It's my own fault I suppose! I started a series of reminiscenses about the five years I spent in Tidworth at the Military Hospital. I got to the point where I was, at last, starting a new career, this time as an Operating Theatre Technician, and then it all went quiet. I have received quite a number of messages, nay, enquiries, asking when I am going to get on with the series of articles. Oddly enough, most of them come from outside the UK and mainly from Eastern European readers. As a mark of respect to all of you, thanks for your messages and now-Part Eight.
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As with any change, whether it be a change of job, location, role or in the case of a military career, a promotion, life is immediately a challenge. The first few days can even be a maker or breaker period. My first few days in Theatre were close to being a breaker!
To be fair, I was welcomed warmly into the new "family." Each and every person from Stan Jones-Theatre Sgt., through to Jim Goreman, civilian Porter, made my first day one to remember. I had better add here that I remember the first day for all the RIGHT reasons. Stan was an easy going kind of guy, not a bad bone in his body I would suggest. He did have a tendency though to study racing form, rather than what cases were on the operating list! The rest of the team, or as many as I can now remember included: Ken Hudson, Barry Gaukroger, "Chimp" Roberts, Bud Holder, Phil Reeves, a guy called Gartside (first name escapes me,) Phil Olive, John Thomas, Ron Days and others. Not all were senior Techs, some were new but just a little less new than I was. Over the years many more techs came and went, I would need a new Blog to mention all names.
During my first day, I was introduced to the Theatre Sisters, of whom there were two. Please don't ask me who they were. I see faces in my minds eye, but names totally escape me. In all the years I was there, some names remain in my mind for varying reasons. I can think of Mary Challis, Phyllis Broad and Maggie Watson. Of these, I remember two with great fondness. They were good at their own jobs, and able to gain the respect of just about everyone they worked with. The other? Well, lets just say that she made much out of nothing, appeared to dislike all technicians, trusted no-one other than herself, and rather annoyingly, insisted upon scribbling her initials on just about everything, whether it belonged to her or not and whether it was nailed down or not! Those of you reading this and who knew the above three ladies will know to whom I refer.
My first day consisted of "the tour" of the estate, which included a remote Central Sterile Supply Department building, (CSSD) on the other side of the Hospital "square." The theatre suite consisted of an entrance corridor, Foyer, Anaesthetic Room, Laying Up Room, one Operating Theatre, a Sluice room, a Store room and the Sisters office. The CSSD consisted of two conjoined "packing areas" within which were two dependable steam sterilisers and a store area and a tea room. I say the sterilisers were dependable, which they were, until Phil, the electrician/maintenance man came in to do his weekly maintenance, following which they played up for the rest of the day!!! Oh, why can't people just leave things alone I used to think.
There were two more operating theatres besides the main one. The Casualty Department directly beneath main theatre, had a theatre that was used for minor operations and emergency surgery and for MUA's and EUA's. These were Manipulation Under Anaesthetic and Examination Under Anaesthetic. There was also a Maternity Theatre within the Maternity Unit, used for Caesarian Sections and various other pre and post natal procedures.
Before I knew what was what, my first day was over. The highlight of my day? It had to be the dressing up. The change from my Nursing "whites" to theatre "greens" was kind of exciting to a young lad, such as I was then. I felt rather strange in them at first, but that soon went. My only complaint would be that the trousers were supposed to have waist and fly buttons, but many didn't. This meant using a one inch cotton bandage to tie around the waist to keep them up. Safety pins were the order of the day to keep the fly area in good order and under control.
Day two took on a totally new complexion. As with my introduction to life on the wards as a trainee Nurse, cleaning was to play a major part in daily life in the Operating Theatre. Clearly I hadn't done my homework before forsaking my hard earned level of status at nursing level before jumping ship for this new career. If I had I would possibly not have opted for starting at the bottom all over again. Day two started in reasonable style. Tuesday was General Surgery all day. I was "given" to one of the senior techs for the day. He, quite clearly, was not over impressed with the gift bestowed upon him by Stan Jones. I won't mention his name out of fairness to him. After the first case, which I believe was an Inguinal Hernia repair, I was taken out of the theatre itself and into the sluice. No more surgery for me THAT day!!
