course material

1. Critical book review on "BED NUMBER TEN".
Critical book review on "BED NUMBER TEN". The book ‘Bed Number Ten’ is a compelling
first-hand account of Sue Baier on her experiences while receiving care in an intensive care
unit (ICU). Suffering from the disabling effects of Guillain-Barre syndrome that left her in
need of a lengthy in the ICU, Sue recounts the painful experiences. She particularly notes
how the medical condition limited her mobility and condition, and its implications for
interactions with the medical personnel as well as its impact on the health care that she
received. She goes on to describe the multiple accounts of task oriented medical personnel
who largely ignored her emotional and physical needs. Critical book review on "BED
NUMBER TEN".ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HEREIn addition, readers are exposed
to her sense of inhumane treatment and isolation, a truly moving account that compels
readers to question the task oriented approach to healthcare. All through the book, readers
are able to observe both insensitive and sensitive medical personnel. The sensitive medical
personnel particularly stand out for taking care of her in a sensitive, effective and
passionate manner that met her needs as she perceived them. The book offers an account of
Sue’s experiences with long-term care in the ICU, identifying the hardships she faced and
giving an outlook of how medical personnel can be sensitive to ICU and critical care
patients, as should be the norm (Baier&Schomaker, 1995).As a first-person, non-fictional
narrative that offers a self-descriptive account of a patient’s experiences with a medical
condition and care, the book presents an invaluable perspective and understanding of
suffering, medical care, and disease. Critical book review on "BED NUMBER TEN".
Through Sue’s highly personal world of anguish, suffering and pain, a reader can
complement his/her understanding with the experience gleaned from a patient. From an
independent to a dependent adult within 48 hours who required a respirator to breath and
unable to move any part of her body except for her eyelids, Sue explains how she survived
in the ICU. She was unable to communicate for six months, and used her eyelids for
communication purposes until she could talk again. She ended up spending four months on
her bed. Throughout the book, readers are exposed to a prolonged essay on the immediate
illness and health care in a task oriented environment (Baier&Schomaker, 1995). Critical
book review on "BED NUMBER TEN".The book is written in the first person and is
interspersed with ephemeral epigrams from the diary of her husband. Using a tone of noble,
restrained and quiet suffering, the book exposes readers to Sue’s strong support from social
systems and religious convictions that propped her up at times when the only predictable
reaction should have been despair. She was, for all intents and purposes, helpless and

2. heavily relied on medical personal to cater to her care needs as an invalid, a task that the
ICU personnel bungled and left her feeling violated by the medical personnel. Remarkably,
readers can perceive a holier-than-thou attitude from Sue as she resolutely goes through
the suffering (Baier&Schomaker, 1995). Critical book review on "BED NUMBER TEN".The
primary theme in the book is the cry of anguish, when Sue calls attention to the need for
medical personnel to listen even when there is no sound. Through her experiences as a
totally paralyzed patient in the ICU after the onset of Guillain-Barre syndrome, Sue learns
with horror and fear that her inability to communicate relegates her to the identity of an
object instead of a person who is suffering and in need of health care. She could have
emotions, feel pain and hear, but was unable to respond in any way except move her eyelids
thereby limiting her capacity for communication. An example of this so seen when she
desperately blinks to express her disapproval of antibiotics use that she was reacting to,
with her actions being ignored by the both the medical personnel and her husband. She
listens to the medical personnel argue over who will provide what care with the argument
taking place in her presence thus showing her that none of attending medical personnel is
ready to take total responsibility for her care. She is subjected to unnecessary procedures as
a result of communication breakdown between her caregivers. She specifically mentions a
nurse who was in charge of her care, but was so incompetent that she should not have been
placed in charge of any patient. Even considering that Sue was the patient and her account
of the ICU experiences were unlikely to have been objective, readers cannot fail to perceive
her helplessness to the situation as a patient. She experienced painful and insensitive
occurrences that leaves readers feeling angry over the unthinking actions of the medical
personnel (Baier&Schomaker, 1995). Critical book review on "BED NUMBER TEN".One
must accept that Sue’s account as presented in the book is especially moving. The narration
is inward looking with a focus on personal experiences, presenting a stinging indictment of
the medical personnel who ignored her emotional and physical needs through their singular
focus on offering task oriented care. The striking insight offered in the book articulates a
combination of material and understandings that should be mandatory reading for medical
personnel, particularly those providing care in the ICU and who engage dependent patients
who are unable to communicate. In addition, the book offers invaluable messages for
patients and primary care providers dealing with chronic or acute debilitating diseases,
helplessness, loneliness, suffering, and dependency. No single person who reads this whole
book will ever again regards an incommunicative or helpless patient in the same way, and
will be more sympathetic towards meeting their emotional and physical needs. Overall, the
book is well worth reading for families of patients receiving care in the ICU, but is more
important for medical personnel who provide medical care to patients whose capacity for
clear communication has been compromised. Critical book review on "BED NUMBER
TEN".