 mutual encouragement as the patient improves.
The core of my 40-patient ward - General Surgical - was the team of 24 nurses, working round the clock in four-or-five member teams. It consisted of 18 women and six men, all Italian, all local (although one confessed almost sheepishly that she 'actually' came from Sansepolcro, all of 20 miles away).
They worked instinctively together, rather like a regimental patrol, with hardly any need for verbal communication, flat-out all the time, always considerate, good-humoured and compassionate. They train for three years and come into the hospital earning around £1,000 per month: not a fortune - about the same as a qualified primary school teacher - but most still live at home, and they get by.
They all struck me as highly vocational. One had even been to London to visit the Florence Nightingale museum. They thought their profession was 'esteemed' and they were all adding a two-year speciality to their basic training. Their ambition is to become a capo di sala ('sister'), who can earn around £2,000 per month.
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| Hospital bugs are rare in Italy, superbugs as yet unknown |
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One of the strengths - and weaknesses - of Italian life is campanilismo (parochialism), and the Arezzo nursing team perfectly exemplified its positive side: they had a great esprit de corps, they spoke the same language (dialect even), they were recognised and valued locally, and - of course - in the Italian way are always bumping into people in the streets and shops whom they have nursed.
Cleanliness, reflecting a general Italian (at least private, if not public) scrupulousness, was immaculate. Two cleaners, very much part of the team, dusted, wiped and disinfected every surface in every ward and corridor twice a day. Hospital bugs are rare, superbugs as yet unknown.
Another hygienic device the NHS might consider adopting is the absence of basin plugs, familiar to hostel travellers around Europe. More water may be used, but no stagnant water discourages bacteria and ultimately Legionnaire's Disease. It also saves money on plugs.
FIRST POSTED APRIL 6, 2007
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