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Please, Nurse!
Joan Lock began her formal training as a nurse at the age of 16. From the strict discipline and long hours to the unwanted attentions of flirtatious patients, this is her engaging account of 1950s nursing life.
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 7, 2013
4 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Joan Lock
31 books13 followersEx-policewoman JOAN LOCK is the author of non-fiction books and crime novels. She has been a regular contributor to the police press and the journal of the Crime Writers' Association. She has also written short stories, radio plays and radio documentaries. She lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 16, 2014
Enjoyable. They certainly did it different back then. This author tells a good tale, and I enjoyed her story.
The final chapter though was different, but I can understand why she did it. I also was as amazed as her matron when she took the action she did before her final exams. It was like "REALLY, after all you have done" good on her though for not letting the opportunity pass by and good on her for standing up to the grotty patients.
The final chapter though was different, but I can understand why she did it. I also was as amazed as her matron when she took the action she did before her final exams. It was like "REALLY, after all you have done" good on her though for not letting the opportunity pass by and good on her for standing up to the grotty patients.
December 7, 2013
Oh to be a student nurse in 1950's UK. Did my training about 40 years later, so I worked with people who were able to remember the same things that the author remembered. Some things made me smile, the lucozade and the detol. The hospital accommodation, other students and the patients. I still remember one man who died of cancer nearly 20 years ago and how upset I was.
October 2, 2017
Joan relates her experience as a nurse in training in the 50s, the good, the bad, and the ugly in a frank and matter-of-fact manner.
July 15, 2016
Just as I remember with each ward having its own reputation.
December 5, 2025
Being revered as an “angel of mercy” doesn’t compensate for low pay and inhumane working conditions.
This author never intended to be a nurse. Her mother was a long-time “fever nurse” (perhaps the equivalent of our LPN?) and she knew the low wages, long hours, and lack of respect that went with the job. She longed for a more exciting career where she could compete for success and recognition. But in the 1950’s girls who aspired to be anything but a nurse, a teacher, or a housewife were quickly put in their places. It was absurd to train for other jobs because no one would hire a “girl” except in the traditionally female careers. Sadly, this was all too often true.
If you’re old enough, you remember the cartoon “The Jetsons” about life in the 21st Century. We would all drive personal space ships. The robotic maid would clean the house and prepare the meals. Yeah.
What HAS changed dramatically is health care, including nursing. Once nurses trained at three-year schools attached to hospitals. They were subject to absurd discipline and used as low-paid slave labor. Today, nurses attend four-year colleges and receive BS degrees. The pay is much better and working conditions have improved.
Even so, the turnover rate in nursing is one of the highest in any field. Like teaching, there are innumerable frustrations that go with the job and come between a dedicated worker and the work he/she WANTS to be doing. Probably the worst is the piles of paperwork. Thus we turn workers in caring professions into “pencil pushers.” Some leave in frustration. Teachers and nurses are still not regarded with respect and compensated adequately.
Many readers will have trouble believing the conditions this young woman lived under and the responsibilities that were expected of her while she was still a student. The supervisors were harsh and unrealistic. They had been treated badly as students and when they moved into administrative positions, they took the opportunity to get even.
Not surprisingly, the author started looking around at other job possibilities while she was still in training. Most northerners viewed London as the Big, Bad City, but she liked the idea of living in a more sophisticated area. Training as a Metropolitan Policewoman would get her a ticket to London and she grabbed it. As other nurses predicted, she DID marry a police officer and is still married to him. She’s tried a number of jobs since then and now writes full-time.
I enjoyed reading about her experiences as a nurse trainee, but I’m saddened to remember all the young women who desperately wanted to help others as nurses, but were discouraged by the absurd, unnecessary hardships. We NEED people in teaching, nursing, etc who are dedicated and caring, not just clock watchers who choose those fields because they’re easier to get into than others. Every time we lose a dedicated professional in one of the caring professions, people suffer.
This author never intended to be a nurse. Her mother was a long-time “fever nurse” (perhaps the equivalent of our LPN?) and she knew the low wages, long hours, and lack of respect that went with the job. She longed for a more exciting career where she could compete for success and recognition. But in the 1950’s girls who aspired to be anything but a nurse, a teacher, or a housewife were quickly put in their places. It was absurd to train for other jobs because no one would hire a “girl” except in the traditionally female careers. Sadly, this was all too often true.
