Victoria Curwood

As a qualified nurse, I always ensure I work within my competence level but am aware that I may need to further develop my skill set within certain areas of nursing care to deliver the dexterity and accuracy required when undertaking some clinical skills. I am aware that I will still have a lot to learn in my career and am willing to engage in any training required to continue my professional competence. As a nurse, I always act in the best interests of the patients and ensure I abide by the NMC code to uphold my duty of care to those I care for. During my time as a nurse I continue to develop the confidence and skills required to continue my lifelong learning pathway and journey as a registered nurse. I am also aware that to do this I will have many learning objectives and will need to complete many training courses to ensure I am competent to carry out all nursing duties. However, I am keen to get these completed as soon as possible to ensure I am effective in the delivery of my responsibilities. I also understand the importance of ensuring I complete every task to the best of my ability and within my scope of practice and pride myself on ensuring I care for my patients as I would expect my family and myself to be cared for by delivering the high-standard, evidence-based care required of a Nurse. Some of these include but are not limited to;

• Deliver exceptional nursing care, resulting in improved patient satisfaction rates.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary team to enhance patient care.
• Deliver exceptional nursing care, resulting in improved patient satisfaction rates.
• Update patient records meticulously to ensure accurate documentation.
• Monitor vital signs, identifying any significant changes in condition.
• Provide compassionate emotional support to patients, easing their anxiety.
• Liaise effectively with relatives, keeping them informed about patient progress.
• Manage wound dressings, promoting healing and preventing infection.
• Assist doctors during examinations for efficient healthcare delivery.
• Identify early warning signs of deteriorating health through vigilant monitoring.
• Execute clinical tasks efficiently whilst maintaining attention to detail.
• Work closely with fellow nurses, doctors and clinicians for consistent communication and continued best care practices.
• Assess, plan and implement treatments with precision and care, prioritising patient wellbeing.
• Quickly respond to medical emergencies, working calmly and professionally under pressure.
• Establish positive rapport with patients and families through active listening and compassionate care.
• Administer medication with meticulous attention to detail.
• Administer oxygen and medication to achieve optimum health outcomes.
• Deliver consistently high standards of individualised nursing care, best maintaining patients' health and wellbeing.

Upon completion of this degree, I will hold the level 1 NMC registration required for this role. For the past 11 months as a student Nurse, I will complete the relevant nursing tasks within my area to aid in the delivery of high-quality patient care. As a student Nurse we are responsible for assisting in the provision of care for many medical complaints that can require medical interventions and or medications to manage disease/illnesses.

Within this role I have worked in collaboration with the MDT to implement patient care plans and carry out any tasks required to aid in a patient's recovery, allowing me to further understand the importance of working as a team and as part of the MDT to ensure I can deliver gold standard, evidence-based, safe, effective care. An example of working in collaboration with the MDT, providing effective communication and safe delivery of care would be a patient who was admitted to my bay and had a diagnosis of social anxiety. Once on the ward, I noticed he would keep his curtains continuously closed. Being aware of patient behaviours allows me to accurately assess any patient's needs. After talking to the patient, it was noted the bay environment was exacerbating his social anxiety as the patient expressed that his normal coping mechanism would be to avoid social environments altogether. Vigilance and effective communication allow for accurate risk assessments and planning of care to be completed, aiding in the delivery of high-quality patient care. Taking time to talk to patients is another crucial component of the assessment process, as good communication allows you to build a therapeutic relationship with the patient whilst gaining the relevant information required to implement the evidence-based, person-centred care required. It is also important to ensure I extend these skills to family and other allied healthcare professionals involved in the patient's care to incorporate a patient's holistic needs. After speaking with the patient and gaining his consent I discussed the situation with the doctor and asked if it was possible to move the patient to a side room to help with his social anxiety. The doctor agreed this would be a good idea and the patient was moved. His situation improved and his anxiety reduced during his stay because of the move. I also made a referral to the mental health team available within NUH to ensure there was an MDT approach for the management of his anxiety.

As part of my career path, I have continued in my professional development (CPD) through ongoing professional learning and continue to do so now qualified, as CPD allows practitioners to continue to improve and develop their interpersonal and professional skills in future practice. I have experience leading a team as a nurse and have provided supervision and mentoring of non-registered staff. However, although now qualified I am booked to complete the SSSA supervisor training in May. I am also willing to complete all local competency packages, to ensure that I support staff accordingly. My dissertation covered the four vital themes of leadership, management, supervision, and coaching, so I understand the pivotal role these themes play in delivering high-quality patient care. During my time as a student Nurse, I have continued to advance my skills further to adopt additional responsibilities as a Registered Nurse in leading and managing a team and will ensure I complete any training required so that I can deliver safe, effective care and effective leadership and management skills within my role.

I understand the importance of accurate documentation in nursing, as this is paramount to prove the level of care patients receive. I am able to accurately document any episode of care I deliver and ensure I hold documentation as a priority within my role. I will only use equipment I am trained to use and in the manner that it should be used and understand the risks of using equipment incorrectly. I am currently up to date with my mandatory training but will engage in any further training this role requires. I can undertake manual handling manoeuvres and non-patient manual handling manoeuvres as required.

As a registered nursing associate my day-to-day duties included building therapeutic relationships and the delivery of therapeutic interventions to ensure the implementation of patient care plans. My duties would also include the observations of a patients mental and physical health, administering prescribed medications, attending MDT meetings, observing visits and attending appointments with patients if required. I would also be responsible for liaising with the MDT should this be required, such as social care, safeguarding and patient advocacy. At times I would be responsible for the monitoring of patients that were in seclusion. I would be the responsible key worker of up to two patients. This would also involve having regular 1:1's with them so that I could monitor and assess their needs to ensure they were being met and document and update any changes if noted. If there were any complaints I would also have to document and act on these accordingly. 1:1's also included just a general chat with the service user to embed the therapeutic relationship required within nursing. After any care provided I would then accountable for the accurate documentation and then subsequently update their care plans accordingly.

I have worked for the NHS since July 2016. Previous roles include working as an HCA from 2016-2020 before leaving to complete my FDSc Nursing Associate in January 2020 and then continuing on the complete my BSc Hons in adult nursing in March 2024.

During my first degree, I worked within the scope of practice of a Trainee Nursing Associate until March of 2022. During this two-year degree, I gained many transferable skills, which provided me with a stable foundation to build upon. I was also provided with the relevant experience to gain the skills required to care for adults of all ages and from a variety of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

My day-to-day duties, under the direct guidance of a Registered Nurse, included leading and managing the care of up to 8 patients. An illustration of leading in care would be that if one of my patients had a high NEWS2 score of five or above, it would be my duty to consider sepsis and make sure I reported any concerns to my supervisor, the doctor in charge of the patients care, and the nurse in charge. Additionally, I would have to make sure that, to the best of my ability, I completed any tasks within my scope of practice included in the sepsis 6 bundle to aid in conditions prompt management/treatment.

Due to the high demands of this role, I gained vital time management skills, allowing me to prioritise care using my initiative to complete tasks in order of priority/importance, whilst working as part of a team to ensure all care needs were met. I also understand the importance of safe delegation to ensure care needs are met and I am aware of my responsibilities and accountability when delegating, which can enable me to manage my workload effectively.