My Nursing Story

Day 6 what you fear of nursing in the future

I think my biggest fear is that the art of nursing will get lost in the science and technology, we don’t need gadgets that beep and computer programmes to tell us that a patient is poorly a great deal can be said for the nurses instinct.

Day 7your 5 most motivating songs

This is quite a difficult one, I listen to music a lot in my car and at night and many songs mean a lot to me but I suppose if I had to pick 5, 

Cher- strong enough, it is a song about being able to cope on your own and believing in yourself.

Bobby McFerrin- Don’t worry be happy, this was a favourite of my nanny and she would break into song anytime someone said don’t worry...

Micheal Ball- love changes everything, love is in many forms and it really does change everything

Mud- Tiger Feet, my uncle Dave was the drummer and hearing this song makes me very proud

Finally Les Miserables do you hear the people sing- for lots of reasons but it’s a song about the little people overcoming adversity.

Day 8 5 current goals

This is harder than you think to answer, I suppose I have personal and professional goals, I would like to complete my Masters degree

I would like to become an advanced practitioner in criminal justice nursing

I would like to loose several pounds of weight

I would like to visit the penguin post office

I would like to see the northern lights 

Day 9 what’s inside your work bag

This made me laugh out loud, a colleague of mine and me had a conversation about work bags a couple of years ago, currently I have 3 issues of nursing standard yet to be read, my pens and ID badges, my stethoscope and a tourniquet, diary purse cosmetic case with various pharmaceuticals, a singe hair slide, a paper clip a half drunk bottle of Pepsi max and a very squished cereal bar.

The transformation continues

Day 3 Your Favourite Nursing quote.... this is a hard one , there are so many of them 

But I think I’m going to have to cheat and take 3 quotes, the first two are from the famous nurse Edith Cavell who was known for saving hundreds of allied troops in the war and executed for treason , on the eve of her exception she is quoted as saying 

They have all been very kind to me here. But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.

She is also quoted as having said 

Someday, somehow, I am going to do something useful, SOMETHING for PEOPLE. They are, most of them, so helpless, so hurt and so unhappy.

This is also one of my favourite nursing quotes

To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse.

Day 4 Your dream job

That’s easy I want to be an advanced nurse practitioner in criminal justice either prison police custody or similar

Day 5 celebrating NHS70

This ones easy too, I was born in the NHS, THE NHS trained me and provided me with a job for my whole life, it’s the envy of the world and no health service is like it it saves lives and makes a difference what’s not to celebrate 

Transforming Nursing

Hi there in the blogosphere , so the NHS. turned 70 this month, hard to believe really

Part of the NHS 70 is a campaign to transform perceptions of Nursing and 

Midwifery NHS Horizons have created a series of 30 day challenges they set a challenge for each day in July to write a blog

related to nursing , I am a bit behind so you will get 20 days all at once from me 

If you want to follow the challenge there are twitter feeds with #NurseBloggers @BloggersNurse #NHS70 #NurseBlogger #FutureNursing have fun and enjoy 

Day 1 blog name and purpose,  well my blog has been around for a while , it has had two names and that depends on my current role it is currently life on the wards and other stories, but it may be life beyond the bars and other stories, it doesn’t have a purpose as such, I just want to share a small piece of insight into my world which may or may not be of interest.

Day 2 20 facts about you, ooh this is an interesting one, I suppose it depends what the facts are doesn’t it, well let’s see, 