.................................
Next time-I WANT OUT!!!!!
.....................................
As with any change, whether it be a change of job, location, role or in the case of a military career, a promotion, life is immediately a challenge. The first few days can even be a maker or breaker period. My first few days in Theatre were close to being a breaker!
To be fair, I was welcomed warmly into the new "family." Each and every person from Stan Jones-Theatre Sgt., through to Jim Goreman, civilian Porter, made my first day one to remember. I had better add here that I remember the first day for all the RIGHT reasons. Stan was an easy going kind of guy, not a bad bone in his body I would suggest. He did have a tendency though to study racing form, rather than what cases were on the operating list! The rest of the team, or as many as I can now remember included: Ken Hudson, Barry Gaukroger, "Chimp" Roberts, Bud Holder, Phil Reeves, a guy called Gartside (first name escapes me,) Phil Olive, John Thomas, Ron Days and others. Not all were senior Techs, some were new but just a little less new than I was. Over the years many more techs came and went, I would need a new Blog to mention all names.
During my first day, I was introduced to the Theatre Sisters, of whom there were two. Please don't ask me who they were. I see faces in my minds eye, but names totally escape me. In all the years I was there, some names remain in my mind for varying reasons. I can think of Mary Challis, Phyllis Broad and Maggie Watson. Of these, I remember two with great fondness. They were good at their own jobs, and able to gain the respect of just about everyone they worked with. The other? Well, lets just say that she made much out of nothing, appeared to dislike all technicians, trusted no-one other than herself, and rather annoyingly, insisted upon scribbling her initials on just about everything, whether it belonged to her or not and whether it was nailed down or not! Those of you reading this and who knew the above three ladies will know to whom I refer.
My first day consisted of "the tour" of the estate, which included a remote Central Sterile Supply Department building, (CSSD) on the other side of the Hospital "square." The theatre suite consisted of an entrance corridor, Foyer, Anaesthetic Room, Laying Up Room, one Operating Theatre, a Sluice room, a Store room and the Sisters office. The CSSD consisted of two conjoined "packing areas" within which were two dependable steam sterilisers and a store area and a tea room. I say the sterilisers were dependable, which they were, until Phil, the electrician/maintenance man came in to do his weekly maintenance, following which they played up for the rest of the day!!! Oh, why can't people just leave things alone I used to think.
There were two more operating theatres besides the main one. The Casualty Department directly beneath main theatre, had a theatre that was used for minor operations and emergency surgery and for MUA's and EUA's. These were Manipulation Under Anaesthetic and Examination Under Anaesthetic. There was also a Maternity Theatre within the Maternity Unit, used for Caesarian Sections and various other pre and post natal procedures.
Before I knew what was what, my first day was over. The highlight of my day? It had to be the dressing up. The change from my Nursing "whites" to theatre "greens" was kind of exciting to a young lad, such as I was then. I felt rather strange in them at first, but that soon went. My only complaint would be that the trousers were supposed to have waist and fly buttons, but many didn't. This meant using a one inch cotton bandage to tie around the waist to keep them up. Safety pins were the order of the day to keep the fly area in good order and under control.
Day two took on a totally new complexion. As with my introduction to life on the wards as a trainee Nurse, cleaning was to play a major part in daily life in the Operating Theatre. Clearly I hadn't done my homework before forsaking my hard earned level of status at nursing level before jumping ship for this new career. If I had I would possibly not have opted for starting at the bottom all over again. Day two started in reasonable style. Tuesday was General Surgery all day. I was "given" to one of the senior techs for the day. He, quite clearly, was not over impressed with the gift bestowed upon him by Stan Jones. I won't mention his name out of fairness to him. After the first case, which I believe was an Inguinal Hernia repair, I was taken out of the theatre itself and into the sluice. No more surgery for me THAT day!!
.................................
Next time-I WANT OUT!!!!!
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