dina77

I have also enjoyed reading everyones advice. It's over 30 years since I was a student but one of my most useful books was my little nurses pocket dictionary. Its barely reconizable now as it was used so much and still is! I don't know what I would have done without it as so many times you can be reading an article and they will use words you've never heard of before. This "smartpen" sounds a nifty little gadget and could come in quite useful especially if the lecturer is a bit boring and you feel yourself drifting away a bit!! Lol.

It brings back memories of when I used to give medicines to 24 patients. It's not an easy job with patients needing mouthwashes after certain inhalers, tablets needing crushing etc etc. It is hard work with all the problems you come across too, e.g. breaking off to answer the phone, taking desperate patients to the toilet, the list goes on. Where I work now patients have their own individual medicine chest, so you just give the mediction to the patients you are looking after in that shift. It is also easier because you are not looking through piles of tablets for what you want. In my 30 odd years of nursing I haven't seen many changes that actually make our life easier as the amount of paper work to do now is phenominal, but this is actually one change for the better!

I am not saying this story is funny, well not for the patient anyway, but it has always stuck in my mind. Years ago a patient was brought into the ward with his testicals very reddened and sore. It turned out his wife had sprayed him 'down below' with deodorant to make him smell nice before he was admitted. Ouch.

When I was in my early 20's in the early 80's I had a great time going out with nurse pals.We always managed to get in for work the day after even after only a few hours sleep! There was always doctors parties going on and there was a thriving social club were we would go to Paris, Brussels etc. We had a fabulous time. After we had been out those of us who lived in the nurses home would go to the staff canteen which was open 24hr in those days . The staff would make us crusty rolls with lashings of melted cheese on. Wonderful. Things are different now I enjoy going out with friends for meals and always make sure I'm not working the day after. I do feel sorry for students now a days I don't think it is as fun as it was then. Still they can always go on facebook for entertainment! Oh dear.

Talk about giving nurses high blood pressure!! No wonder nurse's leave in their droves reading stories like this!!

I try to encourage patients that are prone to pain to take their painkillers even if they refuse as it's much easier to control pain before it starts than to treat it once it has taken hold.

Tell me, did she end up marrying a doctor? :redbeathe I haven't time to read the book to find out!

Yeah, you had a lucky escape from what the older people call over here a 'follow through':chuckle

This story reminds me of the time a care worker on nights was told to clean patients dentures. She collected them all up washed them before realizing she hadn't a clue whose teeth were whose! All the patients in the morning were trying all the teeth out to see which fit. I think nowadays there would be some big complaints going on if that happend now!

Call me old fashioned but how the h*ll does one intice a small mamal where the sun don't shine?:chuckle

Thats great news I'm so relieved and happy for you.

I wanted to become a nurse from the age of 9 but have pictures of myself age 5 in a nurses outfit.I remember as a kid i was facinated by pills and was always pretending to give pills to my dolls. I was also always facinated with chemists and all the different tablets, lotions and potions on offer. Funnily enough giving out medications is probably one of the jobs i least enjoy now! I still love the job but wish there wasn't as much paper work as there is now. Sometimes i feel that patients are neglected in order to get all the paper work completed before the end of the shift.

When i was a pupil nurse back in the late 70's i wouldn't have said boo to a goose, and lacked confidence. I hadn't been on the wards long when i was talking to an older male colleague. I can't really remember what we were talking about but i said the word 'orgasm' instead of 'organisms' and soon noticed when i saw the look on his face.:imbar I wanted the ground to open up as i was there trying to impress and talk intelligently to this older, very experinced male nurse! What made it worse is that i just ignored it instead of laughing and admiting my mistake.

Hi. I started my training as a pupil nurse back in 1977. We wore just plain white hats that fastenend with a little removable stud at the back. Student nurses had stripes on their hats for the year they were in. I lived in the nurses home so used to send my white uniforms, hats and belts to be cleaned and starched. The dresses came back with creases all over them, but it didn't matter as they looked clean and clinical. When i qualified i tried sending my green dresses and they looked awful with the creases in. It took me ages to get them out, so had to wash them in the n. home's old washing machine if you could find it not already in use. Those were the days.

I used to work on what they called a geriatric ward. One day this little old very confused lady was in the dayroom being fed by the nursing sister who was very staight laced. In rushed one of the male nursing assistants who happened to be very camp holding a cup of tea on his way to his dinner break. The old lady shouted very loud "Are you going to **** her?!!!" and the nurse replied so casually "Oh no not now Mary i haven't time i'm on my dinner break!" we all just fell about laughing. What was more funny was this nurse would not interupt his break for nothing or no-one!