The Making of a Nurse: Pre-Training School(PTS)...#TheAccidentalNurse Pt 2
Hey, welcome back to The Wandering Nurse and to the 5th part in ‘The Accidental Nurse’ series, my nursing memoir.
So far, i have had a very interesting first week, with rules and regulations that confused us and made us wonder what difference there was between college and secondary boarding school! To strange and alarming initiation practices along with the realisation that our training places were still not guaranteed but hinged on the fact that we had to pass all exams and assessments with a passmark of 80% and above, anything below that was a fail and a guarantee kick off the programme. Welcome to Pre-Training School(PTS)! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger …. and all that…….
Homabay, according to the older year students, had two good hotels, (whose names I totally can not recall, so they will be uphill and lakeside, going with their locations). One uphill, not so far from the MTC and another by the lake side which was quite a trek away. The freshers welcome dinner by the bones tutor and his other colleagues was to be held at the one near the MTC, the uphill one.
Saturday evening, a group of us girls decided that we would go see what this dinner was all about and if it was all legit and not just another weird fishing stunt( as per rumours we were hearing), also we did not want to be rude, get off the wrong foot with the tutor and his colleagues, whom all worked at the hospital.
After much debate, we finally arrived at the hotel meeting area, we were late as we planned not to stay, just a quick show our faces and leave, kind of thing. We were surprised and relieved to find some of the boys in our class( including tall, dark and handsome conundrum) already there and also spotted some of the girls from the older year groups popping in and out of various places at the hotel with their spouses/ partners. It was a mixed evening of awkwardness( student/tutor conversations etc) and liveliness( new surroundings, new discoveries) with food and drink and after an hour or so, we left to go back to the MTC. Myself, and the couple of girls I had gone with, did not want to walk back when it was too dark, given it was quite a long way and also we did not feel comfortable staying for any longer. We had shown our faces, and that, we deemed, was enough.
We later learnt from the boys in our class that the reason they were there was to protect us, as they had been informed that Mr. Bones and his colleagues always did this to every intake as a way to find and choose which freshers they would date. They also confessed that they did not like the idea of us girls in their class being scouted by everyone else but them as potential dating partners.And just like that, I found my tribe, fellow students I was happy and comfortable to hang out with.
Sunday was here and i asked one of the girls to keep an eye out and tell anyone who asks where i was that i had gone to town, basically lie about my whereabouts because while we were allowed to leave the college and go to town, we were not allowed to leave the town without a written permission slip from the Principal, Deputy Principal or one of the Senior Tutors. So my leaving to go see my mum and collect needed supplies, miles away, was a disciplinary action, but one I needed to carry out anyway. Looking back, with the benefit of hindsight, I am glad I did.
If you left early enough in the morning, it was possible to make a round trip from Homabay to Kisumu and back in time for dinner service. That was if you were lucky to get a bus or shuttle that went all the way and did not break the journey at Kendu Bay, forcing you to take another bus or shuttle. This was more likely to happen on the return trip as the road from Kendu Bay to Homabay was a rough road and most times virtually impassable when it rained, owing to what was a huge crater like pothole in the middle of the road that filled up with water that was enough to cover a bus! Also the closer you got to Homabay, the soil turned to black cotton soil. So I got on one of the early buses to Kisumu so that I would have enough time to do what I needed to do and be back, taking into account the bad state of the road, before dinner. I was nervous about going back home, about how I would find my mother healthwise but I was also excited to tell her all about college and what had happened so far in the two weeks I had been there. It took a couple of hours to get home, so I quickly collected the stuff I needed including the bucket for water storage and headed to the hospital to visit my mum.
I did not know what to expect when I went into the hospital to visit mum. Would she be awake, talking? Was she getting better? Would she be discharged soon? How would she cope if she got discharged, given that it was just the two of us? It was a relief when I found that at least she was conscious and talking but she still looked like she needed a bit more time to recover. We talked, I told about my time at the college, what I had witnessed on the labour ward with regards to how the mother’s to be were treated and she made me swear I would never treat any mother that way nor be that kind of midwife. I helped with her lunch which she didn't like as she was on a special diet, no salt or sugar. She told me she would be discharged the following Wednesday and would come visit me on Saturday. I told her I would save her some chicken as we got served chicken on saturdays. Visiting time was over and it was also time to leave if I was to make it back in time before the matron or any of the other people in authority noticed I was missing. So I said my goodbyes with the knowledge and comfort that I would see her the following Saturday when she came to visit.
I made it back in one piece, armed with my much needed supplies and grateful that I had been able to see mum and I was looking forward to her visit, a chance to show her around. I made it back with enough time to join the queue at the water tap and get my bucket filled with water and join in the banter and conversation at dinner. Our table seemed to be the loudest and most rowdy, which wasn’t surprising given that almost all our year group was there and my emergency landing trio, who were still waiting on answers, and, turned out to be surprisingly hilarious. There was a lot of banter and lively talk and despite their mis-step, I could tell that the emergency landing trio and I were going to be great friends, a friendship based on mutual respect. They were growing on me and I was beginning to realise that if one was to survive the MTC experience, you needed allies, ones who knew their way round all the corners that were likely to trip one up. I wasn’t going to join the hareem and I wasn't going to make enemies of them either.
Monday was back to lessons and routines around that. We were also going to be sitting our first set of exams that Saturday morning, so it was all work and no play with extra study hours. We were all determined to pass and not get kicked out of the programme. My only comfort was that I was going to see my mum on Saturday, when she came to visit, share my chicken with her and maybe be at ease, that everything at home was good and that mum was getting the care she needed. What I did not know was that, it was the last time I had seen her alive and my goodbye was final. She died on Thursday the 19th of September 1996, just four days after I had seen her and a little over two weeks since i had reported to college. The college decided to keep that piece of information from me.
