Collaboration When Bearing In Margaret Edson's Wit

The behaviors of medical staff in the play Wit by Margaret Edson (1998) allow us to view different circumstances that take place. In the play, patients are supposed to be the main focus of all care. Susie Monahan, the primary nurse of one patient, Vivian Bearing, who suffers from stage four ovarian cancer, is one of the few health professionals whose caring attributes display the principle that the focus of care should be on the patient. However, if Monahan was part of the collaborating team, she would have been more assertive as a nurse and would not have struggled with the ethics in nursing, thus allowing her true identity as a nurse to show earlier in the play. Susie Monahan is not part of the collaborating team. Collaboration …show more content…
Dr. Posner, who was her former student and is now her physician, disregards Monahan’s suggestion to lower the dosage for the next cancer treatment. Instead, Posner says, “No way. Full dose. She’s tough. She can take it. Wake me up when the counts come from the lab” (p. 45). Dr. Posner dismisses her ideas and leaves the room. If she was part of the team, the conversation would have gone more in depth because it would have already been discussed in the course of action for the patient. In addition, when Bearing experiences excruciating pain, Dr. Kelekian, the head physician, says to give her a morphine drip. However, Monahan suggests patient- controlled medication and gives a valid reason: that it will keep her attentive instead of making her lethargic. Dr. Kelekian dismisses her while she tries to explain; her words are cut off, whereas, if Monahan was part of the team, the conversation would have continued. This proves that Monahan is not part of the team, which leads to her struggles with nursing …show more content…
It was a perfect time to show assertiveness, especially after Bearing had an increased temperature and was in an immunocompromised state. However, when she does decide to be more assertive it is toward the end of the play. By that time, Dr. Posner tries to revive her after Monahan grabs him and says she is not a full code. The patient is already dead by the time she decides to be more assertive. When one adds some assertiveness to her caring nature, one has Monahan’s true identity as a nurse. Despite all the issues Monahan faces, from not being on the team to struggling with moral outrage, she discovers something more, which is her true identity as a nurse toward the end. Her true identity comes out toward the end when she aggressively advocates for the patient. She needed assertion to fulfill the patient’s last wishes to let her die. However, she discovers her true identity as a nurse too late. If she was on the collaborating team from the start, she would have discovered who she is