St Anthonys School of Nursing - Acorn Yearbook (Oklahoma City, OK)

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A Mystery Story Characters : I-A senior student nurse. A surgeon-QAny resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely co-incidentalj Place: In any one of the eight operating rooms of South Surgery. Time: My first hectic weeks of surgery. The fplotj mystery: Wliat will the Doctor want next? A synopsis: Surgery! as I reluctantly pushed open the door that holds behind it the final phase of our education as nurses, the strangest sensation passed through me-I felt the emotions of fear, anxiety and happiness all at once. Ac last I was to be a surgery nurse. I had dreamed of this moment for years. My first assignment was the tonsil room, and I had always heard that helping with a tonsilectomy was so simple! My troubles began when I tried to assemble all the parts which make up a sluder. I tugged, twisted, pushed and worked myself up into a general state of turmoil but, at last, I got it together. The preliminary preparations were made and we were ready for action until the surgeon indignantly announced that the in- strument had been put together up side down. The pulling and twisting was resumed, this time to take it apart. Finally we were ready to start. My duty was to hold down the tongue, but try as I might the offending organ was always where it shouldn't have been. First I heard, Place the depressor on the back of the tongue and press downward. My sense of direction must have been all wrong for in a second came 'gPress downward! you're cutting off the patient's airwayf' Due to the surgeon's skillfulness a tonsil and not the tongue was extracted, and my next job was to suction the throat. First attempts were futile so the doctor patiently demonstrated to me all the nooks and crannies into which I was to reach, then he turned his head and with it the light, leaving me peering into an endless black pit. In another moment he groaned, you've got the uvula, it's the tonsil fossa I want cleaned out. Blinded with the pain of my ignorance I stumbled through the rest of the operation and rushed out, declaring I couldn't stand another day of it. But I survived several more days before the morning Sister announced, You may scrub for an appendectomy todayfl I had rehearsed every step of this operation, but in my fright I couldn't even tell Hchromic zl' from horsehair.n The surgeon reached out his hand toward me-the first thing I saw on the table was a pair of scissors so I slapped them into his palm. The scissors flew back to me immediately and with them, I-Iemostat ! When the appendix was safely in the specimen pan, came the words, 'gSponge count pleaseln I counted and re-counted, but one ten-sponge was missing. Frantically I searched all the tables and with my every movement I heard the Doctorls foot tap the floor and saw his brow raise and lower. Must everything happen to me? Finally the circulating nurse called out that the missing piece of gauze had been found in the clothes hamper. We proceeded. Suture,', came next-this I had carefully prepared beforehand, so in a split second I had it in the surgeon's reach. I want a round needle, not a cutting needle,'l instantly greeted my ears. Well, how was I to know? The patientls visceral structures certainly looked tough to me. Finally I emerged from the operating room. I was twice convinced this time Ild never spend another day in Surgery. And after a few weeks I saw that even I couldn't remain unlearned always in the arts of surgical technique. One morning I awakened to a realization that I liked preparing the sterile supplies, and anticipating the wants of those mighty surgeons, but my allotted time was nearly over. Everything that had seemed so difficult and complicated was in- teresting and much fun and I sincerely regretted the day I left Surgery. Still, to every new nurse, the mystery remains unsolved-what will the Doctor want next? f '43-

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J.,--k H , , -B-so.. ..,-.. -. ,W --.1.... ,.V,,-.- --4 - - W ..-v . . , b. .-.331 . - ..., -J. ,.' fjnqg-,rqw-y -i-.-r-V--f.-gf'-:fr ry St Anthony We are just entering a new phase in our lives, we are going to become nurses We have been accepted by the St Anthony School of Nursing and the day has come flesh, new unifoims, our personal belongings and little odds and ends to put in our rooms, which we are all anxious to see as this IS to be our home for the next three years for us to' take up our residence at the Nurses' Home. We come bringing .with us our U None of us will evei forget the thrill of being greeted by the crisp, fresh, clean- looking little nurse who met us and called Sister Monica for us. Sister came and took us ffamilies and all because they, too, were anxious to see our roomsj on the elevator to where we were to live. The rooms had accommodations for three and we met the girls who were to be our room-mates, sent our families home, and then and there we started unpacking, dividing closets and dresser drawers, selecting our beds, and planning how we would arrange the room-all the time impatiently waiting for the time to come when we might put on our uniforms and see the hospital we were to work in, the home we were to live in, and the rooms in which we were to study. The Nurses' Home we found to be a very beautiful place, and the longer you are here the more you love it. It is a large 'home and at present has been made to accommodate a hundred and twenty-five girls. As you enter, on each side of the door is a small re- ception room where the girls receive company. The vestibule opens into the large living room of the Nurses' Home. This is a palatial room, with a cozy fireplace surmounted by a beautiful mantle on which stands the statue of the Sacred Heart. The room is furnished with upholstered chairs and divans, a beautiful babyigrand piano, a radio and victrola, magazines, daily papers and everything that makes one feel at home. Adjoining, and con- nected with, the living room by French doors is the library containing a wonderful selection of books of general interest and information. Needless to say the shelves of fiction and poetry are well 'patronized and most popular. At the end of the hall is a lovely little shrine of Our Lady which we take pride in beautifying with fresh flowers. Next to the stairway is Sister's office, a very popular place as it is here that we bring all our problems, receivei our mail, get our all-night leaves, take our reproofs and corrections which we all need occasionally-in fact, it is to us while here what a mother's room is to you at home. Then on down the hall we come to Mrs. Goodwin's room, another haven of refuge in many perplexities and troubles, then to the nurses' rooms, these are the ones you live in as a senior. Also, on the first floor is a large sun porch containing six beds. It has received the popular name of the wardl' and, because of its size, makes a very good place for little parties, bull sessions, and such, that any group of girls must have nowvand then. Now we will take you to second floor which consists entirely of nurses' rooms, it is here we lived as freshmen and juniors. The fun we had there is something to be remembered a lifetime. The south wing of third floor is usually where most of the freshmen reside. The north wing is a large and beautiful auditorium which is the scene of all our school parties, our, plays, our graduation and capping exercises, the picture shows that Sister Pancratia arranges for us, and where many outsideuclubs and sororities have benefit parties and book reviews-in fact, as you can see, it is quite a recreation center. However, we cannot slight the attic, which you reach by climbing some small steps, where we have a ping pong table, a victrola, room for dancing, and sometimes when we are feeling especially ambitious a game of basketball. ' They say you always leave the best until last so now let's go down to the base- ment. This is really a wonderful place as there is a kitchen where we can cook anythingf we happen to want, and you know how food appeals to everyone-especially student nurses. We come to the beautiful white-tile swimming pool, which is quite the place during the good ole summer time. The basement not only contains places for recreation, but, also, a very necessary part of every school, the classrooms. You see, we don,t play all our time off duty-in fact, we spend a good one-fourth of our time in the class rooms, admitting, although our heads nod now and then, that we do absorb a little knowledge. To let you see how we spend our time we will tell you a little about the classes we take. As freshmen one of our first courses is the one taught by Sister Pancratia on. practical bedside nursing. This is where we learn to make beds and bathe patients, using life-size models on which to practice, and I think we all enjoyed every moment of this class which lasts two .hours for the first three months. Along with this we took anatomy, the class which I think more than any other we all worried over, but we lived through it, all the better for having done so. Then came our classes in ethics, nursing history, mental hygiene, dietetics, chemistry, drugs and solutions, bacteriology, bandaging, case-study,