h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My niece has just qualified as a nurse and starts work in a week's time.

I saw a very nice upside-down fob watch and was about to buy it when I suddenly thought - do nurses still use them, or do they have some piece of high tech equipment these days that has made fob watches obsolete?

It's a very expensive watch. I'd hate to buy it and for it not to be used.

If the watch is a bad idea these days, do you have any other suggestions?

Are there any nurses out there who can help?

I'm not a but I have a friend who works in a care home, and I've seen her wearing an upside-down fob watch. I'd say they are still very useful, but if it's so expensive, I'd ask (a family member) if your niece hasn't already got one? Before you buy her another, I mean. Other suggestion? A comfy, smart pair of dark-coloured flatty shoes...

I'll definitely check before spending the money.

I think it would make a very nice gift - but do check that she hasn't already got one!

Nurses do still have fob watches, they're getting increasingly more common amoung doctors as well. We can't wear wrist watches any more because of the 'bare below the elbows' policy. I still have my wrist watch on my belt, but when it breask I'm buying a fob watch.

Sod the watch- does she look good in her uniform??

Thanks, Doc. Much appreciated.

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does she wear

I'm sorry, it's just the way my mind works.

A noble profession, I hope she enjoys it. Bog knows they are underpaid and not always appreciated. My sis-in-law was training to be a mid-wife, but has now decided to become a paramedic instead. Real front-line care.

I raise a to all working for the nation's health!

>> it's just the way my mind works.

You and a lot of people, MonkeyS. My niece has been told not to let her uniform show in public.

She's starting out in oncology.

Here's to her and her colleagues.

Modern nurses uniforms are basically polyester pjs! I can't think anyone would find them flattering.

First of all, well done to your neice on qualifying!

Secondly - "She's starting out in oncology"

- It's thanks to the Oncology Department in Hull that my father-in-law is alive. He had throat cancer, but with excellent NHS treatment he's now had the all-clear for about a year. Let your neice know that as well as grateful patients, there will be a lot of grateful families as well.

Thanks, Moonhogg, I shall tell her what you said.

She chose oncology because her mother died of cancer.

And, doc, I agree about the pjs. Ten out of ten for practicality. Very low score for perviness.

I hope she doesn't find oncology too upsetting. Most of the oncology wards I know are very nice and the nurses enjoy working there. They tend to have a bit more staff than other wards.

A lot of the younger female nurses really seem to hate their uniform, and are very jealous of the doctors getting to wear their own clothes. Especially as the younger female doctors often spend their first salaries on very nice clothes.

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If I ever have a problem with my oncological's I will make sure to look her up!

>> I hope she doesn't find oncology too upsetting

I don't expect she will. She had a placement in a burns ward, and loved it. The staff liked her, too, and said they'd have kept her on if they'd had a vacancy.