That’s your lot for today. Look out for the next series as i find out about the death of my Mother and how that changes things for me, a harrowing road traffic accident ad the end of Pre- Training School(PTS). Thank you for reading/listening.
WHAT IS BLOCKING YOUR CAREER PROGRESSION?
“The days when NHS staff can progress at equal level is the day NHS can say they are truly inclusive and equal. If newly graduated nurses can reach to Band 8 within 3 years and non-clinical support staff to Band 6 but ethnic minority staff have to wait atleast minimum 10-20 years”. Mushtag
@mskahin1 (Twitter)
The above tweet from Mushtag was as usual a ‘pause for thought’ read and it reminded me of something a couple of Nurses from an ethnic minority background told me when i asked them why they had not applied for the Band 7 post in their department? Their answer was sad, but not shocking and was one i had heard several times, including from myself- They did not want the added stress and lack of support that came with moving up and that they were comfortable where they were, not happy or content but comfortable. A put your invisible head down and get on with the work, kind of situation. Get your pay and maintain the status quo!
As a Black Nurse, i understood this all too well. When opportunities seem like traps, not because you are not qualified, (in fact you are most likely overqualified, given that we always have to put in twice the work!). But because, you have witnessed those before you, who worked hard, climbed the ladder only to find that there is no support whatsoever at the top. That you would be expected to take on much more and often for much less. That the brick walls you will encounter will knock you so hard that you will end up being a shell of the person you once were and that finally you will pay heavily with your health, only to realise that even in sickness/illness, we are still not the same!
At one former workplace, Black Nurses were terrified of promotions. They told me that it was because they had witnessed their colleagues being sacked right after being promoted. To them a promotion to either Ward Sister or Manager = a P45. There was this one ward that seemed to have problems and no manager had ever survived once they were moved to that ward, most had to be redeployed elsewhere. So when one of the Black senior Nurses on our ward, after years of applying, got given the post of ward sister and moved to that ward, instead of celebrating her promotion, all the Black Nurses were sad, a mourning of sorts, because they were sure she was on her way out. That is how messed up this whole situation was.
This whole situation is also reflected in the Ethnicity Pay Gap as is evident in the research paper below ⬇️ . One may say, that Agenda for Change(AFC) has eliminated inequality and the pay gap or that within the NHS it is not common for there to be pay gaps amongst Nurses due to banding. But even within those banding, there are different pay-points and your moving up a pay-point is dependent on your managers assessment during your PDR, also on what progresses you have made. If you have not been given those opportunities to better yourself, to improve your practice, access to training which is not just the run of the mill mandatory training! If you have not been afforded those opportunities but instead have had your workload increased, as a warped way of rewarding your hard work, that you have proved that you can handle more responsibility, but without the correct pay, then a pay gap ensues and inequality is at play, do not be fooled.
The Making of a Nurse: Pre-Training School(PTS)...#TheAccidentalNurse
Hey, welcome back to The Wandering Nurse and to the 4th part in ‘The Accidental Nurse’ series. So far i have gone from helping out at my aunts chemist, to starting out a three year Enrolled Nursing Course(ECN) at Homabay MTC having left my sick mother behind and on the verge of a new beginning, a new chapter in my life.
With registration done, and the first day done and dusted, it was time for the business of learning to begin.
After a good night's sleep, as good as it can get in new surroundings and a strange mattress, a cold shower and some breakfast, I was ready for our official orientation day. We were to meet up in the lecture hall where each faculty leaders, our allocated subject lecturers and key student members would introduce themselves and also it would be when we would read up and sign up on the Colleges rules and regulations as well as have the first glimpse of our timetable, subjects to be studied and generally get to know this place that will be our home away from home for the next three years.
The rules and regulations document was a long one and included, no unauthorised sleepovers, no loud noises as there was those on different shift patterns for example, curfew/gate closed at ten pm unless one can show they are on placement, no absconding but what caught everyone's eye was rule 28 which stated that ‘students were not allowed to fall in love’! How they were going to police this feeling called ‘love' was a new one to us, given that this was a mixed college, a step into adulthood and work and also looked like a challenge and caused lots of sniggering noises within the hall. It got better, if you can call it that! There was a head girl and a head boy who were there to enforce all rules. It was like high school boarding school all over again.
Even Though we had been accepted into the programme and the rules clearly stated that absconding was not allowed, and anyone who was deemed guilty of assisting another student to abscond or was aware of one's intention to abscond but had not informed the authorities, was to be punished by expulsion.
We were informed not to get too comfortable as we really were not in the programme, as that was dependent on us passing our first three months of classes,exams and assessments which all had a passmark of 80% and above. There was no re-sitting or re-marking of exams or assignments and if you could not get anything above the pass mark then training as a secretary was better, (as we were told), because that meant you didn't have the brains to be a nurse.
The first three months, known as PTS( pre-training school), was a chance, (we were told), to weed out those of us who were not cut out for a career in nursing and would not make it to the nursing school programme which consisted of class time known as Blocks and placements, culminating in a final national exam, graduation and posting to a work area. Some of the subjects included anatomy and physiology, midwifery, pharmacology, microbiology, public health just to name a few and placement covered medical and surgical wards both male and female, paediatrics, maternity, theatres, maternal child health, infectious diseases just to name a few. Some placements like mental health and health centre management were outsourced to other centres.
At the end of the session, we were taken around the hospital to various departments to introduce us to the staff. We were divided into groups and assigned a higher year student to take us round. As part of a weird initiation rite( which we later learnt was done to all freshers) or just an attempt to scare us off, our first stop was the morgue and specifically to the unclaimed bodies section, some which were in different states of decomposition which was a frightening sight to behold. We were told that it was considered unprofessional and disrespectful to gag, wretch, spit or vomit. All which were very hard not to, as the bodies were not in any refrigeration due to lack of space, so the stench and seeing the bodies as they were was overwhelming to say the least. To say that I was scared shitless would be an understatement.