1. Im an Aries

2 I am the eldest sibling of 4 

3 I have lived in 3 different counties of England

4 I can speak French 

5 I got my first tattoo at age 40

6 I am scared of clowns and spiders

7 My first proper job was at Burger King and I was fired after less than a week!!!

8 I have met Micheal Ball and Alfie Boe in person (amazing)

9 I know all the words to all the songs of every version of Les Miserables ( so do my family)

10 Penguins are my favourite animal

11 I converted to Catholicism  in 2013 after a trip to South Africa

12 I am an Open University Graduate 

13 I have a west Highland Terrier called Billy 

14 I was proposed to on the sea front at Skegness 

15 My favourite colour is Green 

16 I love to be by the sea 

17 My Uncle David was the drummer in the 70s Glam Rock Band Mud ( and I’m very proud of that ) 

18 I used to suck my finger

19 I had braces for 7 years from aged 14 to 21 (see 18)

20 I failed my GCSE Maths (twice...!!!) 

Enough is Enough Mr Hunt

A letter to our Secretary of State for health
Dear Jeremy,

So I just got my wage packet for April, we got a pay rise this year an amazing 1% wow how far does that go, well let's see, my wages have increased by less than £300 a year, I have to pay more tax and NI on those wages now and the cost of inflation has gone up by 2.3% so in real terms I have just been given a pay cut, and my amazing extra wages just about pays for my pension.
When it comes to pensions that's another story, I am not going to be able to afford to retire when I am 65 probably not even when I am 75 or 85, so I will be working for a very long time yet,
Don't get me wrong, I love my job, I didn't come into nursing to be rich, that was never going to happen, but I would like to be paid for the work I do I don't expect to be a millionaire, or even to be able to buy my home, if I expected that I would have gone into politics.
I would like to be able to pay my bills, not worry about having enough in the bank at the end of the month a week before payday and having to move savings around so I don't go overdrawn. I would like to be able to actually have some savings, but never mind I am a nurse so my average wage is clearly well above that of an average person, in fact I think you believe that on average nurses earn about 28000, well I can tell you that you and all who believe this information are so far from the truth ,The starting salary for a newly qualified band 5 nurse under the 2016/17 AFC was just over £21000, in order to earn 28000 they will need to be qualified for at least 8 years and progress up the incremental scale.
I am a senior nurse, I have been qualified for 17 years and it was not till last year I hit the 28000 pay band. In real terms I should be earning at least £33000 now but I'm not, the 1% pay rise took my pay up by £280 a year.
But I am lucky, I can afford to feed and clothe myself, unlike some of my colleagues who are struggling to do this, they are using food banks and relying on extra jobs or family support just to be able to eat. In this day and age we should not have poverty on this scale. how can you expect someone to be able to carry out their job as a nurse when they are starving.
And then there are the staffing levels, that's a completely different ball game, many organisations are relying on agency staff to fill vacancies, and are covering with non registered staff, and despite their skill and determination they should not be put in this situation.

Well Jeremy this is it, enough is enough, we are not going to stand for this anymore, and this time we mean business, my Union, the biggest professional union for nurses, has made a stand, we are not going to stand back and let you tear us and our beloved NHS apart without a fight, we will make this summer one you will not forget, and if that's not enough then we will ballot for industrial action, and we already have the junior Doctors support.
We have fire in our bellies and we are ready for a fight Jeremy, we have put up with this for too long and it's time for you to start to value your NHS staff and your Nurses,
So if you are lucky enough to get back into power on June the 8th and I really hope your not, then you had better pick up your sword and shield because we will not go down without a battle.

What does being a nurse mean,

I have been a nurse for 15 years, people often ask me why I wanted to be a Nurse and they ask me what I do at work.
As my previous post stated I have always wanted to nurse, the reason is simple, it's to make a difference. This can be done in a lot of different ways but most often it's the small unnoticed actions that give the most reward to both Nurse and patient.

Let me explain, many people think that nursing is about taking temperatures, giving out medications and rushing to respond to a cardiac arrest, they think it's all blood and guts and beeping machines.

There is an element of this, in my current job, I do have emergencies and do give out medications , but this is not what gives me the most reward. Why do I do it then you may well ask, well I will tell you, I do it because I get the chance to spend time with people at their most vulnerable and they share some of their most intimate and deepest thoughts and fears, they trust me to do the right thing and they truly believe that I can help make them feel better.

All I have done is listen, given compassion and time, sometimes this can heal more than any drug.
I found this to be true very recently , I spent five days in Lourdes , volunteering as a nurse travelling with my diocese, I won't say too much here because I plan an article for the diocese news letter, but I will say this. I didn't deal with any emergencies, I gave out no medications and I didn't even take a temperature, but I probably did more Nursing in that week than I have done in a long time, I spent time with people in some of their most vulnerable times, I gave my time and my compassion and I listened. I was even rewarded by receiving some of their time and compassion in return.

So in answer to the question what does it mean to be a nurse, it is about being a human being and to remember that the most important part of being a nurse is to be prepared to give your time.....

Chocolate Stress and Lent

Well its Palm Sunday ,Lent is almost over ( several people give a big sigh of relief here, because they can finally eat chocolate and drink coffee once again...), and Easter is literally round the corner, this might not mean much to many people , and might not seem relevant to nursing but read on and see, lent is the period of time between pancake day and Easter, starting on Ash Wednesday it lasts approx 40 days sometimes a little more,  it occurs just before Easter , which is the most important festival in the Christian calendar, this moves too,  it all depends on the moon- or something like that.

