Sometimes Our Worst Enemy Is Our Imagination!

Nurses are fantastic, patient, understanding, caring, individuals.
That is qualified nurses!

Student nurses have a lot to learn.
I know because I was one.

As students our preference was to work with the patients who were not sick!
Those almost ready for home.
Not a tube, drip or drain in sight.
Those who were walking and talking!

During our training We were sent to different wards for six week periods,
Each ward presented new challenges.

However, the ward that struck us with terror was “The Cardiac Ward”.
Many stories circulated about “healthy” patients, those we liked, suddenly becoming unwell.
No patient could be trusted!

As a student nurse the thought we would be responsible for a life was too much.

In the event of a cardiac arrest the procedure was
1. Pull out the back rest of the bed
2.lie the patient down.
3. hold your finger on the bell
4. begin resuscitation
5. Dial 88 for the cardiac team

They would then rush to the ward from wherever they were in the hospital.

Scary stuff!

One of my friends was tormented with the fear of going to this ward.
Every rotation, she got someone to check where she was posted.
Inevitably the day came when she was sent to St Johns Ward.

The night before, she was beside herself.
“I swear to God, I’m going to pray for everyone to get better tomorrow”
“I’m hiding in the sluice with the bedpans all day”.

She began with a morning shift.
By lunchtime she had survived an uneventful day.

She was helping to sit people up and fix bed tables etc,
when she walked into a ward with six beds.
She saw a nurse bent over, pulling frantically at the bedrest.
The nurse shouted at her. “Help me”

Without a thought she ran as fast as she could to the phone.
Dialing 88 she shouted, “Cardiac Arrest, St Johns Ward”
Then raced back to the room to help.

When she got there, she saw the nurse who had shouted for assistance,
standing over on the other side of the room.
She was sitting up another patient.
My friend looked back to the patient with the “cardiac arrest”
He was happily eating his dinner!

In a flash she knew.
“Oh No!”, you said “pull out the backrest!”
“I thought you said Cardiac Arrest”