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I worked night shifts as a nurse for several years, mostly on older wards where the buildings had been part of the hospital for decades. The kind of places with long corridors, heavy doors, and windows that never quite shut properly. Night shifts there were usually quiet. You’d do observations, u…

I worked night shifts as a nurse for several years, mostly on older wards where the buildings had been part of the hospital for decades. The kind of places with long corridors, heavy doors, and windows that never quite shut properly. Night shifts there were usually quiet. You’d do observations, update notes, answer the occasional call bell. Between about 2 and 4 a.m., most patients were asleep and the ward felt almost abandoned. One night I was covering a small ward with only six patients. Ar