Sangeetha Sreekumaran thampi sreedeviamma

'When you find yourself passionate in what you do, it never feels like just a job’ – someone said! When I look back and reflect upon my journey in nursing, I would say it is absolutely meaningful and the same passion is leading me to the 14th year within the perioperative environment.

I am an overseas qualified nurse, who had been working within the perioperative environment for the past 14 years. I have an extensive experience in various surgical specialities such as general surgery,Plastics, Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Paediatrics, ENT, Maxillo-facial,emergency theatres ,Trauma and elective orthopaedic theatres; the most recent being a band 7 theatre practitioner within elective orthopaedics. This vast experience has not only helped me to grow as a competent scrub and circulating nurse, but also an effective communicator who value the team and every individual’s opinion; I have learnt how patient safety is directly related to the effectiveness of teams within theatres. I have experienced that the operating theatres can be a very stressful environment considering the unpredictability as well as complexity; however, theatre teams are knitted in such a way that whatever be the stumbling block, the team work a solution keeping the patient at the centre of all what we do.

In my current role as a band 7 practitioner, I act as a team leader working with staff members of various profiles and skills. I perform this through effective communication, valuing the opinions of all members, effective delegation with appropriate levels of supervision as well as enabling leadership. I strongly believe that an effective, enabling leadership is invaluable in the success of any team objective. And this will directly depend upon how shared the goals are, how well are the team members prepared for the teamwork as well as the provision of authority to achieve the objectives.I also would like to add on that in my role, alongside effectiveness and achievements, there had always been failures. There had been situations where I found that the skill mix didn’t work as I planned; where near misses or never events occurred. But I want to remember the NMC code and ensured that the patient was always kept safe and managed well; ensured Duty of candour was practiced by being open and honest regarding our actions and omissions as well as learning from incidents by sharing the learning to the whole team through bite size learning sessions to the whole team members.

Since I have started as a senior charge nurse in elective orthopaedics, I was given opportunities to manage a team of surgeons as well as their caseloads. This involved ongoing assessment, surgical planning, organising supplies, implementation of the plan and evaluation of theatre utilisation and theatre effectiveness in a timely manner through audits of documents and spot checks.
Throughout my career I have learned that the traditional working patterns are being tested over and over to reduce errors, but it is my belief that there is always a scope of improvement. Economically, the NHS has always been a battle ground; Government’s fight to secure the future of the NHS whilst being cost-efficient. In my opinion sustainability projects can play a major role in the above scenarios; and due to my genuine interest in this area, I used the golden opportunity of me being one of the volunteers for the Recycling project where I encourage the use of reusable products instead of single use items and educate the team members to promote recycling within theatres.
Sustainability will be definitely on the top of my list whichever areas I go as I believe this movement has an impact on wider population.Considering the fact that we are working in an ever changing technology and advancements in operating theatre functioning, one of the challenges that I face in my role is change management. Changes can always be difficult as it requires pulling oneself out of the comfort zone. The ‘ready to try’ person in me always supported this change management. Changes ,if not well integrated, it is very easy for the system to fall back into a frozen stage as mentioned in Kurt Lewin’s change theory. As a professional nurse my ability to adapt and cope with changes and my demonstration of positive "can do" approach to the changes always allows me to offer high level quality care to my patients.

I enjoy challenges in my role and always wanted to try and learn new aspects in relation to staff management. With this interest, I shadowed the theatre co-ordinator for a period of time having a first-hand experience on several aspects of team management like staffing, skill mix, negotiation, setting up/revising practices. I also gained a clear idea of setting up a clear performance expectation to enhance my employee management skills. Having some time spent with the matrons also enlightened me to the wider aspects of theatre management such as budgetary management and cost effectiveness, and this would be one area I would like to more work on and experience if given an opportunity. I do have high level of awareness about patient safety, dignity, respect and privacy which allow me to act as an advocate for my unconscious patients in theatres. I always try to adhere with the infection control policies and procedures according to the trust guidelines as it has got a vital role in maintaining quality patient care in theatres . I comprehend well the importance of audit in maintaining and improving the quality, standards and compliance. Being the link person for infection control has given me the opportunity to formulate an infection control audit tool in order to carry out regular audits in theatres. I have actively taken parts in the monthly saving lives audits such as hand hygiene, ANTT, Decon and theatre practice, health and safety and WHO audits.

As far as I am concerned, the most important thing for us to remember in order to thrive this current trend is quality improvement through team work. I always try to involve my team in decision making so that everyone feels embraced, hence ends up having a beneficial outcome which will eventually uphold the trust value of Respect. I firmly believe that embracing diversity in workplace will make an organisation more fulfilling and productive. I always try to adhere with a work culture which emphasises fairness and inclusions that I can promote equality and diversity at work place. I have an excellent interpersonal and communication skill which gives me great ability to work collaboratively within the multi-disciplinary team.

I always maintain accurate and up to date clinical records according to the trust policy. I believe in the wise use of incident reporting systems like Datix and the power of timely reporting and escalation of incidents in error management and preventing harm to the patient.
Hence I actively take part in imbedding all actions and the learning from serious incidents cascade the information to the team to turn it in to a learning experience which is the key to quality improvement. I cognise the importance of Clinical Governance in ensuring improved patient experience and better outcomes in terms of quality and safety.

As a compassionate leader I believe in motivation ,active kindness and just culture and I do follow these in my practice: for example showing a token of appreciation for the team at the end of the day by saying a thank you, filling in a Greatix form to express recognition for good team work and so that that they develop resilience eventually.
I am committed to continuing professional development and have attended courses relevant to my role.I always make sure my mandatory trainings are up to date and use online resources like RCN to actively keep informed me about the new nursing initiatives. As an active mentor, my mentoring skills are commented on by students and staff alike.

The professional experience I have gained during my working life to date will be a benefit for my future endeavours. I am regularly required to work alongside other departmental team members and company stakeholders to deliver quality care for my service users. I am a hard working , professional and committed employee who feels most comfortable in a role whereby pressure is very much part of everyday working life. I have applied for this position because I feel strongly that I have the necessary skills, qualities and attributes to not only carry out each of the duties to a higher standard, but also help the organisation to move forward positively and innovatively through hard work and determination. I believe that, any given opportunity to work within my scope, you will be impressed with my strong work values, ethics and professional standards.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Professional registration

Professional body
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) ~ Sub-Part 1 RNA (Adult)
Membership / Registration number
14F0034O
Expiry / renewal date
13/06/2026

Ahpra Registration Number: NMW0002844863

Renewal Date: 31/05/2026

ANMAC Reference: 177715 Sangeetha Sreekumaran Thampi Sreedeviamma

ANZSCO Code:254423

LOD Number:206421