Michael Alexander: Confessions of a Male Nurse

As for Rascal, he wouldn’t leave his best friend’s side, except when the family took him to get cleaned up and had him bathed, de-flead, de-wormed, and fed a proper meal.

People in Mr Blake’s situation are extremely common. They are not necessarily in need of a tablet or medical treatment, but when we take care of a patient, we look at the whole person, and try to provide complete (holistic) care.

Thankfully, we’re pretty lucky that the health systems in both New Zealand and the UK do so much more than provide a place to patch up a wound, or dole out medicine.

My latest adventure is not too far from London. I managed to convince a ski company in the Alps that they needed me as a nurse and ski instructor. After which, I moved on to a job as a school nurse at an elite boarding school in Switzerland, where I remain.

I never dreamt that one day I’d be a school nurse. In fact, I once looked down on school nurses as not being real nurses. But here I am wiping sniffly noses, giving out emergency contraceptives, and trying my best to help the children whose parents entrusted their kids to me.

Clinically, it’s not the most demanding of jobs, but ethically, it’s the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far.

I stay in the job because of my family. London is a great place to live when you’re young and have no commitments, but with a young family to support, this job provides all I need. The hours are good, the holidays better, the pay is adequate, and although this is not New Zealand, it’s still pretty darn nice.

Life might not have turned out how I expected, but I’m content, although I do feel that the kids of the rich and famous also have a few stories that need telling…

How do you thank the people who have made you who you are? Every nurse, doctor or patient that I can remember has left an impression on me that has affected my view of the world, of illness, of right and wrong. I guess one way in which I can say thank you is to keep on nursing, and keep on caring.

On a more pragmatic note, there are some people very close to me that I would like to thank. I do not have the words to express how grateful I am to my family, who have kept me going, and kept believing in me. A special thank-you also goes out to my brother whose idea it was to start writing.

Nothing would have been possible without the support and patience of my wife. She kept me sane and kept the kids busy.

I’d also like to thank certain people at the Royal College of Nurses who helped attract the attention of a prominent publisher, as well as certain people at New Zealand’s premier nursing magazine, Kai Tiaki .

There are countless more people to thank.

Thank you, everyone.

Benjamin Daniels is angry. He is frustrated, confused, baffled and, quite frequently, very funny. He is also a GP. These are his confessions.

To buy the eBook, click here.

The true story of an A&E doctor that became a huge word-of-mouth hit – now revised and updated.

Forget what you have seen on Casualty or Holby City, this is what it is really like to be working in A&E.

To buy the eBook, click here.

On any given day he can be attacked by strangers, sworn at by motorists, puked on, covered in blood and other much more unpleasant substances. He could help to deliver a baby in the morning and witness the last moments of a dying man in the afternoon. He deals with road accidents, knife attacks, domestic violence, drug overdoses, neglect and suffering.

And you think you’re having a bad day at work?

To buy the eBook, click here.

Around the world by ambulance.

Paramédico is a brilliant collection of adventures by Australian paramedic Benjamin Gilmour as he works and volunteers on ambulances around the world. From England to Mexico, and Iceland to Pakistan, Gilmour takes us on an extraordinary thrill-ride with his wild coworkers. Along the way he learns a few things, too, and shows us not only how precious life truly is, but how to passionately embrace it.

To buy the eBook, click here.

Books reach readers best through word of mouth, so if you liked this book, please tell the world!

Write a review or recommend it to a friend.

And if you do, let us know – on twitter ( @fridayproject), or on Facebook ( Facebook.com/fridayproject).

If you hated this book, please ignore all of the above.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER is the pseudonym of a nurse who has previously worked in the UK and New Zealand.

An imprint of HarperCollins

77-85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.thefridayproject.co.uk

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This edition published by The Friday Project in 2012

Text copyright © Michael Alexander

Michael Alexander asserts the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work.

ISBN: 978-0-00-746954-3

EPub Edition © June 2012 ISBN: 9780007467044

Epub Version 1

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.