La Représentation du Travail Infirmier Psychitrique Dans le Récit de Gisèle Pineau. Folie, Aller Simple (2010). Suivie des Réflexions d'Une Ètudiante Infirmière

Abstract

In Folie, aller simple: Journée ordinaire d’une infirmière (2010), Gisèle Pineau describes a typical day in a psychiatric hospital and, more generally, the work of a nurse in charge of mentally ill patients. The first part of my analysis uses studies by Bender, Duley, Fresney and Perrin to review the evolution and gradual professionalization of nursing in France as well as the often stereotypical representation of nursing (angel, doctor’s aide, « piqueuse », sex-symbol…) in the media. The second part discusses Gisèle Pineau’s representation of her experience - several stories that go beyond case studies, their recurrent themes and motifs (nursing as heroism, multidisciplinarity, risks and dangers, sexist and racist violence) - and how it combines her sustained passions for writing and nursing. The last part focuses on my own reasons, as a student nurse at the University of Arizona, for choosing this profession; it compares the (briefer) personal experiences that I had during my clinical rotations in a psychiatric ward with those of Pineau’s, as a way to reflect on and prepare for the nursing profession.