Nursing in the 70s Part 5 - PTS & Uniforms

September seemed to arrive quickly and I remember sitting in a chilly portacabin classroom at Princess Alice Hospital with my colleagues to be. 25 fresh faces - some fresher than others.

We were all dressed in our uniforms despite the fact we would not lay hands on a patient for at least another 6 weeks. The thinking behind this was that we needed to get used to wearing them. The girls wore hats, blue dresses & white aprons. The boys (there were 3 of us) the infamous 'dental coat' & trousers.
Male nurses always were difficult to dress. If you gave them a white coat they could hide their nurse name badge, put a stethoscope around their necks & pretend to be doctors. This was useful when trying to impress the ladies. The answer to this problem was the 'dentist' uniform. This consisted of a short white 'top' with an array of buttons or studs which ran up the side from the waist to just below the L ear lobe. The coat had a breast pocket which also displayed your rank in the form of a sewn flash. (White 1st year Red 2nd Year Blue 3rd Year etc). It also had a sort of kangaroo pouch at the front to complete the display. How could this be made more ridiculous? Add some white see through trousers of course.

These were usually either too small or too large but by the time they had been washed a few times ones 'nether' regions were available to view by all.

Welcome to the world of PTS (Preliminary Training School). Our tutor was Miss Maltby - an ex army nurse who had that world weary look of someone could not be surprised by anything, perfect for dealing with a bunch like us. We were a real mixture of ages and experiences. The heart of the group I guess were the four Irish girls who would provide so much energy, fun and headaches throughout the coming weeks.

PTS was effectively an 8 week study block which tried to cram just about everything we needed to know to at least sound like nurses at the end of it.

The 8 weeks were full and demanding with classroom tutorials of basic anatomy & physiology, disease management and treatments, plus mind boggling program of visits to departments and visits by clinical experts in countless areas of care. The final two weeks would include placements to the wards where we would start our clinical experience with real patients.

For me personally this would be a significant moment for many reasons.

Part 6