Knight on the Children's Ward. Carol Marinelli

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СКАЧАТЬ walking over to empty out her tray and head to work she felt as if her movements were being noted, but, though it was acutely awkward, somehow she liked the feeling he evoked. Liked the thrill in the pit of her stomach, the rush that came whenever their paths briefly crossed.

      As she sat in handover, listening to the list of patients and their ages and diagnoses, he popped his head around the door to check something with Caroline, the charge nurse, and Annika felt a dull blush on her neck as she heard his voice properly for the first time.

      Oh, she’d heard him laugh on occasion, and heard his low tones briefly as they’d passed in the corridor when he was talking with a colleague, but she’d never fully heard him speak.

      And as he spoke now, about an order for pethidine, Annika found out that toes did curl—quite literally!

      His voice was rich and low and without arrogance. He’d made Caroline laugh with something he said—only Annika couldn’t properly process it, because instead she was feeling her toes bunch up inside her sensible navy shoes.

      ‘Back to Luke Winters…’

      As the door closed so too did her mind on Ross, and she began concentrating carefully on the handover, because this rotation she had to do well.

      ‘He’s fifteen years old, Type 1 Diabetes, non-compliant…’

      Luke Winters, Annika learnt, was causing not just his family but the staff of the children’s ward a lot of problems.

      It was his third admission in twelve months. He was refusing to take his insulin at times, ignoring his diet, and he had again gone into DKA—a dangerous, toxic state that could kill. He had an ulcer on his leg that had been discovered on admission, though had probably been there for some time. It would take a long time to heal and might require a skin graft. His mother was frantic—Luke had come to the ward from ICU two days ago and was causing chaos. His room was a mess, and he had told the domestic this morning, none too politely, to get out.

      He was now demanding that his catheter be removed, and basically both the other patients and the staff wanted him taken to an adult ward, though Ross Wyatt was resisting.

      ‘“Teenagers, even teenagers who think they are adults, are still children.”’ Caroline rolled her eyes. ‘His words, not mine. Anyway, Luke’s mum is at work and not due in till this evening. Hopefully we can have some order by then. Okay…’ She stared at the patient sheet and allocated the staff, pausing when she came to Annika. ‘I might put you in cots with Amanda…’ She hesitated. ‘But you haven’t been in cots yet, have you, Cassie?’

      When Cassie shook her head and Caroline changed her allocation Annika felt a flood of relief—she had never so much as held a baby, and the thought of looking after a sick one petrified her.

      ‘Annika, perhaps you could have beds eight to sixteen instead—though given it’s your first day don’t worry about room fifteen.’

      ‘Luke?’ Annika checked, and Caroline nodded.

      ‘I don’t want to scare you off on your first day.’

      ‘He won’t scare me,’ Annika said. Moody teenagers she could deal with; it was babies and toddlers that scared her.

      ‘His room needs to be sorted.’

      ‘It will be.’

      ‘Okay!’ Caroline smiled. ‘If you’re sure? Good luck.’

      Lisa, who was in charge of Annika’s patients, showed her around the ward. It was, as Cassie had said, completely different. Brightly painted, with a detailed mural running the length of the corridor, and divided pretty much into three.

      There were cots for the littlest patients—two large rooms, each containing four cots. Then there were eight side rooms that would house a cot or a bed, depending on the patient’s age. Finally there were three large four-bedded rooms, filled with children of various ages.

      ‘Though we do try to keep ages similar,’ Lisa said, ‘sometimes it’s just not possible.’ She pointed out the crash trolley, the drug room, and two treatment rooms. ‘We try to bring the children down here for dressings and IV’s and things like that.’

      ‘So they don’t upset the other children?’ Annika checked.

      ‘That, and also, even if they are in a side room, it’s better they have anything unpleasant done away from their bed. Obviously if they’re infectious we can’t bring them down, but generally we try to do things away from the bedside.’

      Annika was offered a tabard to replace her navy one. She had a choice of aprons, all brightly coloured and emblazoned with cartoon characters, and though her first instinct was to politely decline, she remembered she was making an effort, so chose a red one, with fish and mermaids on it. She felt, as she slipped it over her head, utterly stupid.

      Annika started with the obs. Lunches were being cleared away, and the ward was being readied for afternoon rest-time.

      The children eyed her suspiciously—she was new and they knew it.

      ‘What’s that for?’A mother demanded angrily as her first patient burst into tears when Annika went to wrap a blood pressure cuff around her arm.

      Lisa moved quickly to stop her.

      ‘We don’t routinely do blood pressure,’ Lisa said, showing her the obs form. ‘Unless it’s stated on the chart.’

      ‘Okay.’

      ‘Just pulse, temp and respirations.’

      ‘Thank you.’

      The little girl wouldn’t stop crying. In fact she shrieked every time Annika tried to venture near, so Lisa quickly took her temperature as Annika did the rest of the obs. In the room, eight sets of eyes watched her every awkward move: four from the patients, four from their mothers.

      ‘Can I have a drink?’ a little boy asked.

      ‘Of course,’ Annika said, because that was easy. She checked his chart and saw that he was to be encouraged to take fluids. ‘Would you like juice or milk…?’

      ‘He’s lactose intolerant!’ his mother jumped in. ‘It says so above his bed.’

      ‘Always look at the whiteboard above the bed,’ Lisa said. ‘And it will say in his admission slip too, which is clipped to his folder.’

      ‘Of course.’ Annika fled to the kitchen, where Cassie was warming a bottle.

      ‘Told you!’ Cassie grinned when Annika told her all that had happened. ‘It’s like landing on Mars!’

      But she wasn’t remotely nervous about a sullen Luke. She knew he had no relatives with him, and was glad to escape the suspicious eyes of parents. It was only when she went into the side ward and realised that Ross was in there, talking, that she felt flustered.

      ‘I can come back.’

      ‘No.’ He smiled. ‘We’re just having a chat, and Luke needs his obs done.’

      ‘I СКАЧАТЬ