What are the unique struggles Julia faces as the leader of the other nurses?

What are the unique struggles Julia faces as the leader of the other nurses? How does she handle this interpersonal tension?

I think she tried to be so professional that she put up a wall. She needed to be more human and caring, which she fortunately became.

Being a leader is lonely. A leader in such situations can not risk being accused of favoritism, unfairness, weakness, being compromised. Perception is reality to many. It is critical to show empathy, but not weakness. As a leader, she must maintain her credibility, impartiality, authority, and professional reputation.

Julia wanted to be a leader for the good of the nurses but also to show the doctors that she was capable to make decisions and yes follow orders. Yes, she saw the need to put a wall between herself and her charges but this was not in her temperament, she needed to support her nurses emotionally and personally.

She had never been a supervisor before and was put in that position without training. It was a difficult time for women in leadership positions.

Julia faces struggles in all areas of her new job. First, she has not had experience as a supervisor and now she is in charge of 65 women to face battles like they have never seen. Once in France, she is in constant conflict with the men who consider themselves superior both in skill and rank. She has to be careful of the friendships she develops with women because she is their supervisor and responsible for the jobs they are assigned...and she really must curb her own emotions to distance herself from both men and women...she knows she has to be a role model for everyone involved.

Julia has to face things that she has never come upon before. She is in new territory, where not many nurses have been before. She must try to handle this while learning to handle the nursing staff. Then there is the question of what a nurse can and should do in war situations.

I don’t think Julia was an innately warm person. Being in a leadership position just emphasized that missing quality. I think she has believed she had to keep her distance to be effective

I think her position isolated her, perhaps more than it should have. She firmly established a wall between herself and her nurses to maintain authority. I think she had trouble showing her emotions. She often remarked about missing out, but felt it was necessary to lead.

It is hard when you are a supervisor and still want to remain friends with those who you oversee. She wanted to be friends with them, but knew she had to draw the line, otherwise the nurses wouldn't have respected her and followed her guidance. Sometimes it is "lonely at the top"!

She had to set up protocols for the nurses, work along side of the British until they left, she could then really start to put in place her protocols. She had to deal with the Doctors to get permission to implement some things that are basic ie clean the patients up then put them to bed and provide additional treatment.

She spoke of loneliness often. She was not in a position to see or associate with others of her stature. The Drs felt she was below them and she respected her nurses enough to give them space from her - also to help maintain her authority over them. So she was in a unique position - albeit a lonely position.

Then there was the authority position and having to reprimand her staff or oversee or change a situation not agreeable to her nurses. Finding new practices and getting them accepted and having the Dr in agreement to what her nurses were doing. Along also with the long hours and tons of paperwork her position demanded. I would think notifying the families of a death would have been the hardest.

Julia realizes that it can be lonely at the top, especially for a woman breaking boundaries. Also that she has to somewhat separate herself from the other nurses to maintain authority and appear authoritative with the doctors.

Being in a leadership role, Julia often had to balance being a friend to her nurses and an authority figure. I think this often caused her to be lonely and more on her own as she tried to balance the two. Additionally, she often was put in challenging situations with the doctors, either because of her own actions or those of the other nurses.

Being a leader is always difficult, but especially in the trying times of war. Everyone had to pull more weight than they were used to and Julia not only had to cope with her workload, but with keeping track of the morale and work of her nurses.