The Making of a Nurse: Pre-Training School(PTS)...#TheAccidentalNurse
Hey, welcome back to The Wandering Nurse and to the 4th part in ‘The Accidental Nurse’ series. So far i have gone from helping out at my aunts chemist, to starting out a three year Enrolled Nursing Course(ECN) at Homabay MTC having left my sick mother behind and on the verge of a new beginning, a new chapter in my life.
With registration done, and the first day done and dusted, it was time for the business of learning to begin.
After a good night's sleep, as good as it can get in new surroundings and a strange mattress, a cold shower and some breakfast, I was ready for our official orientation day. We were to meet up in the lecture hall where each faculty leaders, our allocated subject lecturers and key student members would introduce themselves and also it would be when we would read up and sign up on the Colleges rules and regulations as well as have the first glimpse of our timetable, subjects to be studied and generally get to know this place that will be our home away from home for the next three years.
The rules and regulations document was a long one and included, no unauthorised sleepovers, no loud noises as there was those on different shift patterns for example, curfew/gate closed at ten pm unless one can show they are on placement, no absconding but what caught everyone's eye was rule 28 which stated that ‘students were not allowed to fall in love’! How they were going to police this feeling called ‘love' was a new one to us, given that this was a mixed college, a step into adulthood and work and also looked like a challenge and caused lots of sniggering noises within the hall. It got better, if you can call it that! There was a head girl and a head boy who were there to enforce all rules. It was like high school boarding school all over again.
Even Though we had been accepted into the programme and the rules clearly stated that absconding was not allowed, and anyone who was deemed guilty of assisting another student to abscond or was aware of one's intention to abscond but had not informed the authorities, was to be punished by expulsion.
We were informed not to get too comfortable as we really were not in the programme, as that was dependent on us passing our first three months of classes,exams and assessments which all had a passmark of 80% and above. There was no re-sitting or re-marking of exams or assignments and if you could not get anything above the pass mark then training as a secretary was better, (as we were told), because that meant you didn't have the brains to be a nurse.
The first three months, known as PTS( pre-training school), was a chance, (we were told), to weed out those of us who were not cut out for a career in nursing and would not make it to the nursing school programme which consisted of class time known as Blocks and placements, culminating in a final national exam, graduation and posting to a work area. Some of the subjects included anatomy and physiology, midwifery, pharmacology, microbiology, public health just to name a few and placement covered medical and surgical wards both male and female, paediatrics, maternity, theatres, maternal child health, infectious diseases just to name a few. Some placements like mental health and health centre management were outsourced to other centres.
At the end of the session, we were taken around the hospital to various departments to introduce us to the staff. We were divided into groups and assigned a higher year student to take us round. As part of a weird initiation rite( which we later learnt was done to all freshers) or just an attempt to scare us off, our first stop was the morgue and specifically to the unclaimed bodies section, some which were in different states of decomposition which was a frightening sight to behold. We were told that it was considered unprofessional and disrespectful to gag, wretch, spit or vomit. All which were very hard not to, as the bodies were not in any refrigeration due to lack of space, so the stench and seeing the bodies as they were was overwhelming to say the least. To say that I was scared shitless would be an understatement.
We were then taken round to the different wards and departments and our last one was the maternity unit, more specifically the labour/ delivery ward, where we were to witness a live birth if lucky, as our guide put it. It felt weird and intrusive given that all the women were totally naked, some were screaming in pain and one was on the delivery couch being checked if she was ready to start pushing. We had to leave because the place was now crowded and the nurses needed space to carry out their work. Our guide told us that it was okay to leave as his reason for bringing us to the labour/delivery room was because our group had the male students and it was his way ( another initiation rite) of judging which of the male students would stay the course without absconding. According to him, the labour/delivery room in all its glory was normally the last straw for some male student nurses. We woke up the next day to the report of a male student having absconded during the night.
Our first day of class started with a stern interrogation by the form tutor as to who amongst us knew about the abscondment and had helped in any way. We were also reminded that absconding was against the rules and came with consequences and that helping in anyway was a cause for automatic expulsion. The class prefects were also appointed, one male and one female, who would help the head boy and head girl enforce college rules.Having been thoroughly chastised and warned, we were to start our lessons and our first lesson was Microbiology.
The microbiology tutor was interesting to say the least, a maverick of sorts with a larger than life persona and the old wise professor looks to go with it, who had no speech filter whatsoever. After asking us to get our books ready for the lesson, he proceeded to ask us about our relationship statuses. He asked which ones were married, in serious relationships or single and we all put up our hands according to which category he called out. It turned out that none of us were married, two or three were in serious relationships and the rest were single, which made sense as most of us were straight out of high school.
After he had established our relationship statuses, he launched into a passionate, scolding like lecture about why those of us who are single should consider starting serious relationships, possibly get married this early in our career journey because if we did not we would be doomed to a lonely life, void of any kind of meaningful relationship because a career in nursing was taxing and left no time for socialising or forming relationship bonds. This was all confusing and not what we had expected from one of the senior tutors especially given the fact that he was present when ‘rule 28’ was being stressed upon, not to mention the various other rules and regulations that would make the pursuant of a relationship let alone a serious one, almost impossible. The challenges kept on piling up, and I was very interested to see how it would all pan out for everyone given that the female students and staff way outnumbered the male ones and I, on the other hand, had sworn off marriage but had a tall, dark and handsome with an odd dress sense to sort out.
