At 0830 I was ready to pass out the test papers and everyone appeared ready to get started. I walked the rows pacing one test on each desk, facing down, giving instructions as I did so.

"Okay, you will have one and one-half hours to complete the test. I suggest you use pencils and I have extras. Your name and date on every page. I recommend that you look over the diagrams and then read each question, before you start. If you are unsure of a question, raise your hand. When you are finished, please quietly turn your paper in. If there is more than ten minutes of the remaining time, you may leave the room but preferably not the school. If you really need to smoke, then just outside the doors is fine. I will mark these over the weekend and we can spend an hour discussing them on Monday. You have five minutes to grab a coffee or pencil."

They started at 0845, I watched and started working on next weeks test. Although there was an assigned curriculum, which we were following, there were no tests other than the midterm and final exam.

In the hospital, even before I switched to administration there were regular tests for annual qualifications. Each floor had an assigned educational person responsible for these test and records. It was part of one's recertification and registration requirement. Continual education was a mandatory requirement. I found that 99% appreciated the regular tests as a review and thus thought they would be advantageous to the students. Now it meant that I had to create them, but I enjoyed doing so.

I had expected Tom to return by now and had made a copy of the test for him. It sat on my desk, unused. Out of habit I had made thirty-one copies, protocol at the hospital required that the tests were kept for two years and included a blank copy. I kept the original for my home files. So, I just continued. Some of them were done after 45 minutes and left, everyone was done by 1000. They drifted back in at 1015.

"I figured that since everyone had at least fifteen minutes to break we could ignore the usual stress break. For the rest of the morning I would like you to partner up again and practice your vital signs. After lunch, you will come up with your partner and do a vital sign check, which I will then check. While you are waiting you can start reading Chapters 6 & 7 or continue to practice. Remember no more than two times in a row per arm. Get your equipment."

After the first five people they decided it was faster to hand out supplies, so three people distributed the stethoscopes, BP cuffs and thermometers. They remembered on their own to use the blue tipped ones.

I was surprised but very pleased that William and Ralph had problem solved and invited Andrew to join their group. With Tom being gone it left one person without a partner. The room was quiet as they checked and rechecked. At lunch they put their equipment on their own desk before leaving.

Since I had brought a salad for lunch, I decided to get a start on the test papers. I chose green as my marking color, just to shake things up. I would use red on the two examinations but otherwise it was a color of my choice, less intimidating.

By the time lunch was over and they were drifting back in I had gone through twenty-one papers. The reason I could go so swiftly was because most of those papers were 100% correct and those that were not only had one or two questions wrong. It was encouraging to see that the mistakes were made on the diagrams and were spelling errors rather than labelling errors. They were seated.

"I would like each pair to come up front and take vital signs, I will then repeat, and we will compare recordings. I think the first group shall be William, Andrew and Ralph. I do thank you two for recognizing a problem and coming up with a way to solve it. Oh, I forgot, when you are finished after you clean your scopes and cuffs, you are free to go. Enjoy your weekend, you have all earned it. Thermometers go in the container I have filled. Let's get started."

By 1415 everyone had finished, equipment was cleaned and put away. Two of the guys had even cleaned the coffee and hot water machines. All that was left for me were the thermometers and one cabinet left unlocked. I had put a reminder on the chalk board regarding their reading assignment.

On the ride home, I finished marking the rest of the tests. I was impressed. They had all done very well, very well indeed. With their vital signs we had three low grade temperatures which we learned were false alarms because they had all had coffee just before; two slightly elevated blood pressures and one irregular heart beat that had been undetected. After all they had not learned abnormalities yet.

When I got home, I changed into an old set of scrubs, said 'hello' to Wiggles and provided some loving play time and then called Roni. Roni was Veronica, or Mrs. Trenton and a dear friend. Our work relationship brought us together as friends, but over the years we made it grow and grow, we were best friends.