We were then taken round to the different wards and departments and our last one was the maternity unit, more specifically the labour/ delivery ward, where we were to witness a live birth if lucky, as our guide put it. It felt weird and intrusive given that all the women were totally naked, some were screaming in pain and one was on the delivery couch being checked if she was ready to start pushing. We had to leave because the place was now crowded and the nurses needed space to carry out their work. Our guide told us that it was okay to leave as his reason for bringing us to the labour/delivery room was because our group had the male students and it was his way ( another initiation rite) of judging which of the male students would stay the course without absconding. According to him, the labour/delivery room in all its glory was normally the last straw for some male student nurses. We woke up the next day to the report of a male student having absconded during the night.
Our first day of class started with a stern interrogation by the form tutor as to who amongst us knew about the abscondment and had helped in any way. We were also reminded that absconding was against the rules and came with consequences and that helping in anyway was a cause for automatic expulsion. The class prefects were also appointed, one male and one female, who would help the head boy and head girl enforce college rules.Having been thoroughly chastised and warned, we were to start our lessons and our first lesson was Microbiology.
The microbiology tutor was interesting to say the least, a maverick of sorts with a larger than life persona and the old wise professor looks to go with it, who had no speech filter whatsoever. After asking us to get our books ready for the lesson, he proceeded to ask us about our relationship statuses. He asked which ones were married, in serious relationships or single and we all put up our hands according to which category he called out. It turned out that none of us were married, two or three were in serious relationships and the rest were single, which made sense as most of us were straight out of high school.
After he had established our relationship statuses, he launched into a passionate, scolding like lecture about why those of us who are single should consider starting serious relationships, possibly get married this early in our career journey because if we did not we would be doomed to a lonely life, void of any kind of meaningful relationship because a career in nursing was taxing and left no time for socialising or forming relationship bonds. This was all confusing and not what we had expected from one of the senior tutors especially given the fact that he was present when ‘rule 28’ was being stressed upon, not to mention the various other rules and regulations that would make the pursuant of a relationship let alone a serious one, almost impossible. The challenges kept on piling up, and I was very interested to see how it would all pan out for everyone given that the female students and staff way outnumbered the male ones and I, on the other hand, had sworn off marriage but had a tall, dark and handsome with an odd dress sense to sort out.
Relationship advice done with, the lesson began in earnest with the name ‘Girolamo Fracastoro’. A name , let alone a person none of us had heard of but we were told should be at the forefront of our knowledge as he was the father of Microbiology. It was a very engaging lesson and one that has stayed with me all these years and everytime i met a microbiologist on the wards or in a hospital, I would proudly talk about Girolamo, and half the time I would be met with blank stares, like i was crazy and everytime i had an inward smile.
The first day of classes flew by as we got into the various subjects and topics we would be covering that block. It was also a chance to properly meet our various tutors who would be teaching us and the horror of almost weekly assessments, in the form of exams. It was time to get acquainted with the library and book whatever books needed for the semester as I only had a limited number of the required textbooks that I had been lent by an acquaintance of my mother.
In between lessons we had breaks and breakfast, lunch and dinner were served in the communal dining hall and catered to those students who were on shift. There were also a couple of kiosks outside the main gate where one could buy snacks and essentials as needed, especially given that the main town centre shops involved a long trek.
Our last class was done by around 3pm, which meant we had a bit of time to explore, before dinner and sleep time. Myself and a group of girls from my class decided to go up to our rooms and rest for a while. My room was located on the first floor, on the right side of the staircase. I unlocked my door and entered my room and was surprised to find three male persons in white lab coats already in my room! Given that i had locked my door, i wondered how they had gotten in? Why they had a spare key? And given that it was against the rules for them to be on the female side of the campus, how they had slipped in unnoticed? I tried not to look terrified as I tried to establish what it was they were doing inside my room, all the while hoping that someone somewhere might come to my rescue should things go south. No amount of streetwiseness, would save me from three strapping men if it came to throwing punches, so i was going to have to talk my way out of the tricky situation that was facing me.
It turns out I was part of a group of new female students from our intake that had been chosen for what I now know was called ‘Emergency Landing’.
Emergency landing was a practice carried out by older male students, where a selected group of new female students, unbeknownst to them, were polled and targeted for ownership. Upto three male students would declare interest in one female and they would then let themselves into her room( emergency landing) and wait for her to get back where she would then be asked to choose which one of the three she would prefer to claim her as theirs.
So with my game face on, I introduced myself( like they didn't already know who i was) and asked who they were and how I could help them. They introduced themselves and told me why they were in my room and the choice I had to make. I can't remember the full conversation but I recall it ending with me not making a choice. I think I deferred the decision while making a mental note to switch rooms or share with one of the girls in my group. Time also helped speed the conversation along as it was against the rules for male students to be on the female students side of the campus/rooms let alone risk being found inside one of the rooms, so understandably, despite all their bravado, they didn't want to get caught shopping.
After pulling myself together, I went to find the other girls in my group. I caught up with them in the dining hall and explained what happened and it soon transpired that a few of us had received the ‘emergency landing’ treatment. One of the girls offered to share her room with me while I waited to move to another room and we also came up with a way to look out for each other. What we did not know at the time was that, it wasn't just the male students who were fishing for so called ‘fresh meat’, there was a long line of fishermen and one had to learn very quickly how not to get caught by their fishing rods or nets.
