’s, girls, just like a mother. Not that I mean age but you girls understand” (37). The way that Nurse Ratched’s ward functions is by her manipulation of the men through the use of pills and lobotomy as demonstrated on Taber. Thus, why he was dismissed, the men are set up to believe in conforming or are dehumanized enough to conform to Nurse Ratched’s authority in order to be prepared for the real world. However, Taber previously rejected her pills, “He still isn’t ready to swallow some-thing, he don’t know what is, not even just for her” (34). This action-made decision influences the progress the patients make as individuals as they follow his footsteps. The men realize they can follow their own decisions and although few are afraid of her authority some chose to rise against her along with McMurphy, “ dragging them out of the fog till there they stand, all twenty of them, raising not just for watching tv, but against the Big Nurse, against her trying to send McMurphy to Disturbed…” This is parallel to the attitude presented by Taber, when he refused to take the pills, and ignored the Nurse’s request, making him metaphorically influential of the

Nurse Ratched, the ward supervisor, personifies the forces that seek to control the individual by subduing their right to think and act for themselves. She acts as a dictator who is constantly manipulating her patients to gain an advantage over them. Because Nurse Ratched supervises a mental hospital, she is expected to tell her patients what to do, but “the novel suggests that Nurse Ratched goes beyond mere supervision and instead seeks to rule all elements of the patients lives” (“Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”). Nurse Ratched and her staff dehumanize the patients, and this eventually causes the patients to become broken inside.

Ratched has complete power over all patients, including their curfew, possessions, punishment, etc. Her might and authority is instilled within the minds of the inhabitants of the ward, leaving no one to challenge her. However, her tight grip over every nook and cranny of the ward and its inhabitants dissipates when McMurphy comes in. He is accustomed to doing whatever he wants while higher powers attempting to restrict his actions. The thoughtless actions of McMurphy could be seen as a catalyst for nurse Ratched’s resolute demonstration of power and authority. His disobedience starts to influence others, and in turn chips away her power as can be seen with the patients gradually easing up. As time goes on, McMurphy's constant breaking of the mold eventually shatters Ratched’s tolerance, causing her to act with an iron fist. With McMurphy’s final act, the choking incident, she finally snaps and abuses her authority and power to the maximum. After the ultimate disobedience, McMurphy unrightfully gets lobotomized as revenge. With this lobotomization, Ratched demonstrates the ultimate use of her power: the power to take away life. McMurphy is officially classified “unstable”, even though he is seen as perfectly normal by the doctor. Nurse Ratched’s power allows her to “help” him by lobotomization. Her power is so terrifying it inspires Chief, who was

The head nurse in the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Nurse Ratched, has absolute power over the patients in her ward, and it corrupts herself and leads to poor treatment of the patients. She will frequently punish and mistreat patients who do not go along with her process. Maxwell Taber, a patient, had asked Ratched’s assistant what medicine he was taking, and he was reassured that it was good for him, but never received an answer. Taber continues to question the Nurse’s assistant as he does not want to ingest anything without knowing what it is. Nurse Ratched overhears this conversation, and she steps in, “ “If Mr. Taber chooses to act like a child, he may have to be treated as such. We’ve tried to be kind and considerate with him. Obviously, that’s not the answer. Hostility, hostility, that’s the thanks we get. You can go, Mr. Taber, if you don’t wish to take your medication orally.” (Kesey 34).

“I tell you I don’t know what it is,” they tell the guy in charge of personnel. “Since I started on that ward with that woman I feel like my veins are running ammonia. I shiver all the time, my kids won’t sit in my lap, my wife won’t sleep with me. I insist on a transfer--neurology bin, the alky tank, pediatrics, I just don’t care!”

I was particularly impressed by way this meeting dissected critical issues. The participants of this gathering welcomed openness and honesty from all. This meeting investigated ethical issues regarding patient care, and scenarios in which one’s discretion licensed him/her to question a patient’s judgments. This gathering also addressed the issue of productivity, in terms of sustaining it and enhancing it amid a taxing and demanding environment. The participants then proceeded to address common relational issues, which involved disagreements among nurses, and conflict mitigation. After witnessing the dynamics of this meeting, it became readily apparent that conflict

It was an unpleasantly early morning in the hospital waiting room. Nurses buzzed around, busy attending to their patients while a faint beeping sound could be heard in the background. I was starting my second shift of the day at the hospital, just finishing working a shift in the dark, grimy morgue. Groggy, I sat down at my desk to begin another four hours of labor. My position was to assure that the paper work was properly completed and that all patients were attended too. While being a supervising nurse was a great responsibility, it left time to day dream.