Moira McCallion looks back on a lifetime of memories of nursing in a post-war Tyrone County Hospital
Being an avid reader of the '50 years ago' column in local papers and having some thoughts about my personal memories of my experiences fifty years ago at the start of my nursing career at the County those 'thoughts for the day' had indeed a poignant meaning, particularly when I read the reports some weeks ago that in a matter of two years the services of the local General Hospital would be less and less.
Better services for the South-West Project has now become a reality in the building. This is the government plans for looking forward, pushing forward.
But let's reminisce about the hospital when I began student nurse training in 1957. The pre-nursing course at the local Technical School as it was then known gave an opportunity for acceptance to training at the Tyrone County, although there was an entrance test and interview by a matron.
At that time there was one female and one male medical ward, male and female ear, nose and throat. Those wards also had beds for fractures and road traffic accidents. Childrens ear, nose and throat was accommodated in another ward, all those on first floor.
The Junior doctors used a sitting room on the same floor, as was pharmacy and main kitchen and laundry facilities.
The second floor had three wards: male and female surgery, the theatre and a ward with private rooms for private patients. Top floor had maternity ward and another ward for gynaecology. The sewing room and junior doctors sleeping departments were also on this floor.
In the sewing room the seamstress measured up for uniforms, which on reflection looked neat but not too practical. The uniform dress was grey with a detactable heavily starched collar, cuffs and finished up with waist hugging stiff belt. The morning that you over-slept, the time spent on studs and fasteners would be a further hold back. The cap was starched stiff too and on completion of the three years study and exams it was a proud morning when you donned the 'fall' which indicated you had passed 'The Finals'.
The matron and deputy matron and ward sisters were policy makers, etiquette monitors and very important leaders at the hospital and kept the doctors' accommodation welfare in their role of duty too. The matron or her deputy did rounds most mornings and by that time it was necessary to have the bed very, very tidy and the bottom of the beds in a straight line as you looked down the ward.
Lectures would continue in the classroom and the theory learned applied to the practical nursing and hygiene standard on the wards. If the bed-bathing trolly did not meet classroom standards there was a good chance that this could be discussed at the afternoon tea break in the Nurses Home where sisters and tutor met.
Hospital etiquette was also included inthe training programme. One thing comes to mind that junior staff always held the doors open for those more senior and the same thinking applied at the dining room. Sisters sat together, senior staff nurses and senior students and so on. It was not good etiquette to break these rules. Students and many nurses were accommodated in the Nurses Home and the Home warden took responsibility for locking up at night. Sometimes there could be raised eyebrows if someone was out after 11pm without a pass which could be granted at times. In the event of being out past the 11pm time, the night sister would clock in the offender and that could be a source of discussion the next day too and indeed in some incidences may warrant a visit to matron's office.
I feel we didn't pay for meals in the canteen but perhaps an allowance was deducted from monthly salary. The wages at the end of the month gave an opportunity for some style, duty shoes could be worn out before new ones would be thought about, but matron would subsidise the cost of shoes.
The monthly salary would come in useful if the hens at home had gone off laying. But the wee ones at home would be sure to get a prize of some sort on the next visit home. The worn out duty shoes would be bought later.
No one seemed to be left waiting for a bed those times. It was often necessary to warrant the porter to bring a camp bed which would be erected in the middle of the floor if the admissions overflowed.
The ward sister had multi task decisions to make. There was limited input from the multi disciplines which we now know. The sister was the team leader and the domestic staff were responsible for hygiene standards in the ward and lectures for nurses included cross-infection, contamination and disinfection measures. Infection control was often audited by the senior doctor when he did his 'doomsday' round weekly.
The catchment area serviced by the County at that time brought patients from all around.
The out-patients clinics included a slot for TB clinic, where families would come for treatment and evaluation of the Drug Therapy which proved effective at that time. It was so rewarding to know that people were being discharged after successful relief of the effects of diseases.
Night duty on such wards was quite challenging and often met with outcomes that young staff were psychologically not ready for, but it was gratifying to know that a chaplain would always soon be at hand.
On a particular night one of my colleagues on a ward witnessed a knee-high sized woman standing at the ward table as she entered in the middle of the night and then the vision disappeared. I understand the local priest came the next day and I never heard about the unnatural happening again, but my friend was distressed that night and there was no availability of hallucinatory drugs then.
Budgeting was not a usual topic then but there was very good training in the use of economy, good housekeeping and care of ward stock.
Visiting hours were quite rigid with exceptions if anyone was seriously ill. It was usually the junior nurse who collected the visiting cards, one person to one card.
Theatre staff could be called in during the night and the junior nurse on night duty could be sent to make up the number necessary. This was a nerve wrecking experience and not one that I got accustomed to.
Prizegiving day was a big occasion. The mums who came from the bigger towns to the event might wear a fur coat while the more rural families would be more moderately dressed. The occasion of getting a State Registered Nurse Certificate from a Nursing Dignitary from the Royal College of Nursing was a good feeling and our parents would be proud to. On that thought I can echo the words written to me by my late father, "May God bless your hands each day as you work to serve the poor and rich" and I am sure such words helped many times as I continued my career in other health settings and was still a benefactor of the services at the hospital where I started off.
With the advances of surgical and medical interventions, people are kept in hospital for shorter periods now, but let us not lose sight of the current needs of society: the effects of ageism, the drug abuse culture, the need for continued health promotion and education schemes. When upheavals shake you and bring a sudden change, do not be afraid of what is new and strange.
