Florence Nightingale was not well enough to attend the official opening of the Hospital on 2 1 st June 187 I . Queen Victoria paid a tribute to 'the lady whose name will always be associated with the care of the wounded and the sick'

150 AORN Journal

AORN'S symposium was luvely, m'dear

Taking a page from the book of counter- parts in the British Isles was the purpose of the 180 registrants for AORN's Third in- ternational Symposium, this one to the British Isles September 28 to October 8. The facing page was taken from the hospital brochure of St Thomas Hospital, London.

Symposium participants brought home many other "pages" of information, ex- changes, and good times from their trip.

The first group of memories came from the flight to the symposium. It was a good feeling to be on our way. Flight delays were quickly forgotten as members settled down to relax with refreshments, food, books and sleep. After an all night flight, members landed at Prestwick airport to find sight-seeing buses and guides eager to get them to the hotels in Edinburgh, a two hour ride away.

Desperate attempts were made to keep eyes open and to soak in the beauty of the countryside, especially the impressive flower gardens by every house in the rural villages we passed. Despite the very pleas- ant and extremely informative running

commentary offered by the guides, and in spite of the exquisite landscape rushing by outside the windows, heads nodded and sleep reigned in a frantic attempt to over- come jet lag.

In Edinburgh, the hotels imported a very ddinite feeling of the flavor of the coun- try. Most'impressive was the view of Edin- burgh Castle close by, which really looked more like a stage backdrop than a reality. The first evening was a social one with all registrants having the opportunity to get to know each other during the welcome cock- tail party.

The educational portien of the trip got off to a goad start Saturday morning when the group had the pleasure af listening to Mr William McQuillan, consultant in the administration of the operating theatres at Princess Margaret Rose Orthopedic Hos- pital, as well as the accident unit at the Royal Infirmary. We erred several times in addressing him as doctor, quite forgetting that in the British Isles a surgeon i s quite properly called mister.

January 1973 151

152

Left photo: Caroline Rogers, AORN's Director of Membership, with Wi l l iam McQuillan, a symposium speaker

Middle photo: Miss Bernard, Senior Nursing Off icer a t Princess Margaret Rose Orthopedic Hospital in Edinburgh i s a gracious hostess as she tours the AORN group. Theatre sisters also helped to make the visit and the tea a rewarding experience.

Bottom photo: a composite picture of Trafalgar Square

AORN Journal

Mr McQuillan's presentation was excel- lent and was delivered in such a charming fashion that we all wished we could bring him home with us.

We learned from him the few basic dif- ferences and the many parallels between OR nursing as we know it and as it is prac- ticed by our counterparts, the theatre nurses.

The second speaker scheduled had to cancel, so participants devoted the balance of their time to an open discussion. OR nurses representing 37 states, Canada and Greece compared techniques, policies and procedures relevant to OR nursing during the productive session.

OR nurses came face to face with Haggis for the first time at their first typically Scot- tish meal. The national dish, the ingredients of which will not be explored here, i s served with Scotch, the very smoothest of liquids.

Following the meal, the ever present sight seeing buses carried the group around the city for a tour and a history lesson. Early the next morning, we boarded the buses for an all day ride to the Scottish high- lands. Our destination was a delightful inn high up in the hills and quite close to Loch Lommond. After a brief stop at the shore of the loch, we rode higher and higher until suddenly, as far as the eye could see, the ground was covered with heather and fern. We scrambled out of the buses to scatter over the terrain and pick the heather.

After a leisurely lunch at the inn and a stroll through the gardens, three of the four buses left to return to Edinburgh, The fourth bus had encountered a problem-no gas. The tremendous ingenuity of OR nurses throughout the world came to the fore during the two hour delay. The stranded registrants reported that despite their initial worry, they felt that much good came from an unpleasant situation in that

it afforded the small group the opportunity to exchange ideas, to seek out solutions to some problems they were experiencing at their hospitals. They turned the waiting pe- riod into an impromptu group discussion session.