Relationship advice done with, the lesson began in earnest with the name ‘Girolamo Fracastoro’. A name , let alone a person none of us had heard of but we were told should be at the forefront of our knowledge as he was the father of Microbiology. It was a very engaging lesson and one that has stayed with me all these years and everytime i met a microbiologist on the wards or in a hospital, I would proudly talk about Girolamo, and half the time I would be met with blank stares, like i was crazy and everytime i had an inward smile.
The first day of classes flew by as we got into the various subjects and topics we would be covering that block. It was also a chance to properly meet our various tutors who would be teaching us and the horror of almost weekly assessments, in the form of exams. It was time to get acquainted with the library and book whatever books needed for the semester as I only had a limited number of the required textbooks that I had been lent by an acquaintance of my mother.
In between lessons we had breaks and breakfast, lunch and dinner were served in the communal dining hall and catered to those students who were on shift. There were also a couple of kiosks outside the main gate where one could buy snacks and essentials as needed, especially given that the main town centre shops involved a long trek.
Our last class was done by around 3pm, which meant we had a bit of time to explore, before dinner and sleep time. Myself and a group of girls from my class decided to go up to our rooms and rest for a while. My room was located on the first floor, on the right side of the staircase. I unlocked my door and entered my room and was surprised to find three male persons in white lab coats already in my room! Given that i had locked my door, i wondered how they had gotten in? Why they had a spare key? And given that it was against the rules for them to be on the female side of the campus, how they had slipped in unnoticed? I tried not to look terrified as I tried to establish what it was they were doing inside my room, all the while hoping that someone somewhere might come to my rescue should things go south. No amount of streetwiseness, would save me from three strapping men if it came to throwing punches, so i was going to have to talk my way out of the tricky situation that was facing me.
It turns out I was part of a group of new female students from our intake that had been chosen for what I now know was called ‘Emergency Landing’.
Emergency landing was a practice carried out by older male students, where a selected group of new female students, unbeknownst to them, were polled and targeted for ownership. Upto three male students would declare interest in one female and they would then let themselves into her room( emergency landing) and wait for her to get back where she would then be asked to choose which one of the three she would prefer to claim her as theirs.
So with my game face on, I introduced myself( like they didn't already know who i was) and asked who they were and how I could help them. They introduced themselves and told me why they were in my room and the choice I had to make. I can't remember the full conversation but I recall it ending with me not making a choice. I think I deferred the decision while making a mental note to switch rooms or share with one of the girls in my group. Time also helped speed the conversation along as it was against the rules for male students to be on the female students side of the campus/rooms let alone risk being found inside one of the rooms, so understandably, despite all their bravado, they didn't want to get caught shopping.
After pulling myself together, I went to find the other girls in my group. I caught up with them in the dining hall and explained what happened and it soon transpired that a few of us had received the ‘emergency landing’ treatment. One of the girls offered to share her room with me while I waited to move to another room and we also came up with a way to look out for each other. What we did not know at the time was that, it wasn't just the male students who were fishing for so called ‘fresh meat’, there was a long line of fishermen and one had to learn very quickly how not to get caught by their fishing rods or nets.
We got to meet other tutors and introduced to the subject matter they would each be covering that block during their lessons. None came close to the drama and flare of our first microbiology lesson, but that is not to say they were all dull. Anatomy, more specifically, the subject about bones ,was delivered by another strapping, tall, tutor, who informed us that he was actually not a tutor passe, but worked as an orthopaedic technician at the hospital and that made him the authority on bones. He was a friendly sort of chap who treated us more like colleagues than as students and seemed to have a genuine interest in our welfare. His style of teaching was lively and interactive and i enjoyed the lesson. Before he left, he informed us that he, and a few colleagues normally hold a sort of welcome dinner at a local hotel for new students and that we were welcome to attend on the Saturday evening. A group of us said yes and agreed to meet up on the Saturday evening. We got the directions to the hotel and thought nothing of it.
The rest of the week passed uneventfully with regards to any more ‘emergency landing’ incidents. Instead the focus was more on lessons, settling in and finding one’s tribe, so to speak. We settled into a routine of sorts, dictated by our class timetable and got to know the other students from the older year classes and our surroundings after classes in the evenings. It was interesting listening to tales about college and hospital life/placements from the other students, as well as how to avoid falling foul of the rules and regulations.
I soon found out that I needed more stuff than I had packed and brought with me from home, like a huge bucket to store water in due to the ongoing water shortages, a radio cassette player for the long uneventful/staying in evenings and a lot of snacks, given that dinner was served at 6pm. I also thought of my mum, and wondered how she was doing in hospital.There was no way i could call the ward to find out, so i decided that i would do a roundtrip the week after, on a sunday, to check in on her and update her on college life and how i was doing, as well as use the trip to pick up the much needed supplies.
The first week, as intense as it was, was just a taster and nothing could have prepared me for what was to come.
