One Pair of Feet

One Pair of Feet is a witty, warts and all look at nursing at an English hospital during World War II. It goes to show that technology might change, but some things in jobs are timeless.

Monica Dickens relays her experiences as a trainee nurse outside London and it’s equal parts hilarious, touching and sad. The other staff and hospital are all fictionalised, but they are still memorable. Wanting to do her bit for the war, she tosses up her options to be a Land Girl (messy), work in jobs involving uniforms (not flattering) or in other roles. Nursing sounds caring, and will utilise her skills at cooking too. She then writes to a hospital asking for a place and entertains the thought of what the matron will be like based on her name. show more Sadly, it’s not as warming and welcome as she expects and she’s thrown into the ward to start training. There are mistakes, great achievements, friends and foes – and in between it all are the patients. Monica also discusses the rules and regulations of the hospital and the hospital hierarchy, which she’s not overly fond of. But she does get paid while training, has a roof over her head and the opportunity to go to Air Force dances, so it’s not all bad.

This book did take me a little to get into as it’s quite conversational in tone at the start (good), but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere fast. Once Monica arrives at the hospital, the story is more focused and becomes a commentary on all things hospital, from the emphasis on cleaning (important, but the level beyond what’s needed to disinfect and keep furniture clean is odd to the modern reader) to the uniform (cuffs must be worn outside the ward, even if it’s a life threatening emergency). I found the leaps in medicine quite quaint at times. Attaching a patient to an intravenous fluid bag is routine these days (having a cannula put in is one of the first stops on most hospital admissions), but to Monica and her colleagues, it’s an Event. In contrast, administering patients morphine seems to have a lot less red tape – and it’s left to one nurse overnight for the whole hospital. The management of the ‘gastrics’ (presumably patients with gastric or duodenal ulcers) is practically prehistoric in the post-Warren/Marshall era. (They discovered that most ulcers were due to bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, rather than stress, diet or disposition). They need a special (read: bland) diet and are often operated on to cut out the ulcers. They seem to take up a lot of beds and time for treatment that sadly wasn’t very effective! Other attitudes and ideas are occasionally dated at times.

I was sad when this book was over, because I’d enjoyed getting the raw, unfiltered version of Monica’s nursing life. Her comments are wry, sometimes cynical and others remain relevant to hospital life today. It’s a witty, conversational read that is good fun.

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Amusing - and also an excellent deterrent for any uncommitted young ladies thinking of entering the nursing profession with less than total commitment.

I just finished One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. It's semi autobiographical of Ms. Dickens' time as a nurse in England during World War II. I loved this book and give it an A! I thought it was a little dated now, but still very good.

Úsměvný román o radostech a strastech ošetřovatelské služby v malé nemocnici v době prvních fašistických náletů na Anglii. Román má autobiografické rysy, autorka v něm s humorem zachycuje své působení v nemocnici, kde byla vystavena nejen velké námaze, vysílení, těžké práci, ale i náladám pacientů a svých představených.