Belief

The last time I worked a shift in A&E was a Saturday night. Obviously I've heard the rumours, talked to the staff and guessed what I was in for.

Thankfully my shift was a 'twilight' - meaning that I would only work until 2AM.

Now, I've worked with diabetic patients having hypos before, but the lady I was looking after on this occasion was a whole other kettle of fish.

You see, this particular lady had been found by her nursing home having a fit on the floor of her room. It had been observed as lasting 6-8 minutes long, and upon the arrival of the ambulance crew her blood sugars were only 1.8.

OK fine, easy to treat.... unless (as the patient was convinced):

• They really weren't the ambulance men. They were kidnapping her in a white van
• This wasn't really the Greatwhatever Hospital, because she actually used to work there. Even though she admitted she'd never been in A&E
• We really weren't nursing staff, despite us showing her our uniforms, badges and ID.

All very well and good, except that getting her to eat any food was impossible because, of course, we were all trying to poison her.

Poor lady, convinced that we were all an elaborate hoax to kidnap her.

Slightly frustrating to work with though, as she wouldn't believe a word you said!