BillieWagadagger
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2020
- Posts
- 102
Twenty-eight year old senior staff nurse Caitlin filled out paperwork hastily and the nurses station, with one eye on the clock. Their bank staff member was meant to be arriving and she had the afternoon free. Half two and she should be showing for handover right about now. It was customary to be early, so you had time to lock your things away, use the loo and make a drink. They they would all crowd into the office to be handed a bed summary, before being given a verbal handover and their allocated bays.
14:35.
Caitlin and her colleagues had done their quick sweep and clean of the supply cupboard/prep room, the sluice room, the patient's bathrooms, the drugs trolley, the commodes, the bedpans and the organised chaos that was the nurses station. Now they were flipping through patient files, checking that the morning's events had been documented correctly and what had been added to the notes after the doctors round. It was always in that tense ten minute window that at least three call bells went off.
Bing. Bay 4, which was hers... bed six - oh great. Caitlin slapped on a warm professional smile and walked over to the patient. Bed five waved at her.
"I pressed her bell, nurse. She's done it again." Caitlin thanked her and then went to deal with the confused old lady who had ripped out her drip a second time. It would have to be resized on the other arm and bandaged - not that the last bandage had stopped her.
"i'm bleeding!" The old lady announced indignantly. Caitlin checked that her summary tallied with the note over the bed - yep, still nil by mouth. She was going to need those IV fluids.
Fifteen minutes later, Caitlin lobbed the old IV line in the Clinibin, washed her hands and then rounded on her charge nurse. Felix was a five foot Philippino, slender and flamboyantly gay.
"She's not here, is she?"
"No. Bank tried to phone her, no reply. They're trying to get someone else. Site have been informed and they'll see if they can spare us someone from another department but until then... I can't let you go home. Everybody else ran like hell, you know how it is. Sanjita had to collect her kids and Louisa has an antenatal appointment."
"Shit. It's bloody date night again." Caitlin muttered.
"I'm sorry love. You're on the desk till I've done handover and then go get some food or something. I'll see what I can do."
Cover finally materialised at 6pm when the fracture clinic closed. Caitlin jumped into her black mini and queued through the rush hour traffic. Then she launched herself through the front door and into the shower. Their reservation at Frederics was at half seven and it was a popular French restaurant. They wouldn't hold a table on a Friday for longer than fifteen minutes. Kat couldn't remember what her husband had said about his day, he'd just said he would meet her there. Caitlin dove through her drawer for some matching black underwear, a lace bra and thong. She zipped up her trusty LBD and pulled on knee high black leather boots. She brushed out her auburn hair but didn't have time for anything else. She applied her patented 'five minute face' that she used for work everyday; tinted moisturiser, blush, dark brown shadow and mascara. She didn't need a lot of make-up but if she'd had more time she would have gone for something smokey. She found a red lippy and applied it. Kat regarded herself in the mirror; barely five feet tall, lean and fit from her work. Her C cup breasts looked busty on her tiny frame. Tumbling wet red hair and eyes the changeable blue-grey of a stormy sky, both evidence of her Celtic roots. She pulled on a black leather jacket, stuffed the essentials into a clutch bag and headed out, texting Nick an update that she was on her way.
Kat was off duty tomorrow, so she wasn't going to drive to the restaurant. She definitely deserved a drink. She couldn't get a cab or an Uber, so Cat ended up at the bus stop. It was nearly eight o'clock by the time she made it to the restaurant. Having already explained what happened in a series of texts, Kat sank gratefully into the chair opposite her husband and poured herself a large glass of wine.
"I'm really sorry." She murmured, smoothing down her hair self-consciously. "You know how it is." Cat eyed him warily, their date night last week hadn't happened at all because she'd got stuck at work again.
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