Monika Gladwell

I began my journey in healthcare as a live-in carer 12 years ago, providing 24-hour care to a person who was dependant for all their daily needs. I found it extremely rewarding that I was able to make a difference in someone’s day to day life, by showing care, compassion and commitment. It was after this experience that I decided to develop my knowledge and skills and pursue a career in adult nursing.

Over the last 10 years, I have been working in a busy Emergency Department within a major trauma center. I started as a healthcare assistant then progressed my career through The Open University to become a fully registered adult nurse. In March I successfully progressed to Band 6 senior nurse/sister in the Emergency Department. This career has allowed me to develop in many aspects including my clinical knowledge, skills and professional standards. I enjoy working in a multidisciplinary team that aims to provide patients with outstanding care and meet their individual needs. Working in an unpredictable, ever-changing department, I always remain flexible and adaptable putting the patients at the forefront of their care whilst maintaining accountability and working within my scope of practice. I understand the importance of safe practice, time targets, providing evidence-based care and working within recognised guidelines, maintaining confidentiality, and providing a patient centred approach. I always adhere to clinical governance. This is reflected in my day-to-day practice, which allows my patients to feel respected, valued and safe.

Prior to my nursing degree, I completed an NVQ level 2 in customer care. This taught me how to improve my communication skills and how to deliver excellent customer service to patients and staff. I have learnt different methods of communication to achieve the best possible understanding and delivery of messages. It has been extremely helpful during my practice; I have been able to adapt to successfully communicate with patients and within multidisciplinary teams I have worked with.

While working in the emergency department I have developed many skills such as venesection, cannulation, applying plaster of paris, suturing, blood transfusion, administration of oral and IV medications, Code red infuser during massive hemorrhage. I am always keen to learn and develop my skills and have proactively attended many study days to gain skills in; immediate adult and paediatric life support, major trauma advance life support, adult advance life support, minors and dementia awareness days run by Emergency Department to continue my professional development. Additionally, I have successfully completed a preceptorship program run by UHS.

I completed a two day “Transition to Nurse in charge / Leadership” and “Manchester Triage” course which has allowed me to develop my leadership skills and take charge in areas of the busy department with confidence. I am also currently undertaking a positive action leadership program, which I’m due to complete in February. With this, as a band 6 team leader I can organize my workload efficiently even during highly stressful / busy situations (such as high volume of patients), identify staffing issues, delegate appropriately, identify acuity of patients, prioritize patient care, ensure staff receive support when needed and escalate appropriately to ensure hospital can meet the demands of the emergency patients.

Additionally, I can identify patients who would benefit from referrals to other specialties such as psychiatry liaison. I work/communicate with multidisciplinary teams on a day-to-day basis to ensure good patient flow, the best possible outcome and support for the patient.

With my current skills, as a senior band 6 nurse I can confidently assess safeguarding risks/identify red flags in adults and children, followed by appropriate escalation and referrals. I am able to work and communicate well with patients who present with self-harm, alcohol withdrawal or mental health crisis and am passionate about building trusting professional relationships with patients who require a variety of emotional support. Providing patients with a person-centered approach can significantly reduce their distress and behavioral disturbances.

In addition to my ability to treat patients with a variety of needs, I am also passionate about teaching and supporting junior members of staff. I completed a “Train the trainer” study day which enabled me to teach others how to bleed and cannulate. I also completed practice assessor course and various online trainings which allowed me to be a better teacher/supervisor and mentor many students. To support new students coming to the Emergency Department I assisted in developing a new induction booklet. I thoroughly enjoy supervising and mentoring students or new members of staff as this allows me to share my knowledge and expertise with them. Watching them grow and develop as clinicians gives me great satisfaction.

To gain more experience in the recruitment process, on several occasions I have assisted in interviewing housekeepers, healthcare assistants and senior healthcare assistants. This allowed me to gain insight into preparing questions, selecting, screening and hiring process. I have also assisted in completing audits within the department, following the PDSA cycle.

As part of Band 6 role, I joined the Violence and aggression prevention team which aim is to embed a culture where our staff feel supported, safe and secure at work. I recognize the negative impact that staff health and wellbeing can have on patients care. Violence and abuse towards NHS staff can have a lasting impact on health and wellbeing. As a team we work closely with other specialties to try and reduce violence and aggression incidents, empower staff to report incidents and support them through the process.

Additionally, I am currently taking part in creating and rolling out the new ED digital system Miya. Being part of such a big improvement project allows me to gain inside into introducing a change, working towards deadlines, challenges that come with it and how to tackle them.

During my healthcare journey I enjoy facing challenges head on and feel proud to be part of a great nursing team. With the skills, knowledge, and experience that I have developed, I feel ready to take the next step in my career, further develop my leadership skills and contribute to improving patient safety. I am aware of current challenges/issues withing acute Health Service such as overcrowding, unable to reach targets, prolong waiting times, violence and aggression toward staff.