Archived report · 1 min read · Set in St. Kilda Infirmary ·
Ward 4, 04:00
A night nurse's report on rain that falls indoors, in eleven minutes, on four beds.
- filed: Night shift, the second week of February
- reference: Ward report 4/B-61
Subject: Recurrent precipitation in Long-Stay Ward 4, bed 9 and vicinity.
Compiled by: N. Okafor, night nurse.
1. Observation. At 04:00 on each of the last sixty-one nights a fine rain has fallen from a point on the ceiling above bed 9. It lasts eleven minutes, give or take one. The ceiling has been inspected by Estates. There is no pipework in the void above it.
2. Extent. Beds 8, 9, 10 and 11 are affected. Beds 7 and 12 are not.
3. Character. The rain is cool. Two samples were taken and contain no dissolved solids. The smell is of river water.
4. Variation. On nights when the patient in bed 9 is restless (see observation chart) the rain is heavier and cold, and the patients in 8, 10 and 11 report disturbed sleep and dreams of crossing water. On calm nights it is a mist. Three patients have been observed smiling.
5. Test. The patient was moved to a single room at 02:00. The room remained dry. She was returned at 03:30 and the rain resumed at 04:00. I record that it appeared to resume “as if relieved.” That is a subjective note. I have left it in at the request of the ward sister.
6. Action. Umbrellas have been placed on the bed rails. Estates have been asked to stop sending a plumber.
7. Recommendation. No intervention. Keep her where she is.
8. Note. I have been asked, informally, whether the patient is doing it. I do not know. I note that her chart has been stable for thirty-one years, and that her pillow was dry this morning.