Nursing Nightmares

It was eight o'clock at night and I was reluctatnly preparing for my nightshift. I had been sold on the idea of working in one of Britain's newest hospitals, agreeing to a three month contract in a surgical ward. Without even working in the place, I'd moved out of my apartment in London and was currently boarding with a little old lady in a city called Downtown.

"You've got beds one to twelve again" Sharon told me. Sharon was the nurse in charge for the night. She was only one year post grad and I couldn't imagine myself in her position at that stage of my career. It was my third night on end and I knew the patients well so I began my first round for the night. The first two rooms were rooms were side rooms and nothing was amiss with the patients there, but that all changed when I went to my first six bedded room.

"Evening ladies" I said as I walked into the room. The ladies greeted me with warm replies, except there was one voice missing. I walked over to Mrs Smith's bed, the only patient apparently asleep in the room. "She's been asleep all day" Mrs Jones, the woman in the bed next to Mrs Smith, whispered to me. "Asleep all day, are you sure?" I replied. "The doctor seen her. She won't wake up" Mrs Jones didn't sound worried. Alarm bells began to ring in my head. "Mrs Smith" I called, gently giving her shoulder a shake. I called again, a little louder, giving her shoulder a much firmer squeeze. Still nothing. I tried the fingernail squeeze, and eventually a sternal rub, all to no avail. I went in search of Sharon.

"Sharon, I need your help" she seemed a little irritated that I had interrupted her during her medication round. "Get one of the assistants" she replied, without even giving me a chance to explain. "No, it's about Mrs Smith. She won't wake up" I felt sure that this news would shock her, but she shrugged her shoulders. "It's ok. The doctor has seen her, she's had a scan, even the consultant has seen her." She turned back to her medication trolley, obviously thinking the matter was over with. "But she's unconscious. You can't leave an unconscious woman unsupervised in the middle of a general ward. What about her airway? What if she vomits?" I was too stunned too be angry, yet.

Sharon was getting angry, "The consultant has seen her, and he's happy for her to be there. If you want, you can get an assistant to check in on her regularly." Sharon seemed unable to grasp the fact that Mrs Smith was a very high risk patient "Her airway is unprotected" I said again "It doesn't matter how often we check on her, it only takes a minute or two for her to die." Sharon was not going to give in "I can't change a thing. It's the doctor's responsibility." With that she grabbed her medication trolley and wheeled away from me.

Mrs Smith was only fifty seven years old and was recovering from a minor surgical procedure. She was normally fit and well and had no previous medical problems. I became angry, not just at the utter negligence of my colleagues, but at the position I was put in. What if she stopped breathing on my shift. What would a court say if they asked if I felt comfortable leaving her there? How would the court react when I said I didn't feel comfortable? They would then say why didn't I do anything.

I did the best I could. Every half an hour I went in to check on her, and every time I approached her bed I felt sick to my stomach, wondering if she would still be alive. I tried waking her each time, and got no result. It's not often you see a patient that is truly unresponsive, but Mrs Smith was up there with the worst of them.

At three in the morning when I tried to wake Mrs Smith, she opened her eyes. "Hello" she said, sitting up in bed, as casually as if she was waking from an afternoon nap. "What time is it?" she asked. "Ah, it's the middle of the night" I began to explain. A look of surprise crossed her face "Middle of the night. But it was just morning" she said.

I called the night doctor to tell him the wonderful news. "That's good" he said. "Um, don't you want to see her? Do an assessment? She's been unconscious nearly eighteen hours" There was a pause on the end of the line, "Ah, ok, I suppose so."

By morning Mrs Smith was back to her normal self. She was ravenously hungry and I made her an early breakfast.

Mrs Smith was unique because I had never seen a patient suddenly lose consciousness for no reason, all her tests normal, then suddenly wake as if from a relaxing deep sleep, with no side effects. What I have also never seen is the complete negligence from a medical team, from both the nurses and doctors'. Mrs Smith may not have recovered because she may have been dead, may have aspirated, or vomited, or her airway may have blocked some other way, well before she made such a miraculous recovery.

I lasted another two weeks at that hospital, then quit when things continued to get worse.