Not Your Average Nurse by Maggie Groff

Author:Maggie Groff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Outpatients department kept regular hours, nine to five, Monday to Friday, and it was a stroll in the park compared with theatre and Cas. I worked in the fracture clinic, strapping broken fingers and sprained wrists, reapplying bandages and splints, removing sutures, teaching people how to fold and wear a sling, and demonstrating the correct way to use crutches. By the end of my Outpatients placement, I was ready to bandage for England at the Commonwealth Games.

Without pausing for breath, I moved on to William Bowman eye ward, which heralded an intense two-week period of avoiding anything to do with eyes. Fortunately Willy Bowman was a modern ward in the new block that allowed a nurse to walk around corners carrying things and looking busy when she wasn’t. There were many rooms to disappear into, and I spent a lot of time searching for an imaginary person for whom there was an imaginary phone call.

Next stop: Lonsdale, the male surgical ward at King’s. Best news: the ward sister, Sister Annabelle, was an absolute honey. A large Nightingale ward, Lonsdale had a high patient turnover and a broad range of surgical nursing to learn. It was the male equivalent to the female surgical ward, Pantia Ralli, and with almost the same body parts − heart, bowel, lungs, pancreas, stomach and spleen – although not so many gall bladders.

Sister Annabelle steered a steady ship, and the ward was a busy and happy work environment. Annabelle was young and pretty with a charming smile, and word was that if a nurse worked hard on Lonsdale, it would prove to be an exceptional learning period. I quickly found this to be true.

Unless there were complications during surgery, cardiac patients returned to the ward for post-operative care. A highlight for me was specialling a cardiac patient who had a modern pacemaker implanted in his chest to regulate his heartbeat. This was a year or so before lithium batteries were used, and patients remained in hospital for several days to ensure everything was working properly.

Back then, rest was considered paramount for all patient recovery, and in addition to an enforced afternoon rest on many wards, visiting hours were limited to a set time, usually an hour, unless of course the patient was gravely ill. This restriction also allowed for more patient privacy on the Nightingale wards, where curtains around each bed were not always enough.

No experience, good or bad, is ever wasted, and I scored excellent Brownie points from Sister Annabelle when I displayed an encyclopaedic knowledge on colostomy care following a patient’s bowel resection. I didn’t think it necessary to mention that one of my childhood friends had had a colostomy, and because he was a typical kid we all knew how a colostomy worked, as well as what you could do with the doings in the bag.

Times were changing for the better. Sister Annabelle called me Nurse Johnson on the ward and Maggie when we were in the clinical room or office. Previously, I

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