Why I want to give up nursing, Part III

0600hrs - Wake up. Get to work 0645hrs. Fifteen minutes early. Hope to check some personal emails, get some fruit for breakfast.

0645hrs - First patient outside health center. Teenagers never get out of bed early. Must be quite sick. See student straight away. Delay breakfast.

0700hrs - First patient resting in bed. Two more students arrive. Again early. Look miserable.

1715 - Brief window to get breakfast. Spend five minutes in cafetaria. Wandering teaches waltz's by. Teacher complains that kids are waiting to be seen and I'm eating breakfast.

0720 - Ignore teacher. Am used to 5 minute breakfast and am seeing next wave of students.

0750 - First bell has gone. This is supposedly the signal to begin class, but instead 15-20 teenagers flood health center.

0900hrs - Finished with kids. Now have two denist appoinments and three doctor appointments. Colleague takes care of this while I rush to classroom upstairs where student has fainted.

1000hrs - Faint turns out to be vasovagal, nothing to worry about. Called to something more exciting. A chemical splash in students eye. Rush to go there, but no car available. The school has taken then second nurse car away. Has been ongoing problem since school expanded campus to include a building twenty minutes walk away up a mountain, but 3-5 minutes by car.

1020hrs - Finally get car and get to child. Taken to doctor. Fortunately student going to be ok.

1100hrs - Lunch clinic begins, colleague back in time to deal with this. Unfortunately ran out of beds in the health center at some stage and have ten kids scattered around campus in their own rooms. Next hour spent checking up on them.

1200hrs - Try to get lunch, but staff complaing that the health center at the new building is not staffed. Race to get there to see the critically ill students with their nasal congestion.

1330hrs - Finally finish clinic and join colleague at main campus to catch up/swat notes and find out what is going on.

1335hrs - Interupted by phone call. Abusive parents claiming we've neglected their child and left them suffering in their room deathly ill.

1340hrs - Track down deathly ill child. Is in bed with laptop, busy typing away. Claims to be sick, but I already know that a big assingment is due today. Student busy working on this. Student claims to be 'dizzy'. Sick of hearing this. Tell student that 'it's ok. I don't think you'll pass out lying down.'

1400hrs - Back in health center. Check emails. The abusive parent has sent an equally abusive email, even after I'd phoned them from students bedside to let them know their child is fine.

1530hrs - Supposed to finish work. But have four kids to take to doctor. Finish day at 1700hrs.

1700hrs - Home at last. Phone rings. Called to see sprainged ankle.

1730hrs - Phone rings again. Another angry parent.

1730 - 2000hrs - End up seeing multiple kids. Nothing urgent, but when I'm on scence, they make the most of it.

2010hrs - home at last.

0300hrs - Phone rings. Student, not sick, wrong number. Can't get back to sleep.

0600hrs - Get up for another day at work.

No one says please. No one says thank you. No one buys chocolates. Might go work in a hospital again.