Day 1

So I have finished my first day in A&E, and I felt a change of title was appropriate :)

This morning was used mainly to sort out loads of paperwork, and I learned that for the next two weeks I will be shadowing existing staff within various departments. This afternoon I was in minor injuries, where I observed treatment for a cut finger, dog bite to both hands and a broken wrist.

The cut finger was superficial, and the dog bite was just a few cuts. It's the broken wrist that I think might stick in my mind.

When the lady with the broken wrist entered the department, lets call her Edith, it became apparent that she was known to a fair few of the staff. She was old and thin, bleach blonde hair and smelled of booze and smoke. She was very loud and her language was appalling. I was told on her last visit she had injured the same arm, had a cast put on, and then went back the next day claiming that her dog had bitten it off and eaten it.

On this visit, she'd had an x-ray which confirmed she had broken her wrist, which would make it necessary to have another cast put on. I went to observe (seeing as I will be doing plastering at some point), where our plaster technician explained the procedure. He was using a roll of fibre glass, the rolls-royce of plastering, because it was flexible and she would get on with it better than her old one. It costs quite literally 10 times that of plaster of paris. He'd used nearly two rolls of the stuff before he'd finished, when Edith asks;

'I thought you were putting a cast on it'

Edith started tearing it off, and would not listen when she was told repeatedly that it was a cast, and indeed the best they had to offer. The nurse came in to try and talk some sense into her, the argument went a little something like this;

'I have had a cast and this isn't plaster'

'No it's not, it's better than plaster of paris'

'No this is NHS sh*t'

'You are wrong, this is in fact used by private health care trusts'

'No I won't have it!'

'Well if you take it off, I won't put another one on'

'I don't like how you're talking to me - do you want to take this outside?! I'll take you, broken arm or not!'

'No, we both wear glasses, we're ok'

'No, mine are just for reading! I hate this place I have been treated horribly, and you need to learn how to talk to people!'

She left and continued to shout obscenities down the corridor, and for the final blow;

'That f*cking nurse must be a dyke anyway'

All I could do was watch and smile. The whole thing was utterly ridiculous, she'd came in asking for treatment, she recieves the best treatment she could possibly get, and then doesn't want it. Makes me laugh how undeserving some people can be. But even so, I'm not put off!

Tomorrow is another day, and I'm in major injuries :D