As I look back at my career as an emergency department nurse, some memories continue to haunt me. For example: I fall into what must surely be a small cohort of people who have had the retrospectively profound experience of trying to keep a fellow human being alive by reaching into their chest cavity and […]
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Remember those scenes during 9/11 where hundreds of people were running away from the burning twin towers?
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We are turning for home today. Plan to spend tonight in Jugiong and then roll up the highway to Canberra on Sunday morning. Despite the grim tide of suffering that is engulfing the world right now we have had a most excellent and uplifting trip. But it seems like the right time to return home. […]
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Scrolling back through a million jangled memories that cannot be shared here, but instead, hang thick as old anchor ropes set fast between those of us who cared. Four impressionable years spent in a number of very different hospitals convinced me once for all that nursing, if it is to be done efficiently, requires, more […]
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You never know when an unexpected medical problem will interrupt your trip with a hospital visit. Here is a list of useful items to take with you. Even better, if you (or a family member) are about to go to hospital, or you frequently require admission, why not make an admit kit. A small pre-packed […]
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Life was pretty tough for a junior nurse back in the day*: Military hospital, France 1945: the flatus nurse does her rounds. At precisely 7 AM each morning the flatus nurse would commence her round.Patients would assume the Schlemberg’s position (recumbant with legs held high in the air) and one by one, amidst much grunting, […]
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Many parts of Australia are expecting temperatures consistently approaching or above 40 C (105 F) this week. Some areas will top 45 C (113 F). It’s hard enough trying to get our day to day activities done in these conditions, but imagine for a moment if you were trying to sleep through them overnight. For […]
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it was the best of times. it was the worst of times.
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