When I did my nurse training, we had an exam at the end of each year, to qualify us to move into the next year. The second year was a white belt and the third year was blue belt and white cuffs. I managed to fail my second year exams, but as my next placement was to be the operating theatres, it didn't matter too much to me, because no-one would notice that I was still in second year uniform.
I spent 8 weeks in the Queen Mary's operating theatre, which was great fun and I learnt so much anatomy. However I have a lot of allergies and I was allergic to the J-cloth hats, the paper masks and the gloves (all gloves were latex in those days). After a couple of weeks, the rash on my face was so bad and my eyes were so swollen that I couldn't see, so I had to go off sick.
The other big event that happened in theatres was a flood. Queen Mary's had a stream nearby and one day we had just started operating on a 4 year old's tonsils and all this muddy water appeared under our feet. It rapidly rose to the tops of the surgeon's boots! We finished the operation and then had to close theatres to clear the mess. We used the large portable suction machines to suck up all the muddy water until the fire brigade arrived. We then had to re-sterilise every instrument and put them away.
I passed my second year resit exam and I'll tell you about my next placement soon
