Hurry Up Nurse by Dawn Brookes

Memoirs of nurse training in the 1970'

Blurb: “Hurry up Nurse is a nurse memoir that follows the ups and downs of a trainee nurse in the 1970's. Written with humour and candour, it follows the experiences of the author as she and her friends come to terms with the non-stop hustle and bustle of hospital life. This book treats the reader to a peep behind the scenes as we enter the hospital wards. The author shares the discipline, laughter and inevitable sadness as she learns to cope with the strains of shift work.

'The Sister called to me.
'Nurse Brookes, set up a trolley for a lumbar puncture.'
'I have never set up a trolley for a lumbar puncture Sister.'
'WELL LEARN!' She shouted and stormed of up the ward.”

As well as an insight into nurse training, hurry up nurse provides a glimpse into the social history of life in the 1970's and early 1980's. This heart warming book will make you laugh and make you cry. This book is a MUST read for anyone who loves nursing memoirs.”

Although this is a memoir, it is written in a conversational style that made it easy to read. I found the writing style of the author relaxing and to this the humor at times surely helped. We are presented with the life of a nurse in the 1970’s. I applaud the author’s honestly saying that she didn't feel the call when she first enrolled in the training for becoming a nurse but she surely find it later. I also applaud her integrity that she seemed to have kept over the years. It takes hard work, tough nerves, good physical condition, a great empathy and much more to make a great nurse. Surely doctors have their big role in curing a person and saving their lives, but nurses’ role should not go ignored. I would compare it with the neck and the head expression. During my high school years, I had a wish to continue my studies either as a nurse or further on as a doctor but life circumstances played their role. Maybe this was an additional reason why I have enjoyed reading this memoir, as I was offered to a detailed insight of how my life may have been, should I have chosen that path and I can say that I wouldn't have regretted. Interesting read that will most probably make me go for the sequel too.

Type of reader: Fans of memoirs but also for those wishing to have an insight into the life of a nurse and what was like to work in a hospital in the 1970s.

Quotes from this book:

“I want to know why you were shouting at me.’ ‘Oh.’ Finally the penny dropped. It had been the first time she had ever used a telephone, and as she was fourteen miles away, she had thought she needed to make up the distance and had shouted at the top of her voice to Matron, who had been almost deafened on the other end of the phone. We were in stitches at this story, imagining the scene and imagining poor Matron with the phone in her hand. She explained this to Matron who saw the funny side of it, reprimanded her and let her go; I expect she chuckled afterwards.”

“‘Thanks,’ she said as she drifted off, and that was a reminder of what the job was all about; helping people at their most vulnerable times when all the guards are down. What a privilege and an honour it was to be a nurse, I thought, and somehow I was re-invigorated.”

My rating: 4/5.

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