I got on to a big red double decker bus. I couldn’t find a seat and so I sat at the front upstairs. The bus took an unusual route and headed for the country. I turned around to see how many people were left on the bus. I was now alone. I couldn’t get off here because it was very far out of the city. I sat expecting the bus to change route but it didn’t. It turned and drove along the shore. I could see the sea but it wasn’t a calm day. The sea was throwing itself against the rocks turning white and frothy as it did so. The bus kept on going and the road became less than safe. It was narrow and we were driving along the edge, it felt like we could topple over into the sea. I felt frightened. Still the bus kept moving. It turned and creaked over the steep narrow roads. We were really high up over the sea, I kept looking out to see the journey ahead. The bus sped up and now we were going really fast. I saw a bigger bit road ahead and decided I would get off here. The driver looked angry at me as I left the bus. I was at the beach; it was now nice and sunny. To my left was the beach and to my right up the hill was a tennis court. The beach was full of people sunning themselves and children played in the sand. I looked up at the sky and it was changing from daylight to night time. The sun was blocked out by big black clouds. The sea was coming crashing in at a terribly fast rate. Everyone screamed as they tried to pick up their belongings before running away. The sea started to swell up onto the road where I was standing and I was up to my knees in it. I couldn’t move I was scared and even if I wanted to run there was nowhere to run all exists were blocked off. Why did I come this far, I thought?
I'm alright honest!
I jumped out of bed, looked at the clock and I had awoke ten minutes before my alarm. Driving on to work I couldn’t stop thinking about my dream. It was quite warm this morning and I looked up at the sky which still had some stars and was very clear. I wandered into the ward and before I could reach the room to get handover, the sister in charge said she wanted a word with me. She ushered me into a cold room with table and chairs. I sat down wondering what I had done. She had a mug of coffee in a cup with a cat on it. I looked at it as it was the only thing on the table to focus on. She began calmly by asking how I was getting on. I looked up in to her face, youth had deserted her a long time ago but she had a face that could be fixed up but anger had down turned her mouth and it had obviously set. She smelled of strong perfume and she had spilled something down her dark blue overall. Her eyes were a deep blue and she had died her hair a brown colour. Her face was darker than it should be with the tell tale signs of foundation lines around her chin. I said I was alright but then I went on to address some of the issue I had. I said I needed support in the ward to learn a new specialty not isolation. She went on to say that she was annoyed that I had contacted the union. She reminded me that she was my boss and if I have problems then I should address them to her. I said that while this may be true some of the staff is bullying me and I felt I could not speak to her. I said I can’t work in this environment. She got very angry with me and her top set of dentures slipped down as she shouted at me. ‘How dare you involve the union.’she said, ‘who do you, think you are?’ ‘What exactly is it you want’? She said. I told her calmly I just want to get on with my job and to be supported in that. She stood up and walked right over to my face, I could smell the coffee from her breath when she shouted ‘you are making me look like an idiot.’ I asked if that was all and could I go. I was quite scared but I dare not show her. ‘I want you to say everything here is alright, isn’t it?’ I replied, ‘er yes yes.’ I thought if I tell her what she wants to hear she will leave me alone. I reply, ‘well actually things were bad but now they are alright.’ She shouted at me, ‘GOOD!’ I put on a pretend smile and stood up. I walked down the ward feeling really scared. She had just bullied me and I needed to get out of here. In my break I phone the union and tell my steward what happened.
A date has been fixed for me to attend a meeting. I go into the meeting the next day feeling really anxious. I just want a peaceful life, going to work and then getting on with life but this has so far never happened. A woman from human resources and the directorate manager are there along with my steward. I am asked to discuss my issues with them. The directorate manager turned around and said that the sister said you are now alright now, is this true? I replied that I was not alright and I had to say this to get away from her as she was shouting at me. The meeting ends with me being allowed to work elsewhere. I am allowed to go home after the meeting. I am so happy to be away from this unit but through my experiences I do not know if things will be different anywhere else. Nursing has already got a set culture but surely there must be good places to work.
Enough To Raise Your Blood Pressure
I walk away with my back pack over my shoulder. I go into the staff canteen and see one of my old university mates. I ask how she is. She informs me that she is leaving nursing. I ask if she has contact with anyone else. She tells me that there are few of us left and that many have now gave up to do other work. I feel quite sad about it all, we all spent such a lot of time together and very few of us are happy. There must be a reason for this. Nursing is set in a busy environment were mistakes must not be made or we can be struck off. Paperwork is getting deeper and deeper. Our hours are long with very few breaks and we are always short staffed. This is a dangerous culture. It frightens me to think that any slip up could place me in front of the magistrate’s court. If you don’t document a patient’s condition, it didn’t happen; if you did it has to be precise. Omissions are just as bad as poorly written documentation. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Every piece of paper we sign our name too is a legal document. I like the way each ward has its own way of writing the notes and everyone blindly copies the same format for example, ‘patient had settled day, non-complaining, all care as planned’. One thing is, who on earth has a settled day in hospital? To write in the notes non-complaining, doesn’t say much about a patient at all. The best one is ‘all care as planned’. To write ‘all care as planned’ is obviously assuming the nurse has carried everything out that is to be carried out for the patient. However, if the nurse gets home and then realises she has forgotten to do something and the patient has an adverse reaction then the record of this has legally implicated her because she has stated that all care was given as planned. However, if the nurse writes nothing then the nurse could be deemed to not have carried out her duties.
There is no fool proof way of recording about patients but at best it pays to be honest. If the patient is complaining about pain, best write that the patient was complaining about pain and what you did as the nurse to alleviate it. As for observations, they are the most important key of how a patient is doing. If blood pressure is low or high and the patient looks well and is up and about, it pays to check back what their normal BP is because it may always be low or high and this could be their normal. New devices though are needed to cut out paperwork.
I walk out into the afternoon sun and go into my car which is boiling. I turn on my music and drive off with a sigh of relief over today. I just hope that my next ward is going to be alright.
