Enrolled nurse (1962)

[Music] how are we getting along with Wednesday's program Carol well we haven't got very far yet well the only things you've decided on are a Gracey feel song for the lady in Rochester and uh rock and roll number for the granan whales things they ask for but you did say you'd rather like to start the program with the hospital oh so I did well what have we got uh here thank you so here's a good one as patience in Ward for we would like to convey our gratitude to all the nurses kind and cheerful who Comfort us when we are tearful for more than medicine and pills their kind attention cures our ills so please select a tune to raise their spirits and convey Our Praise it's from Mrs Quinn Ward 4 Royal Hospital endom oh that's where my sister works she's in Ward for as well I bet you planted that letter no I didn't honestly I didn't even notice the address all right well I've got a weakness for nurses myself anyway Ward for it is well can I tell pegy because otherwise she might not be listening that's a good idea and since you have a sister there you can pick the record yourself oh lovely thank you after my sister had told me about the record that had been requested for the nurses in our Ward I thought how appreciative patients are about the work we do we receive many kindnesses that give us an added zest for the job and yet it's surprising how hazy people are in general about the different types of training for nurses they may have heard about state registered nurses like sister they probably know that her basic training took three years with a lot of studying both during and after the course but State enrolled nures are not nearly so welln and yet a lot of the nursing in our hospital is done by people like myself who took a 2-year practical course we're properly trained as nurses and we've learned by actually doing the job at the bedside without a lot of theory and lectures I first became interested after I'd had my appendix out during my last year at school as soon as I was well enough the nurses leted me do little jobs about the ward perhaps at the time I was a bit Carried Away by the glamour of Hospital life but the idea of doing things for others took hold of me as well and my mind was made up as I had to wait a year before I could start I went to see matron I needed to make sure that I was in fact the right sort of person to take up nursing if her answer was encouraging then I wanted some advice on what job to do in the meanwhile she told me that anything that taught me about human beings would help me to be a good nurse so I worked in a children's day nursery for eight months and loved every minute of it you meet plenty of human nature when you're dealing with 20 or so live wires like this lot I was terribly sad when later in the year the nursery closed down and I had to look for something else the next job was a complete change but fun too in a different way I got a real pleasure in helping the customers with their purchases all the same I was still looking forward to the time when I'd be old enough to start in hospital on the day we were fitted with our uniforms I had a pleasant surprise I found that I already knew someone who was starting on the same course her daughter used to be at my school Mrs Bennett seemed a bit nervous I wondered why I admit I was a little nervous when I started nursing it was 20 years since I had been out at work how would I get on with these young people would I learn as quickly as they of course in my own home I was well used to having plenty of youngsters about the place my own three were always having their friends in I enjoyed meeting them and I got on well with them but a relationship at work might be a different matter with the children all out in jobs and a husband who has to go abroad sometimes for months on end I felt I I needed an interest outside the home Robert had always pulled my leg about wanting to take on lame Ducks being a technical chap himself he thoroughly approved of my getting a training to do the job professionally as he put it we decided that after I done my training I might consider nursing part-time if I found full-time too much for me once we started the course we were soon put at ease the tutor knew how strange it would be so almost the first thing she did was to take us around the hospital explaining the work of the specialized departments and introducing us to the people in charge of the wards the atmosphere was so friendly and welcoming that we sensed we'd soon feel at home sisters of course were people we knew about but most of us were surprised to find that the male equivalent is called a charge nurse we first had four weeks in the preliminary training school interspersed with periods of actual nursing I found my knowledge of housekeeping was useful for such things as special diets but other subjects were new and fascinating to me Anatomy for instance it had never occurred to me that our innards fit together for all the world like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle or that you can feel the pulse in various parts of the body I'd heard about finding your feet or losing your heart but a stomach gone astray didn't make sense at all and as for skeletons that don't live in family cupboards well it was a good thing the tutor was at hand to put us right that was what I liked about the training school an informal atmosphere and all the help we needed the purpose of our four weeks there was to start us off with some Theory and a more practical work although it was pretty obvious they couldn't let a bunch of raw recruits practice on sick people until we'd learned at least some of the elementary rules of nursing we didn't have to wait long before we met real patients we helped to look after them working as part of the nursing team we liked that it gave us Confidence from the start I remember the first time a patient called me nurse I couldn't think who he meant at first at the end of 4 weeks in the school each of us was allocated to a ward where we stayed for 3 months before moving on you might think that anyone could wash and dry a patient's heels without much training but there's more to it than that certain parts of the body might develop bed SES so we learned how the circulation could be stimulated an unspectacular job but very important for the company comfort of the patient the work became more interesting each day working in a hospital wasn't as dramatic as we expected in this caral orderly atmosphere we didn't feel as if we were snatching patience from the jaws of death and yet we were becoming very much part of the team that helps them to get better most of us well the young ones anyway got quite a thrill when we reached the stage of helping the doctor there was a young man in our group and he moved around the different Wards too but always on the male side wherever we went or whatever we did there was someone in charged to keep an eye on our work of course things didn't always go according to plan I blotted my copy book more than once I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel and I felt pretty upset myself