We got to meet other tutors and introduced to the subject matter they would each be covering that block during their lessons. None came close to the drama and flare of our first microbiology lesson, but that is not to say they were all dull. Anatomy, more specifically, the subject about bones ,was delivered by another strapping, tall, tutor, who informed us that he was actually not a tutor passe, but worked as an orthopaedic technician at the hospital and that made him the authority on bones. He was a friendly sort of chap who treated us more like colleagues than as students and seemed to have a genuine interest in our welfare. His style of teaching was lively and interactive and i enjoyed the lesson. Before he left, he informed us that he, and a few colleagues normally hold a sort of welcome dinner at a local hotel for new students and that we were welcome to attend on the Saturday evening. A group of us said yes and agreed to meet up on the Saturday evening. We got the directions to the hotel and thought nothing of it.
The rest of the week passed uneventfully with regards to any more ‘emergency landing’ incidents. Instead the focus was more on lessons, settling in and finding one’s tribe, so to speak. We settled into a routine of sorts, dictated by our class timetable and got to know the other students from the older year classes and our surroundings after classes in the evenings. It was interesting listening to tales about college and hospital life/placements from the other students, as well as how to avoid falling foul of the rules and regulations.
I soon found out that I needed more stuff than I had packed and brought with me from home, like a huge bucket to store water in due to the ongoing water shortages, a radio cassette player for the long uneventful/staying in evenings and a lot of snacks, given that dinner was served at 6pm. I also thought of my mum, and wondered how she was doing in hospital.There was no way i could call the ward to find out, so i decided that i would do a roundtrip the week after, on a sunday, to check in on her and update her on college life and how i was doing, as well as use the trip to pick up the much needed supplies.
The first week, as intense as it was, was just a taster and nothing could have prepared me for what was to come.
Hello Nursing School: New Beginings....#TheAccidentalNurse
So, the last part ended with me boarding a bus alone to homabay after getting my acceptance letter and posting. While i wasn’t a stranger to travelling alone, as i had earlier indicated, a parent would normally accompany me to my first ever day- reporting/registration day. Sadly this was not to be the case this time and it was something that played in the back of my mind. I was nervous and scared on the inside and i really was not sure i had packed all the neccessary stuff i needed to carry with me. This was a first step towards adulthood, (which you wish for as a child, but in hindsight regret wishing your childhood away) and i wasn’t sure i was ready!
The bus park terminus is a busy place on any given day but on this day it was especially packed more than usual as schools were reopened for the third term and pupils were travelling to their various schools. Each destination had a designated spot within the bus park where you could board your bus or shuttle to wherever it is you were going. As i had never been to Homabay, i didn’t know where their designated stop was located and it took me awhile after alot of jostling and shouting to finally find the stop. Now if you have ever been to a bus terminal/park in Kisumu or elsewhere, you will know that it is the most nerve wracking place to be at and demands that you constantly have your wits about you. Between the various touts competing for your custom and luggage, to the hawkers trying to sell you their wares, coupled by the loud music playing in the various stalls not to mention the stifling heat and copious amount of dust! It is enough to drive you mad especially if you are already confused and stressed and have no idea where you are going, which bus or shuttle is suitable and will actually get you there and what the actual fare is! And boy don’t the streets know how to sniff out a con opportunity, so you have to try very hard not to look confused at all. I finally settled on a mini bus that looked like it was almost full, which meant it was about to leave, paid my fare,took my seat and prayed for journeys mercies.
The bus road trip to Homabay was long and arduous. At one point the tarmac ended and it was a long stretch of rough road all the way to the bus park in Homabay, which to my surprise and horror was nowhere near the MTC. Turns out I still had roughly two miles uphill to go and there were no taxis! I managed to find a handcart operator who agreed to carry my belongings and point me to the right direction as I was quickly losing time and would be late for my registration. The uphill walk finally saw us reach a gate on a path lined with kiosks on one side and houses in a gated compound on the other.
Homabay MTC was attached to the district hospital and while it had a somewhat separate compound from the hospital, it was accessed via the main hospital gate and then on the left past a white building that housed the morgue via a long corridor that led to the college itself. On approach you went past a building on the left with Department of Vector Borne Diseases(DVBD) written in big black letters on the outside, a field and then a white building that looked like a dining hall, on your right was a impressive brick 3 or 4 storey building with balconies that lead to an entrance way and finally to the main office where i was meant to report for registration. I passed students in blue dresses and white lab coats who were very friendly and helped direct me to the correct office. Often you would hear scuffles and jostling as the current students scrambled to see who was reporting with the occasional whispers of ‘fresh meat, how exciting’ amongst themselves. I had so many emotions coursing through me, nervousness, excitement, sadness given that this was a whole new start to my life and potential working life and sad that my mother nor any of my family members were not there to witness it especially when almost everyone seemed to have a parent or member of family present, guiding them and offering reassurance. I paid the handcart chap, got my belongings and went to join the registration queue outside the registration office.
I was amongst the last students to register given my late arrival and ahead of me on the queue was a rather good looking, the ‘whole tall dark and handsome conundrum’ chap who was being told off by a woman who i assumed was his mother much to my amusement but what caught my eye, apart from the conundrum above was his dress sense and which i immediately decided that i would take on the task of changing, i just had to figure out how. Registration involved verifying my documents and going through the already submitted application forms to check that everything was correct and that I was ready to start my training to be an Enrolled Community Nurse. I also got to meet the person who would be our form tutor, a lovely and stern gentleman whom I decided I was going to get along with swimmingly. He had taken it upon himself to dispute the fact that i could be Muslim as per the entry on my form, and was determined to get to the bottom of “this nonsense” as he put it, especially given the fact that my baptismal certificate said otherwise and i had a whole Provost as my Godfather. Being Muslim was kind of my secret as i had reverted a year before in high school and no one in my family was aware. I loved a challenge and He and I were going to have lots of fun as he tried to figure me out!.
