Eight

 

We're short in ED. The agency has no nurses left and we've just had to admit one as a patient, when her fever ran too high and she fainted." The harried-looking Helen bit her lip. "Please, if either of you can be spared from your ward for a few hours to fill in for the ED..." She looked desperately at me.

I exchanged a glance with Jill. We weren't busy, but if a patient presented, wanting a midwife, that could quickly change.

"Tell Dr Henderson he can call on us in an emergency if ED absolutely needs another staff member," Jill said finally.

Helen's face crumpled. "It's not Dr Henderson. He's home sick, too. The only doctor we have is that new intern..."

Jill's eyes widened. "Did you ask the other wards? Aren't there some nursing students in the general surgery ward?"

"We have nursing students, too. What we need is an experienced RN."

I owed Helen a favour for taking care of my car as I cared for Miranda. Perhaps this was an appropriate way to both thank and repay her. "I'll do it. I'll work the full shift in ED instead of here."

Jill opened her mouth to protest.

"If we get any deliveries, I'll be the first to know and I'll bring them back to the birthing suite," I promised.

Jill's mouth closed as she nodded once.

I marched back with Helen to the Emergency Department. I hadn't worked in one since my days as a student nurse, but even then I'd enjoyed the challenge of triage and the sheer variety of cases that came through. We got all sorts in ED.

A country ED was no different, though the lack of staffing made this one more chaotic than usual. I heard the screaming as I approached, quickening my step to a trot to reach my destination faster.

The screaming baby in the waiting room had a broken arm and he'd been waiting for too long, judging by his mother's panicked expression. The man with the bloodied broken nose was drunk and would pass out soon, negating the need for pain relief if he waited much longer.

The poor student nurse on the front desk had noticed neither of these as she was busy arguing with a woman whose young son was sneezing and sniffling as she screamed hysterically that he had meningococcal and he'd die unless they admitted him, though he had no fever.

Through the curtains of a cubicle, I saw Aidan tending to another patient, but he'd taken to running his hands through his hair until it stood out in crazy, escaping tufts. His wide eyes were starting to show panic, too, though his voice remained calm.

All in all, the ED was ready to explode.

I took charge.

The student nurse arranged the tests for the toddler with the paranoid mother. "Better safe than sorry," I told her with a grim smile.

I sent another student to man the desk and check that the drunk was okay to wait until the more urgent patients were seen to, while I ushered the mother and her broken-armed baby into the children's cubicle. "He climbed out of his high chair and I couldn't stop him. I only turned my back for a second – but he was strapped in!" she wailed.

I said soothing things as I tried to examine the baby's arm. This one I needed a doctor for. Aidan, time to demonstrate your skills, I thought.

As if I'd said his name aloud, the intern appeared at my side. The mother thrust her baby at him and he backed up as if the child was a live bomb.

"You should hold him," I told the woman instantly, taking her attention from the intern. "He'll be more comfortable in his mother's arms and the doctor will have both hands free to conduct a thorough examination..."

Aidan's change of expression from fearful to professional took barely a moment, so that I was the only one to see the change. "How did it happen?" Aidan asked easily as he examined the child, keeping his voice calmer than his panicked eyes until the panic faded.

The mother's voice gradually calmed to match his as she repeated her story. He nodded as he kept his eyes on the baby, whose noisy crying had quietened to dry sobs.

I heard something clatter to the floor off to my right. "Oh shit," a female voice said clearly. The clattering continued.

"If you'll excuse me, Doctor," I said smoothly to the intern, who turned startled eyes on me. "Just sing out if you need any further assistance, Doctor, but it looks like you have this well under control without any need for me." I forced a professional smile for him and his patients.

After a few moments, the intern responded with a grave nod. "Of course, Nurse." He carefully avoided meeting my eyes.

I turned away, before he could change his mind, and crossed to the reception desk. The startled nursing student stood transfixed behind the desk, staring at a ragged hole in the ceiling and the furry creature scrabbling at the edge of the hole to regain its spot in the ceiling cavity. The bushy tail waved around aimlessly as the creature's claws dug into the ceiling foam, bringing down another shower of plaster, insulation and other debris that clattered noisily to the vinyl.

The girl turned to me. "What's that song you're humming?"

I hadn't realised I'd been making any noise, but I stopped the moment she mentioned it.

"Go get Tony, the maintenance man. Tell him another possum's punched a new hole in the ceiling in the ED," I instructed. I paused. "Do you know where Tony's workshop is?"

She nodded vigorously, her ponytail bobbing, and trotted off down the corridor. I stepped up to her place at the desk. The possum managed to find a clawhold to lift itself into the ceiling without widening the hole further. I caught a glimpse of a tiny hand in her pouch as the mother possum retreated into the roof space. We were spared a possum patient today.

The drunk had slumped to sleep across the waiting room bench, his snores telling me that his broken nose wasn't impeding his breathing any.

Behind me, the other nursing student marched off to Pathology with the samples from the sniffling toddler.

For a moment, I breathed a sigh of relief. From chaos to calm, the Emergency Department was now under my control.