I have decided that now and again, it is good to shake things up a little and do things that are out of your comfort zone. It can be refreshing, as well as enlightening. Not that I originally had any choice in the matter when I had to do something totally out of my comfort zone today….

I always get to work half an hour early, and today when I walked in, I was told that my name was down to work on the ‘Winter Pressure Ward’. Oh, great, that’s going to be a treat. Off I trotted, only to walk in halfway through handover as they actually start at 7am and I got there at 7.10am. This put me on edge straight away I knew no-one else that was there, plus they were all looking at my sullen face as I dumped my coat and bag down and grabbed a handover sheet.

This ward is usually used for other things but due to the sheer numbers of patients coming into hospital during the winter, plus the pressure on hospitals to meet performance targets, for waiting times in Accident and Emergency, patients are sent here. There are 24 patients in total,  of all ages, and all sorts of ailments.

It was a bit of a shaky start due to the fact that I didn’t know where any of the equipment was that I needed. i had to go backwards and forward a few times until I had everything, but it didn’t take that long.

I lost the sullen face, as I was there to work and look after the patients, so that is what I did. Some of the patients might have given me a bit of an odd look, when I asked them if they needed help with washing or feeding (I am so used to my elderly patients who mostly need help with everything) but other than that, things went pretty well really.

Today was a good lesson for me; not to be scared of the unknown. Have more confidence in myself that I can adapt to a different way of doing things, and despite my shyness, work with different people. It was a great day.