When recounting stories of things that have happened to me over the past nearly 40yrs I have been told I should write a book, recently I have been thinking back to those experiences, some sad and others down right hilarious like walking up the ward and seeing a patients head above the curtain rail, I rushed behind the curtains thinking she must have been standing on her bed, I was speechless when I finds her sitting on the commode on the bed, I asked her who had put her like this and she gave me the name of a student nurse, after helping her off I went looking for this nurse and asked her why she had done what she had done, she told me that the patient wasn't allowed out of bed and wouldn't  have a bedpan so she had put the commode on the bed, to this day I don't know how she got her on the commode as the patient had had a hysterectomy the day before, luckily she hadn't burst her stitches.

I later learnt the same nurse when asked to give a bed bath stood at the bottom of the bed and threw the bowl of water over the patient who screamed and the rest of the staff came running, again asked to explain her actions she told them that in her country the family would take care of their relatives hygiene needs in hospital and this is how they did it, this student was just starting her second year of training and we wondered how she had even got that far, she was reported to the tutors and she was asked to leave, she was due to do her first stint on nights and there would only be students and auxillaries on each ward with Night Sister coming around to give out the medication and no way could she be left without a trained member of staff at night.

What do you think?

Absolutely and hurry up!!!!

On my Kindle at the minute I have Confessions of a GP, Blood Sweat & Tea (about ambulance men), In Stitches (A&E Dr), The Checkout Girl, Trust me I'm a Junior Dr and Stairlift to Heaven.  I love these types of books, funny & sad in the same measure.  I like that each chapter is a new story and easy to follow!

There are quite a few of these types of books about, I know there are midwife ones and I'll get them next but I would definately buy your book :)

Thanks

I have asked my Mum to try and recall things I have told her over the years.

I will check out those titles when I can get the internet WiFi up and running to my lap top, been really hit and miss for 3weeks now,each time I arrange for a technician to come out it starts working again, usually in the middle of the night when I haven't touched the modems for hours.

Confessions of a midwife is very good and keeps you guessing to the end. 

I think so too!! Get busy writing!!

I loved that show 24 hours in A&E.  What an eye opener into what Drs and Nurses go through on a daily basis.  I don't think anyone could say they work hard compared to these guys.

With 12 years working in an A&E department I could tell you a few tales !
The accoustics properties of a plastic bucket and a youth up-chucking are fantastic...
Not to mention the soundproof (NOT) qualities of a curtain ! and a certain Doc who had to resort to bellowing at a "Lady" to explain just what he meant by examining her back passage...and NO he did not mean he was taking over the job of the young gardener who swept her rear hallway every week !
The less said about foriegn bodies in strange hidaways the better..."Oh yes sir and the cucumbers grow ready peeled in your garden do they ?"
Go for it I know we are often curled up at work.
Aileen

Anyone ever read Betty Macdonald , The Egg and I, story of her life , contracting Tb and the sanatoriums of the time.try and find it , its a hoot.

Sounds like one I read a while back, was it Monica Dickens? There was a book of funny stories about her nursing, and another about her time working as a cook / lady's maid. Ring any bells? I'm always up for reading funny books! :-)

I have made a start and quite enjoying getting it all down, other memories are being triggered as I go along, I received 3 qualifications in all so will try and keep things in the right order

Haven't got a clue what to do with it, will need to research and see which publishers accept this type of thing. Do I send extracts or chapters?

No need for a publisher these days, you can self publish through the likes of Lulu and even sell on Amazon and kindle, just look into it all and don't worry about trying to find a publisher, certainly don't let that stand in your way!  Good luck :)

Why not? James Herriott did it you might be able to do a mini series!

gervase phinn books these are good same sort of idea but tales of a school inspector. He had me in stitches

there are loads of books out already on nursing and midwifery from years ago

I don't doubt you will have lots of stories but the real question is can you write because that will make the difference as to whether people will enjoy reading them.

Only time will tell, I am on page 16 and still only part way through the first 2 years, not covered my social life yet and what we got up to off duty folk who know me now will be amazed at what I got up to and still lived to tell the tale.

Good Luck ,could you send it for proofreading!

Thanks so much for the encouragement, this is all new to me so will just have to see how things go.

I later learnt the same nurse when asked to give a bed bath stood at the bottom of the bed and threw the bowl of water over the patient who screamed

Just read this to the other half and he nearly fell off the sofa!!!!

Great idea, look forward to reading it :)

I am glad that it gave him a chuckle.

Here is another snippet, this will make the men cringe.

I arrived on duty one Saturday night to the male urinary ward there were lots of Drs and senior nurses buzzing about, normally this is a quiet shift, I soon learned that one of the patients had cut his penis and catheter off with a razor during the evening meal, he was in theatre having his handy work tidied up and the rest of the catheter removed from his bladder,it turns out he was a confused alcoholic who had not automatically been put on an oral detox regime.