I collected my paperwork and was handed over to a sort of buddy from the older years who was to take me to my rooms and get me settled and then show me around, a mini orientation of sorts. While I had been in boarding school for all of my secondary school time, I was still nervous and a bit apprehensive about this new phase of my life. It felt like I was taking my first big steps into adulthood and independence which was exciting and scary at the same time but also very lonely as I had none of my family members or friends around me.
Homabay MTC could house upto a hundred students on three storeys and the sleeping quarters were above the administration block. They were divided into male and female quarters separated by a barrier which I later learnt was duped ‘the septum’. The rooms were well proportioned like any student accommodation would, with a single bed, a study desk area, a wardrobe, sink and a balcony that overlooked the teachers quarters, main hall and dining hall. Each level shared a communal bathroom with several individual stalls and toilets and on the ground floor opposite the administration block there was a block of pit latrines. The administration block below consisted of faculty offices, a skills lab, a classroom, library, principles offices and the school matron's house. Only two of the teachers quarters were inhabited. one by the deputy principal and the other by our form tutor. all the other tutors stayed outside the college.
My room was on the first floor as apparently freshers were always on the first floor and as i later discovered it is because the older years would be alerted to when an inspection was happening being that they were floors above thus giving them enough time to hide whatever contraband was being looked for, plus, there was the added fact that being higher up meant that it was harder to have a look into their rooms given that all room balconies faced towards the tutors quarters and main corridor into the college.
It was pretty late in the evening, so after dropping my belongings in my room, i accompanied my allocated so called buddy to the dining hall for supper and got the chance to meet other students in my class as well as the older years as they trickled in from their hospital placement shifts and those who were on days off, but had come down from their rooms to eat or to watch the communal television that was in the dining hall. It was a relatively friendly atmosphere and everyone seemed to get along just fine.
I began to feel a tad more relaxed and was actually looking forward to the next day when our class would all meet for orientation. While we were busy getting to know each other, unbeknownst to us, the boys or should I say the men in the older year groups were busy deciding which of the new female students they were going to divide amongst themselves. Life as a nursing student was about to get very interesting!
To be continued………….
Psst...Let me tell you a secret
Please allow me to interrupt your scrolling as I bring you News about #boxershorts and not those fancy boy shorts but plain old Jersey mens boxer shorts! Lend me your ears, for you will not want to miss this piece of life changing news!
I have reached that age where i value comfort above all else. I don’t have time for fancy underwear that make me wonder what my femoral artery did to them, as they try to cut off my blood supply! and do not get me started on thongs! Why someone would want to walk around with a constant wedgie and sore bum crack is beyond me, but if that is you thing, much respect to you. It is not much to ask for some level of comfort out of the many contraptions we are required to wear and it looks like i am not alone in this thinking because the history of women’s underwear has somewhat come full circle from drawers in the 18th century to 21st century boy shorts gaining popularity.
So when my sister called me a couple of months ago to inform me that she was now wearing her husbands underwear, courtesy of her having forgotten to do her laundry, hence running out of clean panties 😜 and that from then henceforth she would be wearing his underwear! I laughed 😂😂 as it was soo her ( she does the most random things, like calling me yesterday as an emergency, just to let me know that Aquaman had been returned to sender- her words), any way i digress. So i found myself one lazy morning adopting her sharing is caring ways and that is when i realised we had truly been conned as women! The levels of ease and comfort i got from the boxer shorts was on another level. My femoral artery could now do it’s God given work unhindered plus everything was all held in one place, comfortably 😂👏🏾.
So i quickly used my Amazon prime addiction( it is a thing) to find women’s boy shorts and 48hours and quick wash and dry later , i was the proud owner of a couple of packs. They unfortunately turned out as another con 😲😪, like everything else marketed to women( like how are women’s shaving razors so expensive, while the same make of Men’s are cheaper and do the same job?😐 🤯). They were not as comfortable 😠 and by now i should have learnt that most of these concepts only work on industry size/ shaped women’s bodies 🤨!
So off i marched to Primark ( i was not about to spend premium money! i was not aiming to look like David Gandy or Beckham, see underwear adverts for reference) and bought me a pack of cheap as chips, men’s jersey boxer shorts underwear and lets us just say, i have not looked back since( well except for the odd days, mother nature pays her monthly visits and reenforcements( seriously there is no emoji for sanitary pads or tampons 😶) trounce comfort)
Don’t take our word for it( we may just be a pair of mad sisters 🚶♀️. Go and get yourself a pair and you can thank me later! For those who already knew this secret and did not share, may your bum cracks be forever sore 😅🙏🏾 🧞♂️.Thank you for listening/reading and normal service shall resume next week 😊.
P/S- they are a 💯 percent cotton ( all round goodness for your ladybits!)
High School is over. Next Chapter..#TheAccidentalNurse
What brought you to Nursing - part 2
Available to order from January 2025
Upon finishing high school, I continued to work at my aunt's chemist mainly at the front desk and helping around with the odd jobs around the chemist. I soon picked up a lot of knowledge about various drugs and how they worked and also how they were dispensed. The chemist also offered a nurse-led minor injuries and illnesses clinic which further broadened my knowledge and in a way laid the foundation for my career in nursing. It was decided( a conversation between my mum and the nurse who worked at the chemist) that I should apply for a college place at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) which was the umbrella college in Kenya where training in all things medical occured and had colleges spread across the country. On application you were given the opportunity to make three choices of courses you wanted to be considered for in order of preference.