If you’re old enough, you remember the cartoon “The Jetsons” about life in the 21st Century. We would all drive personal space ships. The robotic maid would clean the house and prepare the meals. Yeah.
What HAS changed dramatically is health care, including nursing. Once nurses trained at three-year schools attached to hospitals. They were subject to absurd discipline and used as low-paid slave labor. Today, nurses attend four-year colleges and receive BS degrees. The pay is much better and working conditions have improved.
Even so, the turnover rate in nursing is one of the highest in any field. Like teaching, there are innumerable frustrations that go with the job and come between a dedicated worker and the work he/she WANTS to be doing. Probably the worst is the piles of paperwork. Thus we turn workers in caring professions into “pencil pushers.” Some leave in frustration. Teachers and nurses are still not regarded with respect and compensated adequately.
Many readers will have trouble believing the conditions this young woman lived under and the responsibilities that were expected of her while she was still a student. The supervisors were harsh and unrealistic. They had been treated badly as students and when they moved into administrative positions, they took the opportunity to get even.
Not surprisingly, the author started looking around at other job possibilities while she was still in training. Most northerners viewed London as the Big, Bad City, but she liked the idea of living in a more sophisticated area. Training as a Metropolitan Policewoman would get her a ticket to London and she grabbed it. As other nurses predicted, she DID marry a police officer and is still married to him. She’s tried a number of jobs since then and now writes full-time.
I enjoyed reading about her experiences as a nurse trainee, but I’m saddened to remember all the young women who desperately wanted to help others as nurses, but were discouraged by the absurd, unnecessary hardships. We NEED people in teaching, nursing, etc who are dedicated and caring, not just clock watchers who choose those fields because they’re easier to get into than others. Every time we lose a dedicated professional in one of the caring professions, people suffer.
March 23, 2019
I enjoyed reading this book to see how they nurses during a hard period of life being the 1950’s compared to now and it wasn’t completely not what I was expecting. It was a place where nurses where able to be nurse properly and attend to there patients where as today it’s all about paperwork. It defiantly different
December 25, 2019
It was an average book
Read
June 29, 2020I can’t stop thinking about New Nurses. I googled 1950’s nurse books. This is the first one that came up. Joan is very much an Anna. I enjoyed this quick read.
May 23, 2022
Really enjoyed this book. If you liked Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt you might enjoy this one which is from the nursing perspective in the 1950s.
January 18, 2023
Sadly, things identified back in 1970 when this was written still occur in nursing today.
February 7, 2024
I enjoyed this memoir of life as a nurse in the 1950’s, great for fans of call the midwife!
February 18, 2015
(more like 2.75 stars)
Mini review originally posted on Dreaming Of Happy Endings
What I Liked: As I am hoping to go into the nursing/midwifery field, I like reading about the training process, both currently and historically. I find this type of book very interesting.
What I Disliked: I found this book very confusing. The tales of her training were all very scattered and it was as though a different story began in the middle of whatever story was already being told. Everything was very scattered and it seemed to be more of a complaint about every aspect of the training and while I understand it may not have been enjoyable, there is no need to write a book complaining about it!
Mini review originally posted on Dreaming Of Happy Endings
What I Liked: As I am hoping to go into the nursing/midwifery field, I like reading about the training process, both currently and historically. I find this type of book very interesting.
What I Disliked: I found this book very confusing. The tales of her training were all very scattered and it was as though a different story began in the middle of whatever story was already being told. Everything was very scattered and it seemed to be more of a complaint about every aspect of the training and while I understand it may not have been enjoyable, there is no need to write a book complaining about it!
March 5, 2019
Honest
If you are considering a career in Nursing, I suggest you read this book. It is honest, and doesn't romanticize the role, work, and social interactions. Nurses deserve more support, better working conditions, increased wages, and respect.
If you are considering a career in Nursing, I suggest you read this book. It is honest, and doesn't romanticize the role, work, and social interactions. Nurses deserve more support, better working conditions, increased wages, and respect.
January 19, 2015
it's ok, I've read better but easy enough to read.
February 21, 2016
I've read far better than this. Not sure why someone who seemed to dislike their nursing training so much would bother to write about it.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews