OSCE Angels

Bringing back the blog quietly, just to see how it goes. All kinds of fun has been happening over the last few weeks, shame you missed it. There’s no going back now.

One of the rights of passage for student nurses is the OSCE (objective structured clinical examination). It’s kind of an assessed role play. Theatre for the terrified. So today, in the presence of an eminent scholar, I had a conversation with and then injected a plastic bum.

Beforehand, my nerves had been getting the better of me and it might have gone badly were it not for some people I met while waiting for the lift. Firstly, there was the man in the waistcoat. I know him a little and it’s always nice to see him but this was extra special because he was wearing a tweed waistcoat over his floral shirt. Appearances aren’t everything for sure. In fact they mostly aren’t anything, but this man is not usually a waistcoat wearer and this slightly dressy look suited him. He hung around long enough to be embarrassed when I told him so, and then took the stairs. I’m not saying my compliment and his walking up three floors are connected in any way but…………

I called the lift again and when I turned back it was to a small child in a pushchair. This is an unusual occurrence in a university building. Why was here there? What was he studying or was he a visiting lecturer? He giggled and showed me his teether. It was a beautiful moment.  The child was accompanied by two people shy but very happy people who I met this time last year when their son was newborn. They had stopped especially to say hello to me and it was meaningful given their awkwardness around people. They could just have walked on. I was glad to be meeting them in much happier circumstances than before. It was the best of social encounters.

The angels by the lift had settled my nerves just enough (we’ll overlook the needle stuck on the syringe and my inability to calculate the date two weeks from today etc). I passed, and since it was the last OSCE, qualifying feels closer. After Christmas there will be people who might need an injection. Bottoms of flesh. There may also be angels.