My eight weeks in theatre went by in a whizz. when I thought back to how I had been worrying about what to expect, it seemed crazy. I learned a valuable lesson though. That was, to do your best, and not listen to other peoples experiences.
I got an absolutely brilliant report from Theatre, and another offer of a job when I qualified. At the time I did think that I would be happy working in theatre. It wasn't until I got back on the wards that i realised how much I had missed 'live' patients......the sort that you could interact with.
I would not like you lot out there to think that I was a real goody two shoes. I did get up to mischief, to be honest I think it was the only way we could cope with the traumatic events we were sometimes subjected to.
The summer of 1976 was hideously hot.......I was on surgical nights. I really didn't mind night duty, but sometimes we would be allocated to work 8 nights in a row....OK, so you got 6 nights off....... but to be honest you were so shattered that 2 of those days were useless to you.
When we went on duty we had to go to the staff lounge for 'roll-call'....... there were always other members from your own group who were on nights too.......I was working on Ward 4..... a couple out of my group were on Ward 3. During o ur break time we had been talking about ghostly happenings on different wards....generally scaring ourselves witless.
Once we had got things sorted out, the patients bedded down etc.....we would have a slight lull in the workload. I decided that I would stuff some pyjama bottoms with used linen and dangle them out of the window at the nurses station..........they would bang against the window of the nurses station on Ward 3.......and I thought, scare my colleagues downstairs.........I was dangling my stuufed pyjamas when the laundry string broke.
The stuffed pjs fell to earth and just looked like somebody had jumped out of the window.
A couple of weeks earlier a man had actually jumped from the balcony on ward 2....... there had been a huge hoo-hah over how it had happened.
This chaps injuries had been serious, but he had been spotted by the night Sister......who had seen him from the windows of the main corridor and she had taken two porters and a trolley to help him......as it happened they needed an ambulance, but it was her prompt observation that saved this man's life.
It was the same Sister on duty the night I did the dangling......and before we knew it she was out again with a couple of porters and a trolley. She was livid when she found it was just stuffed Pjs.
Everyone on the new wing was questioned as to what they knew about the stuffed Pjs.....fortunately, this Sister had me down in her book as 'someone with a lot of oil in their lamp'.......I think that meant she thought I was above that kind of prank.......Whew, got away with that one.
Then there was the most awful trick we played on a new night Auxilliary Nurse.... that is posted in threads somewhere......a confession thing. I was not proud of that. And the trick did make a lot of work for me. All I can say is I was led astray by a man who was training for the priesthood.
I made the director of Nursing services (Mrs R) milky coffee using tube feed.......I plead guilty to that one, it was too good an opportunity to miss.
And the tricks didn't stop, not even when I qualified.
I was working on the Gynae ward......it was Friday afternoon, we were expecting Hamish for his ward round.
Now Hamish was a tartar, and his ward rounds could be a nightmare. The registrar came and wanted to know about the patients they were due to see on the ward round......I told him that if he did his job like he should, he would know all about the patients without any coaching from me.......but being a kindly soul, scribbled a few notes down on a scrap of paper.
The Registrar ......Dr R......was a slime ball not well liked at all.
His manner in front of the consultant was like Uriah Heep on a bad day.......yet this guy would have the nurses running backwards and forwards for him - he thought nurses were his hand maids.
Hamish hobbled onto the ward, it looked like he had had a bad time somewhere else......he was glowering like thunder.
We started the ward round and only the sister and the doctors went behind the screens......we humble staff nurses waited outside the curtains straining our ears to hear if there was anything that we needed to run off and get.
Dr R was at the opposite side of the bed to the consultant........I unscrewed a drip stand from a bed and fed it under the curtain, slid the hooked end up the leg of Dr R's trousers and lifted his trouser leg to about knee level....all the time trying to stifle a giggle. I would have loved to see his face at the other side of the curtain.
This same Doctor wore glasses for reading. He was forever leaving them lying around. One day he came to the ward to say that he had lost his specs again, would we keep an eye out for them (no pun intended). I already knew where they were.... they were in the office drawer. He would have to do without them for a day or two, maybe then he would look after them better.
I covered the lenses with sticking plaster and made goo-goo eyes from sticky dots and then sent them down to him in Ante-natal clinic a couple of days later.......the nurse who took them down said he just slipped th case into his pocket. The midwives told me later that the place was in an uproar when he put them on.......he just fumbled in his pocket while looking at some case notes and put them on without looking at them. He was not best pleased when everyone was laughing at his specs.
