Category: Nursing/medical reminiscences

Brian was in his fifties and recovering from a heart attack but he also had mitral valve disease and was an ideal patient for teaching students. He enjoyed being the subject and the centre of attention. I introduced him to a group of undergraduate students and took them through the basics of history taking before […]

I had just taken delivery of a Triumph TR 2 Sportscar. It wasn’t new, of course, but it had still cost me the best part of a year’s salary.  Low, sleek, and streamlined, in British racing green, with wire wheels, it was my pride and joy. Whenever off duty, I spent my time waxing the bodywork, […]

Mrs Bridget Conlon’s job title at the hospital was Domestic Supervisor; her area of responsibility, the doctor’s residency. She had held the job for as long as anyone could remember. Her job description stated that she was employed to manage all aspects of the catering and accommodation for the 20 or so young doctors for […]

Ellie Leyland was young and pretty. She was also an enthusiastic and conscientious doctor undertaking her first medical job in the days when newly qualified medics were required to be resident in the hospital. The first cardiac arrest to which she was called occurred at three o’clock one morning and, knowing how important it was […]

My unfortunate patient, Mr Quigley, was already distressed and when I suggested a second attempt to pass the nasogastric tube into his stomach he looked concerned. I’d already made one ill-judged attempt but the entire length of the tube had coiled inside his mouth making his face inflate like hamster’s cheek pouches! Fortunately Mr Quigley […]

It promised to be a busy day – there were three new patients to be seen and it seemed unlikely that I should have time to examine them all before the boss arrived for his ward round. But I got off to a bad start for no sooner had I introduced myself to the first […]

This was the first tutorial that Paul had ever given but as he introduced himself to the group, he had no idea that it would end with such comedy and confusion. Without exception, the students were intelligent; had they not been bright they wouldn’t have been admitted to medical school. However, they differed greatly in their ability […]

As a part of my paediatric nursing training in 1963 at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, I was required to undertake a ‘patient study’. It involved studying the care of an individual patient in detail. I chose a particularly ill baby called ‘James’ (not his real name) who had a severe chest infection. He […]

One definition of serendipity is ‘Looking for a needle in a haystack and finding the farmer’s daughter’. Perhaps that’s a bit ‘Non PC’ these days, a bit sexist but no matter! For me, serendipity was having a pregnant pig help me make a stunning diagnosis – let me tell you more….. I had taken the written […]

I was a First Year Student Nurse working on the men’s surgical ward in a busy city hospital when an incident occurred which threatened to end the career upon which I had set my heart, before it had even begun!   I had been assigned to give drinks to post-operative patients by Sister Bagshaw who […]