Imagine my face...

After a long, hard nightshift in A&E looking after unconscious teenagers who can't hold their drink; it's finally 6am and only an hour left to go when a cardiac arrest call comes in. Preparing ourselves for the worst, what actually comes in? A 98 year old woman, with rigor mortis already having set in.

As a nurse it's my duty to do everything I can to help my patient, but I also believe in dignity in death, and it's a shame that at the age of 98 a person can't be left to die in their bed.

I know how I'll die - it'll be in the bath, fast asleep after a nightshift.

A cool night
The stars bright
Innocence fading with the light.

I find it interesting that shifts in A&E seem to run on themes. It's not unusual to have a handful of the same injury/illness arriving within a few hours of each other. 'Chest pain day' and 'fractured neck of femur day' are pretty common - the other day however the link was a little less obvious, but I've called it 'the day of denying responsibilty'. There were 3 of these cases when I arrived on duty.

The first of these was the man who'd arrived in the department in the middle of night complaining of back pain. Despite being told by the doctor he was discharged, the man refused to leave. Cases like this REALLY annoy me. The hosptial is not a place you can pitch up in and squat until you've received whatever crazy, miracle, totally non-existent treatment you've decided you need. The man just would not accept responsibiltiy for his own problem, and he ended up being admitted in the hope he'd accept discharge the next day.

The second case was a homeless man, who depsite being medically fit for discharge, had a mental illness, and was not mentally well enough to be sent back to sleep in the street. However, none of the mental health sevices or social services would take responsibilty for him until after the weekend, and so again we ended up having to look after the patient because we seem to be the only service that was interested.

Finally, was the case of the elderly lady who was brought into A&E in the middle of the night by her son as she had been incontinent and he wanted someone to clean her up. I'm pleased to say she was incontinent again in his car on the drive to the hospital, so hopefully he'll have a large valeting bill for his irresponsible behaviour.