One of my former primary school friends dad was a public health officer, so I thought I would try that as it sounded interesting. So on my application I put down public health as option one and two and Nursing as option three. You see,I was banking on the fact that they would see that I had listed public health twice and that would show my enthusiasm for wanting to study public health. My application went through and I got offered an interview slot where I was to hand in my papers like birth certificate and exam results slip amongst other things. I was happy to sail through the interview but unfortunately my application was going to be turned down because I was classified as a foreigner due to my British nationality😱😱, oh the irony! Apparently this had not been a problem during my primary and secondary school years because we lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone and rules and regulations were not so rigidly followed 😲, which meant things like my birth certificate and other documents were not taken into account. My parents word of mouth was enough. Thanks to my mother’s fast thinking with a little help from her friends at the local government office, a kenyan identity card application was made and I was able to hand in all my paperwork using the identity card waiting slip with just hours to spare on the last day of interviewing. Months later my acceptance letter came through and I had been allocated an Enrolled Community Nursing(ECN) place at Homabay medical training college(MTC) which was a three year course.
I had two issues when I got my acceptance letter, one was that I didn't understand why I had not been allocated public health and second was that I had no idea where Homabay was and had assumed that I would be admitted to the local Kisumu college🤨. So the next day I went to the head of admissions to request that my course be changed to public health at least. I was met with hefty laughter from the head of public health and his assistant who went on to explain to me in no uncertain terms that public health was a man's domain and it was in my best interest to stick to the nursing that I had been allocated as it would suit me far better.
My disappointment and anger at his misogynistic views was not because, i felt they were not warranted and out of place as indeed they were, but more to do with the fact that he was a father to three beautiful daughters who had attended the same primary school i had , indeed his eldest daughter had been a classmate and friend. What did it mean for them and their futures having a father who held such views? Defeated but determined to make the best of my allocated course, I went back home and waited for my reporting day to come.
Unfortunately eleven days to my reporting day, my mother who was the only parent I was staying with at that time, fell seriously ill and went into a coma and had to remain in hospital and so I had no one to accompany me to this strange and new town I had never heard of let alone been to. I was on my own. On the eve of my departure, I went to bid my mother farewell in hospital. She was fortunately out of her diabetic coma and the intensive care unit but still had to remain as an inpatient on the ward. She was sorry she would not be accompanying me to college and wished me Godspeed and blessings on my journey. Having spent my high school years in boarding school I was kind of semi prepared for my next adventure. So on the 2nd of september 1996, a year after finishing secondary/high school, I carried my worldly goods and boarded the bus to Homabay MTC.
To be continued……
What brought you to Nursing? #TheAccidentalNurse
Available to order from January 2025
How did you all get into Nursing? Was it something you had wanted to do since childhood? Did you have nursing role models as a child growing up that maybe put nursing on your radar? In most African households, default career paths were set to either law, doctor or maybe teaching. We didn't have career guidance counsellors in schools, so most defaulted to chosen paths by parents or kinsfolk. Looking back, I can't think of any nurses I knew. I vaguely remember as a child that one of my maternal aunties worked in a hospital, think as a nurse but it was not something that was lauded as such( years later learnt that she actually was a nurse with a glowing career). I had an aunt whose was an author, a big deal at that time I now realise but still this was not a celebrated route to take. I never heard stuff like, you can be an author like your aunt
I love nursing and being a nurse 👩🏾⚕️and it has brought me so much joy, but growing up, being a nurse was not part of my career or life plans. I was going to follow my two loves: Music and Books, which gave me two options as i saw it - getting married to Michael Jackson or George Michael or being an Air Hostess( as cabin crew were known back then). By marrying anyone of the two music icons, i could tick off the music option and by being an Air Hostess, i could travel the world and experience all those magical places i read about in my books. The only problem was that being a musician or dealing in anything music was considered more a hobby and not a serious job and certainly not one for a morally upright person and air travel, let alone the glamorised life of air hostesses was a dream too far and also not considered a reputable job in our African household 😱😱! It also turns out i am not a fan of flying!
During my high school final years, I was helping out at a local chemist with my mum that was co-owned by her sister. A nurse led clinic was part of the services provided and it was her that put me on my nursing path and as they say, the rest is history 😊. Part 2 coming up !
I would love to hear your nursing journey stories. Drop them in the comments ⬇️⬇️
#theaccidentalnurse
Clinical Judgement & National Early Warning Score(NEWS2).
The National Early Warning Score(NEWS2) has been mandated by NHS England and NHS Improvement for use for adult in acute and ambulance trusts. It should not be used in children under 16 or pregnant women.
It's used to identify acutely ill patients, including those with Sepsis by using a scoring system that measures 6 physiological parameters: Oxygen saturation, Respiration rate, Pulse rate, Level of consciousness or new onset confusion, Temperature and Systolic blood pressure.
Some handy safety tips are included below ⬇️
Learn more about NEW2 on the Royal College of Physician's website ⬇️⬇️ https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/national-early-warning-score-news-2
Research Nursing as a career option.
Nursing has evolved over the years and has opened up many career paths, one of them being research nursing. While nurses have always helped in research in one way or another, it is only in recent times that the role of nurses in research both as clinical researchers in their own right as well as helping run clinical studies as research nurses, has truly been recognised and feted, but there is still a long way to go in dispelling the myths that surround Nursing and Research and also Research Nursing. If you have heard of ‘evidence based practice’, wondered why CPR changed from 15:2 compressions/ breaths to 30:2, or why manual handling has changed over time amongst other things , then you have engaged with research.
Who is a Research Nurse and what do they do?
“ A research nurse is a registered nurse who plays an important role in delivering clinical research which in turn improves treatment pathways and patient care” - RCN.ORG
“ Research Nurses bring studies to life” - Lisa Berry, Senior Research Nurse.
According to the Royal College of Nursing(RCN), a career in research nursing offers nurses the opportunity to use core skills, contributing to the development of new evidence and improving patient care.
