Hi again another busy few months and the NHS is still in a bit of a pickle first the MPs passed the ridiculous new bill and then the Lords think it's actually acceptable to even consider the new bill as a real piece of the future, on top of all that they actually want us to work past the age of 67. well how silly will that look when the patients are fitter than the nurses caring from them.
And if we are still alive at retirement then we won't survive long on our pensions, if they still exist then.
There is a national day of action on the 30th november many unions are balloting there members for industrial action my union isn't but then again i don't think the nurses would feel comfortable putting patients at risk after all we are in the job because of these vulnerable folks.
Perhaps the MPs and Lords should be aware that whichever way they vote, if they get sick they will get free at the point of delivery healthcare delivered by skilled knowledgable and compassionate men and women who spend their days away from their own families so they can care for someone else's.
Then again nurses also have good memories and if you turned up on our unit you may regret your formal life, well god help them if they get sick in the "new NHS"
and finally:
it's the flu season and flu jabs are being promoted for many vulnerable people and those that care for them, especially nurses in the acute setting. so in a quiet corner of a canteen somewhere in the NHS a senior nurse today was terrified of a tiny needle, something that is part of their everyday life was enough to cause so much fear they had to sit down but, it's reassuring to know my patients and me are protected from the flu and best of all I got a bravery sticker, its much better to give than to receive and never was this truer than today........
A true reflection of the life, times and trials of a Nurse working in today's NHS in criminal justice , and maybe just a hint of anything else I may feel is relevant.
Friday 14 October 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
When God Created Nurses
When the Lord made Nurses He was into his sixth day of overtime.
An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one." And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order? A nurse has to be able to help an injured person, breathe life into a dying person, and give comfort to a family that has lost their only child and not wrinkle their uniform. They have to be able to lift 3 times their own weight, work 12 to 16 hours straight without missing a detail, console a grieving mother as they are doing CPR on a baby they know will never breathe again. They have to be in top mental condition at all times, running on too-little sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals. And they have to have six pairs of hands.
The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way!" "It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord, "It's the two pairs of eyes a nurse has to have." "That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. The Lord nodded.
"One pair that does quick glances while making note of any physical changes, And another pair of eyes that can look reassuringly at a bleeding patient and say, "You'll be all right ma'am" when they know it isn't so."
"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow." "I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk to a 250 pound grieving family member whose child has been hit by a drunk driver...who, by the way, is laying in the next room uninjured, and feed a family of five on a nurse's paycheck."
The angel circled the model of the nurse very slowly, "Can it think?" she asked. "You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses; recite drug calculations in its sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop until help arrives...and still it keeps its sense of humor. This nurse also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how nurses are insensitive and uncaring and are only doing a job." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the nurse.
"There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model." "That's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear." "What's the tear for?" asked the angel. "It's for bottled-up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save, for commitment to the hope that they will make a difference in a person's chance to survive, for life." "You're a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," He said.