"The next chapter"

So it has been a month since I properly reflected on things. In between working and a bereavement (not COVID related I might add), I have not been in the right frame of mind to write.

I have been qualified for 2 months now.

It has been such a huge learning curve. Going from being a student to a qualified professional is something that nothing can prepare you for. 2 months ago I wasn't allowed to make a decision on my own. This week I have managed someone's pain with prescribed pain relief, and when I identified that a patient was pyrexial, I administered paracetamol and asked for blood cultures to be taken. In the grand world of nursing, this might seem so trivial. But I made those decisions. I escalated appropriately and acted within my remit (NMC take heed).

I remember when I was a CSW working with patients who had acquired brain injury (ABI). A patient once asked me for pain relief. "I'll get the nurse" I replied. Due to the nurse being caught up with another patient, the patient had to wait for their pain relief. That was the moment I knew I wanted to do more than say "I'll get the nurse". I wanted to help alleviate someone's pain. I wanted to have more knowledge, so I could understand better how to help them. And I can now say I have achieved that.

It's been a huge learning curve. Recognising my own working style, forging my professional identity and voice. It has been hard to achieve this as a newly qualified member of staff in the area where I was a student. People assume I know things because I have been there for 2 years. Despite the fact that as a student. I had a different role in the ward. On the flip side, people still see me as a student, and not as a qualified professional, And then there are those somewhere in between, who recognise that I am trying ti figure out who I am as a Registered Practitioner.

I think I do have more development to go in regards to my professional voice. I know there are ways I can improve, and my new role in a higher dependency respiratory ward will help me to achieve this goal.

On frailty, we have spent a good amount of time looking after COVID positive patients, who were acutely unwell. Nursing these patients has solidified the fact that I would prefer to nurse patients who are very unwell. It brings out the best in me. So I am really looking forward to my new job, which starts on the 1st of March!

I am a bit nervous though...I'm leaving an area which I know, with colleagues I get on with and leaping into something I know very little about. Fingers crossed I assimilate quickly!

Tomorrow is my last shift on frailty, I am baking them some leaving cupcakes as we speak. Then it will be time to start the next chapter of my nursing career. Wish me luck!!