The Italian's Touch

Which was precisely why she didn’t want him to watch it, but for once Fleur relented. ‘Well, if you get nightmares tonight, don’t come creeping into my bed.’

He didn’t come creeping in, not that Fleur would have noticed anyway. As soon as her head hit the pillow it seemed the alarm clock rang, heralding yet another day.

Assigned to the cubicles in Section B, Fleur found herself awaiting Mario Ruffini’s arrival with some trepidation. Determined to make at least a good second impression, she ensured that the minor injuries that frequented Section B were, as far as possible, ready to be seen by a doctor, removing home-made dressings, cleaning wounds and doing the occasional set of obs.

‘Good morning, Sister.’

‘Good morning, Mr Ruffini. The intern is in cubicle 3, seeing a sprained ankle, I’ve got a couple of minor hand injuries in cubicles one and two and a case of gastro down the end in cubicle seven.’

He nodded politely but didn’t comment as he had a quick flick through the histories. Finally, he spoke. ‘Nothing that can’t wait for five minutes. I’m going to grab a coffee. How do you take yours?’

‘Er, no, I’m fine, thanks.’ Since when did the senior medical staff make the nurses coffee?

‘Fine.’

Things obviously weren’t fine. He’d been polite, he’d even offered to make her a drink, but Fleur just knew he was less than impressed with her.

He returned with a steaming mug, which he placed on a worktop before proceeding to see the patients.

Mario Ruffini was a good doctor, Fleur reluctantly decided. She’d wanted to be able to fault him, to find some flaw that his adoring fans had missed. But he was skilled in his assessments, polite and friendly to the patients and also incredibly fast. His only fault, if you could call it that, was the fact he obviously didn’t like Fleur.

‘I’m pretty sure the child in seven is early appendicitis. I’ve asked Wendy Edwards, the surgical registrar, to come down for a consult.’

‘OK. I was actually just coming to find you. Felicity just buzzed from Resus—there’s a patient in VT.’

VT was the abbreviation for ventricular tachycardia, a rapid but regular heartbeat that quickly exhausted a person and could soon lead to cardiac arrest.

Without comment, Mario picked up his stethoscope and made his way down the corridor.

The second he was gone the tension dissolved but, instead of feeling relaxed, Fleur felt curiously let down, deflated. Why she wanted Mario Ruffini’s approval she wasn’t sure, but bandaging a few sprained wrists and giving out a couple of tetanus shots were hardly the stuff to make him realise what a great nurse she was, Fleur mused, angrily restocking the stainless-steel trolleys.

‘Didn’t Danny sweep for land-mines this morning?’ Wendy Edwards broke into her thoughts.

‘Oh, hi, Wendy.’

‘Fleur, it is you! It’s so good to see you back. How are things?’

‘Great,’ Fleur lied easily. ‘What’s this about landmines?’

‘One’s just gone off in Resus.’ She grinned at Fleur’s bemused expression. ‘Our resident volcano, Mario Ruffini, just exploded. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen him in action yet.’

Fleur gave an embarrassed laugh. ‘Actually, I have, about an hour into my first shift back. He hasn’t gone off again, has he?’

‘Big time.’ Wendy pulled a face. ‘I was tempted to stick my head in but I’m sure Felicity doesn’t need an audience. Where’s this kid he wants me to see?’

‘Cubicle seven.’ Fleur chewed anxiously on her lip. ‘Do you know what it’s about?’

‘No,’ Wendy said cheerfully. ‘But you can fill me in when you find out.’

A quick look down the corridor confirmed that as usual Danny was nowhere to be seen, and the rest of the staff were either tied up or deliberately looking busy. Informing Lucy that she wouldn’t be long, Fleur made her way to Resus.

As she opened the door a rocket didn’t actually whiz past her ear, but there were definitely fireworks in the air.

‘Great,’ Mario shouted as she slipped in. ‘Now they send in the nurse that ‘‘doesn’t do Resus’’.’

‘As opposed to what?’ Fleur looked over to where Felicity stood, red-eyed, by the defibrillator. The drug trolley was in chaos, boxes and vials of drugs scattered over the top.

‘As opposed to the nurse who doesn’t know how basic equipment works, or where the drugs are kept.’

Fleur looked at the monitor. The patient was still in rapid VT.

‘I want to cardiovert him, Felicity was trying to defibrillate him.’

‘How many joules do you want?’

‘Two hundred,’ he snarled as Fleur flicked the switch necessary for cardioversion as opposed to defibrillation. Picking up the paddles, she applied them to the gel pads already in place on the patient’s chest.

‘Clear,’ she called.

Mario briefly dropped the ambu-bag he was using to oxygenate the patient. As the patient’s rhythm settled the doors flew open as the cardiac arrest team breathlessly arrived.

‘Did you stop at the canteen on the way?’ Mario shouted as they gathered around the patient’s trolley. ‘I assume you learnt in medical school that brain death occurs after three minutes.’

Charming, Fleur thought, her mouth set in a thin line as she assisted Felicity. At least his arrogance wasn’t only for her benefit.

Danny, of course, turned up when all the drama was over. ‘Fleur, you’re in here!’

‘Again!’ Fleur said pointedly. ‘Could I have a word, Danny?’

Danny’s office was a mess—papers everywhere, overflowing trays of work. Taking a seat, she got straight to the point.

‘Felicity didn’t know how to set the machine for cardioversion.’

Danny let out a long sigh. ‘Well, she should, she’s been to enough lectures. I’ll have a word.’

‘I think a bit more that a word from you is needed, Danny. What is she doing in there when she doesn’t know the equipment? And from what I can make out, she wasn’t particularly crash hot on locating where the drugs and everything were kept. Mario Ruffini was furious and, as much as I don’t approve of his methods, he had every right to be angry. She shouldn’t be in there without supervision until she’s more capable.’

‘So what do you suggest?’ He tossed the roster sheet across the table. ‘Have a look at the choices, Fleur, and tell me who you’d put in there.’

Fleur ran her eyes down the names on the list. He had a fair point—there certainly wasn’t a wealth of knowledge behind the names there.

‘I’ve got a permanent advertisement for staff in the newspapers, I’ve got our department on every nursing agency’s list and yet I still can’t get any more experienced staff. I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, Fleur. I took you on, knowing you weren’t ready to go in there yet, and I’m prepared to wait. I don’t want you to lose your confidence too early and leave, then we really will have achieved nothing. And as for Mario letting off steam, it’s no big deal—he does it every day.’

‘That doesn’t make it all right!’

But Danny just laughed. ‘He takes a bit of getting used to, I admit that, but he does grow on you in the end.’

‘So do warts,’ Fleur quipped. ‘He shouldn’t be allowed to jackboot his way around the department.’ She paused for a moment before continuing. She’d known Danny a long time and they were friends, but it was still a rather hesitant Fleur that steered the conversation. ‘How come you’re not out there a bit more, Danny?’