Ruth

When things can be a bit fraught at work, I often use a few choice nursing anecdotes to "lighten the mood" and to get people smiling just a little. Many of those stories centre around a somewhat larger than life character I used to work with, and that nurse is my friend Ruth.
Yesterday during break, the conversation got around to the subject of burnout. (I am not surprised given the busy week that the staff had undergone) and I told the story of when Ruth had a burnout meltdown right in the middle of a busy shift way back during our spinal injury days.
Now to understand the humour of the event you have to know Ruth. She was ( and is) a big hearted, warm Northern lass, with a somewhat acerbic wit , a consistent tongue firmly planted into her cheek and and a somewhat lugubrious set of facial expressions. Ruth was (and again still is) well loved by staff and patients alike, so her uncharacteristic reaction to a particularly busy and stressful time was such a shock to everyone involved!
The patient call bells had been ringing constantly all day as we had an unusually high number of bed rest patients which meant lots of stressed relatives and a higher than normal dependency level..........from my office I could hear the constant beep, beep of the nurse call buzzers all afternoon and after the briefest of breaks they started up their constant callings yet again.
Ruth reacted in a way that we have all wanted to,but thankful never have...she stood up at the nurses station and yelled LOUDLY throughout the ward

"WHO THE FUCK IS BUZZING NOW?????!!!!!!!"

The shock and surprise exhibited by the ward population (staff and patients alike) in retrospect was hilarious (suddenly everyone went a deathly silent).......it was one of the those surreal moments that still makes my sides ache with giggles....of course at the time, our concern for Ruth and the limits she had been pushed beyond was all that worried us., but because her tirade was so atypical....the hysteria that it caused amongst the staff, was almost palpable!

I managed to remove Ruth to my office, (after a whole series of "FUCKING BUZZERS!!!! WHO IS FUCKING BUZZING!...and "BASTARD BUZZERS"etc and the whole situation calmed down somewhat. Ruth had a break from work , and after coming back to work for a while on another less stressful ward she decided to leave to become ,of all things, a prison nurse!!!!

I remember meeting up with Ruth soon after she started work at the prison.
As humorous and as self depreciating as she had always been she told me that on her first week she had been instructed by the old lag staff to search a prisoner for drugs and contraband. Fearful that she would let herself down by being a little shy and retiring, Ruth jumped into the role with some gusto and gave the prisoner a good "checking over" as it were.
Suddenly she found something hidden in this chap's pocket and grabbing the object in a vice like grip.....she shouted to the officer that was supervising her that she had found something hidden!
The more she pulled at this hidden bounty, the more agitated the prisoner became
"what's in your pocket!!" she shouted " what's in there!!!!!!!!...let me have it!!!!!!!!"
"what is it!!!!????" she yelled
"My erection" the prisoner replied with a smile........

it only could happen to Ruth......
Thanks girl.....those stories helped diffuse many a stressful time at work
xx


Above Ruth and her family, on their visit here three years ago