There were many more other things that we did, but I can't tell you all of them, you won't buy the book if you know what they all are!
I got an absolutely brilliant report from Theatre, and another offer of a job when I qualified. At the time I did think that I would be happy working in theatre. It wasn't until I got back on the wards that i realised how much I had missed 'live' patients......the sort that you could interact with.
I would not like you lot out there to think that I was a real goody two shoes. I did get up to mischief, to be honest I think it was the only way we could cope with the traumatic events we were sometimes subjected to.
The summer of 1976 was hideously hot.......I was on surgical nights. I really didn't mind night duty, but sometimes we would be allocated to work 8 nights in a row....OK, so you got 6 nights off....... but to be honest you were so shattered that 2 of those days were useless to you.
When we went on duty we had to go to the staff lounge for 'roll-call'....... there were always other members from your own group who were on nights too.......I was working on Ward 4..... a couple out of my group were on Ward 3. During o ur break time we had been talking about ghostly happenings on different wards....generally scaring ourselves witless.
Once we had got things sorted out, the patients bedded down etc.....we would have a slight lull in the workload. I decided that I would stuff some pyjama bottoms with used linen and dangle them out of the window at the nurses station..........they would bang against the window of the nurses station on Ward 3.......and I thought, scare my colleagues downstairs.........I was dangling my stuufed pyjamas when the laundry string broke.
The stuffed pjs fell to earth and just looked like somebody had jumped out of the window.
A couple of weeks earlier a man had actually jumped from the balcony on ward 2....... there had been a huge hoo-hah over how it had happened.
This chaps injuries had been serious, but he had been spotted by the night Sister......who had seen him from the windows of the main corridor and she had taken two porters and a trolley to help him......as it happened they needed an ambulance, but it was her prompt observation that saved this man's life.
It was the same Sister on duty the night I did the dangling......and before we knew it she was out again with a couple of porters and a trolley. She was livid when she found it was just stuffed Pjs.
Everyone on the new wing was questioned as to what they knew about the stuffed Pjs.....fortunately, this Sister had me down in her book as 'someone with a lot of oil in their lamp'.......I think that meant she thought I was above that kind of prank.......Whew, got away with that one.
Then there was the most awful trick we played on a new night Auxilliary Nurse.... that is posted in threads somewhere......a confession thing. I was not proud of that. And the trick did make a lot of work for me. All I can say is I was led astray by a man who was training for the priesthood.
I made the director of Nursing services (Mrs R) milky coffee using tube feed.......I plead guilty to that one, it was too good an opportunity to miss.
And the tricks didn't stop, not even when I qualified.
I was working on the Gynae ward......it was Friday afternoon, we were expecting Hamish for his ward round.
Now Hamish was a tartar, and his ward rounds could be a nightmare. The registrar came and wanted to know about the patients they were due to see on the ward round......I told him that if he did his job like he should, he would know all about the patients without any coaching from me.......but being a kindly soul, scribbled a few notes down on a scrap of paper.
The Registrar ......Dr R......was a slime ball not well liked at all.
His manner in front of the consultant was like Uriah Heep on a bad day.......yet this guy would have the nurses running backwards and forwards for him - he thought nurses were his hand maids.
Hamish hobbled onto the ward, it looked like he had had a bad time somewhere else......he was glowering like thunder.
We started the ward round and only the sister and the doctors went behind the screens......we humble staff nurses waited outside the curtains straining our ears to hear if there was anything that we needed to run off and get.
Dr R was at the opposite side of the bed to the consultant........I unscrewed a drip stand from a bed and fed it under the curtain, slid the hooked end up the leg of Dr R's trousers and lifted his trouser leg to about knee level....all the time trying to stifle a giggle. I would have loved to see his face at the other side of the curtain.
This same Doctor wore glasses for reading. He was forever leaving them lying around. One day he came to the ward to say that he had lost his specs again, would we keep an eye out for them (no pun intended). I already knew where they were.... they were in the office drawer. He would have to do without them for a day or two, maybe then he would look after them better.
I covered the lenses with sticking plaster and made goo-goo eyes from sticky dots and then sent them down to him in Ante-natal clinic a couple of days later.......the nurse who took them down said he just slipped th case into his pocket. The midwives told me later that the place was in an uproar when he put them on.......he just fumbled in his pocket while looking at some case notes and put them on without looking at them. He was not best pleased when everyone was laughing at his specs.
There were many more other things that we did, but I can't tell you all of them, you won't buy the book if you know what they all are!