That evening, with all safely back in Edinburgh, the registrants were feted at a traditional Scottish banquet, complete with bagpipes, Scottish dancers, a toast to the Haggis, and best of all, a wonderful spirit of camaraderie.

The group scattered like pheasants dur- ing the Scottish hunting season the next morning to shop. Shortly before 1:30 pm, the revolving doors of the hotels fairly flew as registrants rushed to their rooms with purchases, only to return downstairs to board the buses for a trip to Glasgow, the scene of the second seminar of the trip. BEA Air Ambulance Service presented the seminar. With unequalled hospitality and generosity, they featured the pilots and nurses involved in the service and provided high tea, which consists of hat and cold hors d'oeuvres, sandwiches, cakes and bis- cuits, Scotch and Sherry and coffee and tea.

The BEA Air Ambulance Service differs from the emergency or rescue type of air service we have here in that it i s govern- ment sponsored and serves as a part of a plan to provide better health care for peo- ple living in the Hebrides and other out- lying areas. Patients can be flown to hoJ- pitals in Glasgow or Edinburgh in just a few hours, as compared to a possible 18 to 24 hour trip by other means of trans- portation.

Nurses volunteer their services on an "on call" system, serving by government reg- ulation only during time free from regular hospital duties.

Slides pictured the landing strips used, the craft and its equipment.

The pilot told us of several interesting trips and the nurse explained the training

Januarg 1973 153

Miss Hilda Fletcher, Chairman of National Association of Theatre Nurses extends greetings to AORN symposium. Caroline Rogers, RN, Director of Membership; and Rosemarie McWilliams, RN, Assistant Director of Education; listen.

Below: registrants a t the London symposium

154 AORN Journal

they receive and demonstrated much of the equipment used. Another nurse, from South- ern General Hospital, Glasgow, where the majority of the patients are taken, ex- plained the procedure for admission and surgical scheduling that i s an integral part of the operation.

The last morning in Edinburgh turned into another unrestrained shopping spree. The highlight of the educational aspect of the trip in Scotland was the series of visits to hospitals in the afternoon. The Royal In- firmary was a most gracious host. The group there was divided into smaller sec- tions with a theatre nurse guiding her group to various parts of the hospital. The opportunity to view their surgical facilities and to ask questions about equipment and techniques was most appreciated by the registrants. The balance of the group went to Princess Margaret Rose Orthopedic Hos- pital, where they were just as graciously received.

In the evening, registrants boarded a special AORN sleeper train for London. A mild understatement would be that, for most, this ride on a European train was an experience. From all reports, not too much sleep was to be had. The reasons varied from the unaccustomed motion, the noise, the excitement, and in some cases, a too vivid recollection of the late, late movie "Orient Express." Sleep just couldn't come while you waited apprehensively for a man in a black trench coat and umbrella to break into your compartment seeking es- cape from some unknown espionage agent.

Somehow, sleep came. We awakened to tea, coffee and biscuits served in our com- partments, but the train already had ar- rived at King's Cross Station, London, so we dressed hurriedly and emerged into the hustle and bustle of the London streets.

The ritual of boarding the sightseeing buses completed, off we went to Maison Lyons at Marble Arch for a full English breakfast.

In keeping with our motto of "never a dull moment," we again boarded the buses and started out on a tour of the city. Here, right before our eyes in full living color, were all those places we'd read and heard about: Buckingham Palace, St James Palace, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Nelson Square, Soho, Westminster Abbey, the Thames. The last and most impressive part of the tour was watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham. The culmination of this scintillating and exciting morning saw us having lunch in a typical English pub.

The free afternoon made it impassible to gather more than two people together. Everyone scattered like leaves in a wind- storm. Walking in Hyde Park, shopping, ob- taining tickets for an evening show, riding the double deck buses, trying to become knowledgeable about the currency ex- change, and perhaps a hundred other di- versified activities made the hours fly.