When he returned to the ward he was sedated on an IV detox regime and stayed settled all night but had to have a nurse with him at all times and a cardiac monitor as this was a very dangerous drug when given IV.

When I got a minute I read through the incident report, where it asked when did it happen a nurse had written "between the soup and the main course" instead of the time, later it asked what action was taken amongst other things she wrote she had put the penis in the fridge,never gave it another thought. Next morning the Charge Nurse comes on duty and makes himself some toast, he goes to the fridge and picks up the butter he realises there is a penis in a sample pot on the shelf next to the butter, he checked he was seeing right and comes looking for me to get the low down on the penis in the fridge, when I had read in the report that the penis had been put in the fridge I never dreamt it was the food fridge and not the drug fridge,needless to say he didn't want his toast any more and he sat with his legs tightly crossed whilst I passed on what had happened overnight.

The patient eventually went home but couldn't wee standing up any more, he vowed he was never going to touch another drop of alcohol as goodness only knows what he would chop off next time,he still had his testicles.  

One incident still makes me smile 35 years later. I was admitting a lady and asked for the name of her GP. She supplied a name which I duly entered on the admission form. About half an hour later she called me over in a state of great agitation  'eeh nurse ,I'm so sorry when yeh said GP I thought yeh meant the postie' ! She'd given  me the name of the postman (GPO !)

Hi if you need any hints or tip I used to work for a publishes and whilst on maternity got a book well published for lab rescue so just pm me and can talk you through the steps. You are more likely to get a smaller publishers to be interested if you go down that route but it might be worth doing the research on the type of book you are writing to see if you can get a new slant on how to present and write it as if there are a few out there you will need to stand out to get there interest :-)

Rhodach,
Got to say I found that more upsetting than amusing. Poor guy. Why didn't the surgeon ask where his penis was? You'd think it would be a major priority to try to attach it? Or was that absolutely impossible?

> Got to say I found that more upsetting than amusing. Poor guy.

So do I. 
The mismanagement of the incident is of course highly concerning.  I know this may not have been a recent incident but I do think you may need to consider the NMCs attitude to publishing these stories too whilst you are still a registered nurse. 

The penis having such a huge blood supply meant it wasn't possible to reattach successfully and the priority was to stop him bleeding to death.

Nurses tend to have a weird sense of humour, it is our way of coping with a very stressful job and all the awful things we encounter whilst doing it, my colleagues and myself have found our selves laughing, never in front of a patient or relative, at some situations where if you didn't have that release you would crack up and be no good to anyone.

Not all the situations I am recalling are funny, some are very sad and others are horrendous but majority of the time it was very rewarding and patients and their relatives have been thankful that I was there to help.

> it is our way of coping with a very stressful job and all the awful things we encounter whilst doing it

Yes :) but I think, if you want this published, it will have to be written to appeal to the majority of readers who are more likely to be patients that medical staff.

Have you read Jennifer Worth who series is currently being dramatised on TV? A couple of features mark it out.  It is clearly depicted in another era which people will find reassuring and, although both dreadful and funny things happen it is always written with empathy for the patient who, after all, most readers will be identifying with.  

Certainly from my point of view a lot of my choice comes down to style of writing.
If I am considering a book by an author I haven't read before, I will read a couple of pages in the shop to see if the way it is written is interesting enough for me to want to read a whole book of it. Assuming that I like that, I would probably buy it as I have read a lot of books by doctors, vets etc and really enjoyed them

I have recently been forced to retire prematurely on health grounds, in 2006 I was told I would be in a wheelchair within 2yrs, I proved them wrong,I am still mobile under my own steam, till a short time ago I was working 30hrs per week on a busy medical ward, but over the past year things have deteriorated rapidly, the constant pain despite heavy duty meds really gets me down, the dachsies give me a reason to keep going, it would be so easy to go to bed and stay there. 

I have friends and family who rally round, dachsie folk I communicate with all over the world via the internet, some have worse health problems than me, many are or have been nurses so I let off steam to them and they understand.

So I have this extra time on my hands, recalling my experiences isn't physically taxing and whilst there is nothing wrong with my brain as far as I am aware I thought I would share with others, I worry that with lack of use my brain will fail me too.

I have been very careful not to use the names of the patients, other nurses or even what the wards were called so no one can come back at me for that.

I don't want to discourage your writing, far from it, both my sister and my sister in law are published so I know how rewarding it can be, but you did ask for opinions :) and mine is that the writing will be very important, equally if not more so than the content.

Do you know, when I read that story, I didn't really pick up on the patient, only the stupidity of the nurse.  The fact that he had alcohol problems or lack of penis never made me giggle but the doc finding it in the food fridge in the morning did!!
I think if you keep it anonomous and 'elaborate' with the truth(like my granda would say, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!) you will be fine!

And that GPO story?hahahahaha!!