sister blesser soothed him down quickly but I thought I'd never hear the end of it when I met him next day he still looked fierce but it turned out to be a leg pool he told Dr Baker that I always kept him standing about in Puzzles and made some crack about having a pair of wellingtons Handy if you've got a good relationship in a ward you can survive most disasters small or large during our training we were able to visit places of interest there are careers open to us outside Hospital life and we had a chance to see some of them in Factory clinics for instance enrolled nurses are often employed her sister is in charge but the enrolled nurse does much of the practical nursing interesting for us to see a field different from our own sometimes there are jobs going as school matrons or with private cases occasionally there are posts abroad too and enrolled nurses can also work with the local Authority Services learning about these opportunities made us realize that there's plenty of scope for people of our type of training though I must admit that most of us settled for Hospital life in the end home nursing is rather special because the district nurse frequently becomes the friend of the family she may be faced with problems quite outside her normal nursing duties and often becomes a much loved personality in her neighborhood after the first year we had a written test just a half hour paper it was the only one in the whole course thank good goodness exams have never been my strong point Then followed a practical test in our own Ward this was not too terrifying either because we were familiar with our patients and with their treatments we all passed our assessment as it's called and went on to extend our nursing experience while completing our second year I don't want to give the impression it was all work we had definite times off each day as well as whole days off so we could plan things in advance and believe me we made good use of our Leisure as well as sport there were lots of opportunities for hobbies and other interests for example twice a year some of the staff organized a flower show really lovely some of the arrangements I became friendly with a Young Man From the Path lab and we had a lot of fun together that winter a dancing class was all the go but we had activities in our social club to suit all tastes one great thing about Hospital life you can't possibly be [Music] lonely a jack pontoon at the beginning of the second year I went to work in casualty we were still moving to a new Department every 3 months so that we could get a full range of experience and bit by bit we were gaining the sense of responsibility that turns raw recruits into real nurses that's not to say things don't happen to one sometimes one squirly day I was on theater Duty and arrived absolutely drenched I'd been delayed because of the storm but hoped my wet hair wouldn't be noticed with the head gear on my three months in the operating theater came towards the end of the course there's a sort of concentrated quietness there everyone intent on his job the plight of a nurse in this dedicated atmosphere is the last thing anyone wants to be bothered about my place was at the foot of the table I began to feel most uncomfortable the water was starting to ooze through and trickle down my neck all went well till the anesthetist happened to glance my way he asked is that nurse all right she seems to be sweating profusely everyone stared and then laughed when they heard the reason but in the theater there's no time to dwell on personal matters and I found it a Most Fascinating part of my training at the end of our 2-year course we became fully qualified enrolled nurses they sometimes say that nurses get hardened by all the sickness they see but I found that now I'm trained I can give so much more to a patient well take Mrs Norris for example sometimes she has to struggle for breath because she's had a bad heart attack she's got complete trust in me for she knows I understand her illness as well as giving her what Comfort I can I'm observing her all the time and I'd recognize any danger signals if she should get worse sometimes the danger signals are dramatic a hemorhage from an amputated leg there's not a moment to be lost but the last thing the nurse wants to do is to frighten the patient so there's no panic but calm competence and a reassuring word it may seem an alarming situation to a Layman but there's no real danger because the patient is under the observation of trained staff and the doctor will be with her in a few minutes nursing isn't only the healing of sick bodies Minds become involved too and we nurses are often able to help the patients with all kinds of personal problems which stop them from getting well as quickly as they should time's up I'm afraid it's after 8:00 thank you n what so long then bet take care of yourself thanks for coming could I have a word with you man surely what's the trouble well Betty's acting as if she doesn't want to see me very much well she's always talking about you you must have got her wrong I wish I had oh I know it's been my fault the accident all Betty wanted me to give up motorbike months ago of course I've sold it now after the damage is done you think she's holding it against you well she's got something on her mind she's even talking about us breaking off the engagement let me see what I can do she's probably in a very emotional state still she may talk to one of us where she wouldn't talk to you it often happens like that thank goodness it's true that Betty wasn't making the progress we'd hoped for so I found an opport Unity of talking to her that evening it soon became clear that she thought she'd be scarred for life and didn't want joh to think he had to marry her I tried to reason with her but it was more a matter for the doctor we told him what she'd said and he was able to explain that with modern methods of surgery she'd be as attractive as ever in no time at all she made great strides after that and when she was leaving she and John asked me to their wedding was sweet of them but then you often find that patients are touching in their gratitude anyone mind if I Turn up the radio I feel like some nice cheerful music this morning good morning good morning where's Mrs Quinn she's gone to the bathroom oh no she'll be there for hours I better go and fet her steady dear let me get my breath what's all the hurry listen good morning ladies and a very special good morning to all the nurses in W for Royal hospital endm I've got a message for you from one of your patients Mrs Quinn I'll read it to you as patients in W four we would like to convey our gratitude to all the nurses kind and cheerful who Comfort us when we are tearful for more than medicine and pills they are kind attension cures our ills so please select a tune to raise their spirits and convey Our Praise well I must say I couldn't agree with them more I think that nurses are absolutely marvelous are you listening in Ward 4 You clever old thing so that's what you've been hatching up we mean it all dear every word of it [Music] [Applause] he [Music]