Charisma from the Nursing agency sent me back to Sunshine Retirement Village today. I’ve not been there since a resident died in my care – it was my first death as a nurse and it will stay with me forever.  Anyway, off I trotted to my old familiar stomping ground, secretly hoping that they had missed me and less secretly hoping that it was bacon and eggs for breakfast. The manager hates wasting food, so always insists we eat what is left.  She also guilt trips us into donating something to the residents’ fund (fair enough). But with Christmas approaching I think I will have to donate my uniform and get a bigger one.  As usual the home and all its beds remain full but we had a new nursing resident called Mrs A. She has been living there for just over a week. According to the handover and her care records she has a long medical history including dementia and apparently she is also a Walker, a Wanderer and a Feeder (amongst other things). I almost choked. You might r...

I’ve missed my bus home after my nursing shift tonight , but to be honest I don’t care. Nursing is such an emotional rollercoaster and t oday has got to have been the best and worst day in my nursing career to date. A resident in my care died . I hope that I was able to help to make her passing into a peaceful journey. It was an expected death. We had been expecting her to die for a couple of weeks but it still doesn’t make it easy when it happens. Her family were there, all crowded round her bedside and her poor husband looked so broken. I think it was the sight of them all crying over her that made me take charge, as I really felt like I needed to look after each and every one of them too. Two weeks ago I had been working the afternoon shift when Mrs S had what the care staff called a ‘funny turn’. It turned out that she had had a huge stroke, so we tucked her up into bed and one of the girls stayed with her to stop her feeling so frightened. She had already s...