“Clinical research is essential- It is the only evidence-based method of deciding whether a new approach to treatment or care is better than the current standard, and is essential to diagnose, treat, prevent, and cure disease” - RCN.ORG
I first came across research nursing while working alongside research nurses as a student nurse, working as a clinical trials assistant in a clinical trials unit, working with healthy volunteers, testing new drugs and devices. Years later after qualifying i worked as a research nurse, a role that was very different from ward based nursing but still utilised the clinical and nursing skills gained whilst working on the wards. There is this disconnect between ward based nurses and research nurses, a misunderstanding amongst nurses that research nurses do not really do much and are not really ‘Nurses’. The roles, while different all require use of nursing and clinical skills. The national body that is responsible for research in the U.K, the National Institute for Health Research ( NIHR) is trying to bridge this gap with their ‘Clinical research is everyone’s future’ which aims to embed a research culture across the whole of the NHS by encouraging a research positive culture and encouraging all NHS staff to be research aware and active. Some NHS trusts with Research and Development (R&D) departments have short/ week long clinical placements as part of the student nurse pathway which is a great way for students to be exposed to the practical side of clinical research.
As a research nurse you work within a wider team as well as autonomously within Good Clinical Practice(GCP) guidelines and your duties include but are not limited to:
Acting as a patients advocate while supporting them through their treatment as part of a clinical trial.
recruiting patients to clinical trials.
Sample collection and processing
Data collection and submission.
Coordinating clinical studies from initiation, management to completion.
Preparing trial documents, submitting trial documents for regulatory approval.
Managing a team.
How to become a Research Nurse.
It is not possible at the moment to come into research nursing as a newly qualified nurse. Some clinical experience is needed, but there are ways you can still get a so called foot in:
Find out if your Trust has a research and development department or your local research network and what research studies are being run in your hospital/ ward and how you can help the research team. You could be the ward/ department research link nurse.
If you work soley for a nursing agency, you could find out if they have contracts with private research companies where you could do some shifts ( training is always provided).
Do your Good Clinical Practice ( GCP) training. Training opportunities can be found on the NIHR website or via your local /regional Clinical Research Network (CRN)
The above will work in your favour when you decide to apply for a permanent research post. These can be found on the NHS jobs website or other job search sites like indeed . Just search for Research Nurse. You can also apply to work as a research nurse for Clinical Research Organisations ( CRO) , G.P practices and Charities like British heart Foundation, Cancer Research just to name a few.
Things worth noting.
Every research study is unique and has a protocol that determines how the study will be conducted. Detailed study specific training is normally provided before each and every study. Research specific training is provided by the trusts local research and development department or the local clinical research network (CRN) or the research organisation that you work for. If in doubt, always ask. There is always a team of people willing to help.
Research and the research network still has a diversity problem in terms of workforce and in patient/ participant recruitment. This is an area that the NIHR are trying to rectify with their key priority of: Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in research.
“We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in everything we do. Diverse people and communities shape our research, and we strive to make opportunities to participate in research an integral part of everyone’s experience of health and social care services. We develop researchers from multiple disciplines, specialisms, geographies and backgrounds, and work to address barriers to career progression arising from characteristics such as sex, race or disability” - NIHR
As earlier indicated, research nurses work within a wider team but also autonomously , which means at times working alone in terms of patient/ participant recruitment, data collection and input, arranging patient visits and all study related actions that do not require the Principal investigator (PI). This can at times be challenging in terms of getting time off or annual leave. So with this in mind, make sure when you are interviewing for a research nursing post or before you sign any job offer contracts, you:
ask what support network is in place to help with studies.
How many studies would you be expected to manage and if an intensity tool is used to access each study.
who you have as back up for your studies if you are the only one in post and not part of a team especially if it is a speciality specific role, who can cover your studies when you are off or on annual leave.
The current Covid-19 pandemic has helped to highlight the importance of research and the important role research nurses play. The research nurse role is diverse and broad, and everyday is different with patient advocacy at the very heart. You can learn more from the links below.
Useful Links/ Further Reading:
What was your first encounter of racism? Talking Racism with Getrude of World Class Nurse.
As part of Black History Month in the U.K, I talked racism in life in general and in Nursing with World Class Nurse- Getrude on her platform. We also talked about what help is out there for Black Nurses in terms of support.
We also talked abit about my book, it’s inspiration and how it can help Black Nurses. I will be donating a couple of books to World Class Nurse as well.
Click on the link below ⬇️⬇️ to listen to the talk.
https://youtu.be/CPLF0MpgH2o
What's New? Flexible Working and the NHS.
There has been a lot of talk about flexible working in the media, especially now that we have a stressed and burnt-out workforce in the NHS , not to mention staff shortages. The pandemic has also shown the importance of work-life balance and people’s perspective as to what is important in their life has also shifted. A more balanced life is now more than ever appealing than the rat race we were all sold. So it came as no surprise when an email from work had an article about the new changes to flexible working procedures. Apparently as a Nurse, you can now make unlimited flexible working hours requests right from day one on your job ( Personally i would rather have it ironed out during recruitment/interview stage and have it written down in my contract before commencing employment).
As you may be aware, Section 33 of the NHS Terms & Conditions Handbook changed to reflect a change in approach to flexible working. This reflects the commitment in the NHS People Plan to support our colleagues to achieve a healthy work-life balance, to aid staff retention as well as attracting new and diverse talent to the organisation. Research shows that there is an increasing demand for flexible working from colleagues across all age ranges and genders.
The surprise was where this information was located, Section 33 of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook! This admittedly was the first time i was hearing of such a handbook and i had so many questions not to mention i was curious as to where one would find this Handbook. What was it about? Who had written it? and why had i never heard of it? So read the highlights of the changes as laid out in the email, which to me did not look like change at all but much of the same as before in terms of requesting flexible working and the person who had to approve it but at least there now was what looked like a clear stage to follow, a formal procedure consisting of 4 stages ( as per this trust ) and what actions and outcomes were expected or not and how they would be handled. I was still sceptical as to how or if it will work especially for my fellow Black Nurses as management still pretty much remained the same.
