Health

A day in the life of a staff nurse

Illus. By Rob Davies

Today I got up at 7am and helped my children get ready for school. The eldest left at 8am to catch the bus to High School. At 8.45 I left the house with my younger daughter and dropped her in Abercraf school before going to work.

I arrived at Morriston Hospital where I work in the Post-anaesthetic Care Unit (or Recovery Room), at 9.30am. In an average day like today we do 30 -40 operations ranging from broken bones to brain surgery! Our patients can range from very young babies through to the elderly. Although my job can be very tiring and at times extremely stressful, I really enjoy it and have been there for 15 years.

At 5.30pm I arrived home at the same time as my children who had been at the after school club. I cooked a meal and after we had eaten I sat with the children whilst they did their homework. It was then time to catch up with the cleaning washing and ironing! Although the children went to bed at 9pm I didn't finish all my jobs until 10.45pm when my husband arrived home from work. I eventually got to bed at midnight - thank goodness tomorrow is my day off!



Diaries of a registered general nurse and a school nurse