So here I am – 5 months into my first permanent role as a staff nurse and I’ve actually managed to have a full two weeks off! I’ve been meaning to have some time off for a while now and had actually booked leave in January – however, the events of the past couple of weeks has made me realise that I need a bit of time to think and to recharge my batteries – just some ‘Me’ time, if you know what I mean.   I won’t lie – I was tempted to go and get a sick note and go off with stress, but that would make me feel like a fraud, there are people who are genuinely off with stress and I didn’t want to go down that route if it could be helped.  Dealing with Jo and her antics has started to become a full-time job in itself. Not only did she pull that meds stunt on me, but she’s since made it really clear that I’m on her radar, and she’s picking and poking whenever she gets a chance. Take, for example, the ward round last week.  Steve, the Charge Nurse has asked me to att...

It’s been a couple of weeks now since ‘Denturegate’ – where I accidentally sent Mrs Wright’s nashers off for plastic surgery, and I’m still not fully over it. I know it might seem a small mistake when you think of all the things that can go wrong in a hospital (just look at the NMC hearings on their website to see some of the life-threatening mistakes that are made), but I really disappointed myself. I thought this job had helped me to mature and get over my propensity to cock-up in style, but clearly not.  I’ve been like this all my life. All the way through school I was the kid who couldn’t control her own limbs – tripping up in the dinner hall with a full plate of shepherd’s pie and gravy, knocking things off shelves as I walked past them, knocking people over even…you can just imagine. Being a bigger kid just added to the comedy and I got used to laughing it all off and got a reputation for being the class clown. I was determined to change that now.  Most of m...