Sometimes people give something up for lent,  to symbolise the time Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by satan, one of my colleagues is giving up stress, not easy in a prison healthcare environment, but a good test of willpower
This leads me onto the point of my post, can nursing and Faith work together, is it possible for a person of Faith to keep their beliefs when working in such a difficult job? 
 My regulator the NMC discourage us from sharing our own personal beliefs and values with patients at work, sometimes the NHS trust will place restrictions on you too, I  have managed to get away with wearing my crucifix so far but I do not have a right to do so and can be asked to remove it. Sometimes people will think you odd or prudish just for being Christian. however I know of a few colleagues who have a strong faith , none more so than my dear friend Dan, In fact his faith is so strong he is giving it all up to become an officer in the Salvation Army - this is the equivilant  of ordination in the Christian church, you can read his blog  here it makes good reading, I guess he felt that his vocation was his faith this is probably what most people associate with the word vocation, but I  believe that vocation is not just something for religious ministers though, they don't have the priority on it you know...
I am almost at the end of the first part of my journey to being welcomed into the catholic faith, I began my conversion last year and Easter is when I will be received.  I have been a qualified nurse now for just over 14 years, I was 18 years old when I started my training at sheffield university and I do not recall that I ever wanted to do anything else my whole entire life, I always knew I would be a nurse, I never had any doubt in my mind that this was the job I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. It's more than a career, it's a life choice, long hours average pay and a great deal of stress, I can see life and death in the same day and no two days are the same, the challenges are endless, the opportunity a are far and wide and you never know what's going to happen next. I have been told many times nursing is my vocation- does it fit with my faith? Of course it does, sometimes there are difficulties, but it's about how you learn to deal with them, I don't have to push my beliefs on people but sometimes it's nice for them to know you keep them in your prayers, or, because of your own faith you consider they may have particular spiritual or religious needs and tend to them.
Nursing is my life, I never wanted to do anything else and never want to do any other job, I have a passion for what I do and  I truly believe it is my vocation, my current role is by far my most challenging, but it also feels right, like it's where I am supposed to be, it's as if it's been waiting for me all this time. Maybe that's because of my faith or maybe I'm just sentimental I don't know,  but I know this Nursing is who I am not what I do and my faith adds to that it makes me who I am without that I wouldn't be me.
A few last words, wether you have faith or not, remember when you loose a patient always open the window to let the soul be free
A happy blessed and healthy Easter to everyone don't eat too much chocolate or you may need a nurse......

Keys, Caring and Compassion

I am now a nurse in a male remand prison and this is one of the most challenging jobs I have had in a long time, one of the biggest challenges  I have faced is responding to how other people treat inmates. 

Some of the patients have troubled backgrounds or complex history's, and my job is to care for them.

Don't get me wrong they are not all well behaved boys serving their time, but I believe everyone deserves a chance to change and all my lads are entitled to a bit of respect.
They all start out being treated the same way, I respect them if they respect me, we have ways to get them to behave and sometimes we do have to fill in reports or shut the hatch until the rabble calm down but I always try to give them benefit of the doubt, when someone is in pain they behave differently, if they are scared or upset, they might not remember to say please and thank you but that doesn't mean they are not greatful for what you do for them.

We have to remember where we are, nursing in a prison is a very specialised area of caring and you will always have challenges to overcome, I think for me it's about the person we need to give everyone of them a chance to be the person they can be.
My colleague told me I always try to find the good in every prisoner , I took that as a complement. I'm not naive , I know there are some people who I will never get to say please or thank you but when you walk down the cold corridors and one of the guys says hi miss how are you, it actually means a lot more than it sounds. 
Sometimes we get specially requested, I don't want you miss I want that other nurse, that's an achievement too.

You can't accidentally go home with they keys either which is probably a good thing, although I'm not sure I want to be the one who sets off the security alarm because I forgot to return my set, it takes three times as long to get anywhere because of all the gates, and you have to learn to trust your instincts and wait until your told its safe before going and treating anyone, it is very difficult knowing someone is hurt or in pain and being on the wrong side of the door waiting....

When someone comes back to the nurses station after a particularly bad morning of abuse and says I'm sorry miss, you know then you have made a difference in that one lads life, prisoners are people too.

I finish with something one of my guys said to me recently
" we are not all bad people miss, we just did a bad thing"
Food for thought......