The key changes include:
· A stronger focus on creatively exploring ways to support flexible working wherever possible, whilst still supporting high quality, effective service delivery.
· The right for all employees to request flexible working from the first day of their employment regardless of the reason for the request, or the role/band or grade/area the individual is employed in.
· No limit on the number of flexible working requests that can be made in a 12 month period.
· A focus on normalising flexible working conversations through regular and informal discussions at induction, PDR, 1:1s and team meetings. The purpose of this is to explore the individual’s needs and wishes and what options might be available to help employees think about whether they want to make a request.
I did a quick google search, where would we be without google! and i found this Handbook on a website that said NHS Employers. Now this was another revelation, who were NHS Employers and if they were that important and dealt with matters NHS workforce related, how come i had never heard of them? The more i read the more perturbed and angry i got as had i known about them then my work situation in terms of flexible working requests might have turned out differently. Who are NHS EMPLOYERS and why should you know about them? They are a government agency, part of the NHS Confederation and from the looks of it a very big deal. I would call them the mother of all NHS HR.
NHS Employers is an organisation which acts on behalf of NHS trusts in the National Health Service in England and Wales. It was formed in 2004, is part of the NHS Confederation, and negotiates contracts with healthcare staff on behalf of the government.
“We are the employers’ organisation for the NHS in England. We support workforce leaders and represent employers and systems to develop a sustainable workforce and be the best employers they can be. We are part of the NHS Confederation.”
I scanned my old contracts to find any mention of them, yes we all knew about the NHS Constitution but not of this Handbook that held the answers to all things work related for the NHS. The ultimate NHS HR Bible. The reason i was looking was because this information would have been of tremendous use to me almost two years ago when i needed flexible working hours or what i now know is called an employment break ( NHS T&C section 34) in terms of taking time off but no one not even my then manager knew who or where to turn to. I wondered both loudly and privately about senior managers often consultants who were on sabbaticals and how they got those and what the process was? I even discussed this with my then manager as having this information would have influenced how i went about making the choice of caring for my Dad and work. So i am annoyed that nowhere in my contract not even on the HR page of the trust on the intranet was it mentioned that an employee could find this information in the NHS Terms and Condition Handbook! More alarming is that my then manager had no clue, while this was meant to be part of leadership knowledge so to speak. The only place i could find ant mention of them was under matters of pay as below.
“ARRANGEMENTS FOR DETERMINING PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE This appointment is subject to the National Terms and Conditions of Service that are agreed by the NHS Staff Council (and Agenda for Change: NHS Terms and Conditions of Service). A copy of the Terms and Conditions of Service is available from your Manager or on the Trust intranet.”
Anyway my time has passed now and whatever decisions good or bad have long been made but i would be remiss in my duties if i did not mention the Handbook and the importance of being thoroughly acquainted with every aspect and detail of it just like i advised in the Extreme Sport of Nursing While Black: An unofficial survival guide book under ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing aka HR’. Please have a read as it may be the answer to the questions you have been asking and might help you in making that work-life decision.
NHS Terms & Conditions Handbook: https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/tchandbook
NHS Employers: https://www.nhsemployers.org/
Now you know!
Racism, Nursing and the NHS
Racism,Nursing and the NHS
The Extreme Sport of Nursing While Black: The Unofficial Survival Guide, started off as me passing on the do’s and dont’s to my daughter who was thinking of working for the NHS and like every other thing her race came into play. She is in the band of what i call the ‘triple threat’ i.e Woman, Black and Muslim. Unfortunately she, like many of us before her would have to do thrice the work, constantly prove herself in all that she does. I was determined to at least equip her with the weapons she would need as yes it is a war out there. At the same time there was also a lot of issues around racism and nursing on social media and this is how the book or booklet idea was born of using my experiences working as a nurse as examples of the things that are likely to trip you up as a black nurse on the NHS and how to avoid them, hence making work a tad more bearable while the NHS and other health organisations catch up to racism within themselves and work towards finding lasting solutions to eradicating it within and without themselves. For far too long, the onus of fixing the racism problems that plague the world had been left at our doors, we, the very victims. it was time the script was flipped.
It is crazy that Black people are still making firsts in 2021 worldwide and in the NHS. You would be forgiven for thinking that Black people only recently arrived in the U.K as opposed to having been part of the NHS since it's inception! How is it that out of the 223 NHS trusts only two have chief excutives from BME background , one being black? According to NHS providers.org: https://nhsproviders.org/inclusive-leadership this under representation of BME’s is repeated across NHS boards country wide, and even though they note that the number of senior BME’s is increasing, i wonder how many of them are Black? The NMC does not escape this affliction, looking at their 16 senior representatives.
How is it that those who are at the snowy white peaks of power within the NHS did not notice or question why the peak was so white? It all well and good that they are questioning this now but how is it that they did not notice this anomaly while rising up? How did they not question why their black colleagues were hardly getting out of the band 5 starting block, while they were sprinting towards positions of power? How did they not notice the email exchanges alerting them to new career progression options or the fact that some had job vacancy adverts tailored to their specific needs, just short of actually naming them? How did it escape them that they were disproportionately referring BME staff to their regulators for fitness to practice? Did they not notice or did they not want to notice?
How are we as BME healthcare staff and more importantly as Black healthcare staff now trust that these same people who most likely scaled to the snowy peaks of power on the back of our blood, sweat and tears all over sudden have been on their road to Damascus and have now realised that we as Black healthcare workers are equally as qualified if not over qualified and are quite capable to sit at and take command of the table? The proof will be in the pudding or so the saying goes because we Black people are not going anywhere! So while you all are busy trying to find ways to ‘invite’ us to the table, a table which we really don't need an invite to as we are not guests and have never been,you will come to realise, hopefully when it is not too late that We own the table!