The next morning, we all eagerly visited the London Hospitals. Groups of 25 were deposited at each of eight hospitals. Al- though we could each visit only one, each hospital had a uniqueness and something of particular interest to offer. St Thomas Hospital of Florence Nightingale fame; St Bartholomew's, the oldest in England; Moor- fields Eye Hospital, world famous for oph- thalmological training; St George's; Guy's; University College Hospital; Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children; London Hospital; all received our groups with typ- ical English graciousness and hospitality. Each hospital provided a program for our nurses, and the theatre sisters went out of their way to show us their facilities and techniques and to answer our questions. I believe it would be fair to say that the theatre nurses, too, learned much from us as the dialogue exchange took place.

Still there was no time to rest, but really, who wanted to? The afternoon was sched- uled far another sightseeing tour of Lon-

January 1973 155

A group outside University College Hospital, London

don's West End, which included the Tower of London, where for just a brief moment we were within two feet of the most ex- travagant display of precious jewels any woman ever dreamed of. Fil led with de- light and awe, we returned to the hotel just in time to dress for dinner a t the Cafe Royal; then on we went to a performance of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." The mus- ical was extremely well done, and once again our day had ended with each of us filled to capacity with good times, excite- ment ond thrills.

Friday morning brought the last of the seminars. Professor Harold Ellis, of the sur- gery department at Westminster Medical School, held the audience spellbound with his wiity, prefectly charming narrations about royal surgery. Complete with slides, the presentation gave US a humorous in- sight into surgery as performed in years

gone by. Well known names of royalty were interwoven with names well known to us from medical history. Dr Celia Oakley presented a film on the surgical correction of tetralogy of fallot. Dr Oakley, co author of the film, i s a pediatric cardiologist at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School.

Another shopping spree occupied the afternoon for most. In the evening, we bused to the Gore Hotel for a typical Elizabethan dinner. The fun filled evening took us back in time several hundred years. For a few hours, we lived during the times of strolling minstrels, the lord of the manor, and sitting below the salt.

Our last full day in England promised to be one never to be forgotten as we rode to Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare country. The English countryside was beautiful and the excellent weather we had since our ar- rival in the British Isles continued. This was

156 AORN Journal

A wmbo/ic pidure of Professor Harold Ellis, Theatre sisters at Margaret Rose Qrthopedic Hor- pita1 bid AORN'ers goodbye.

our ninth day, and the rain and fog that all were prepared to endure had just not materialized. Sunshine every day had been our good fortune.

The excellent guides provided a running commentary on the two hour drive. Forgot- ten bits of history came back to mind as we accumulated a wealth of new knowl-

edge about the landscape, the architecture

and the people of the area. A brief stop

at Oxford University made visiting Trinity

Church and the homes of Shakespeare and

Anne Hathaway almost an anticlimax.

Sunday morning meant we all must

scurry to do those things we did not want

to miss before we left for home; listening

to the varied and weird offerings at Speak-

ds Corner at Marble Arch; walking

through Petticoat Lane to hear the Cockney

hawkers; watching the changing d the

porium. Surgery.

horse guard at Whitehall, were only a frac- tion of the items on the "must do" list.

The trip to the airport was filled with mixed emotions. Hating to leave, we were st i l l anxious to get home and get all those slides and movies and pictures developed so that we could relive the past ten days again and share our experiences with our families and friends.

A most apt description of the flight home would be that it was like New Year's Eve at 39,000 feet. Farewells were said while going through customs at JFK airport in N e w York.

A phrase that we h a r d constantly in the British Isles from just about everyone, was repeated and modified as we all went our way:

"Take Care, m'love"; see you next year

CI in Greece!

Carohe Rogers, RN

' Going abroad? Pack vatcinat ion certificates Yugoslavia had a smallpox epidemic, so now all travellers without a vaccination certificate are placed under health status serveillance for two weeks, according to a report in JAMA.

Americans visiting other European countries are advised to carry vaccination certificates to evoid possible !ravel restrictions.

January 1973 157