Laura

I work in Altnagelvin Hospital Emergency Department, as a Band 5 Staff Nurse and have done so for three and half years.

Enjoyable aspects of the job

I enjoy working within Emergency Department as it’s a constant challenge and each day we are faced with varying illness and injuries. I also believe as a nurse within the Emergency Department we see patients and their relatives at their sickest and most vulnerable.

As an Emergency Nurse I try to make a difference in the patient’s journey by delivering person centred safe and efficient care. I love working within the Emergency Department; we have a great team of nurses, doctors, emergency nurse practitioners, health care assistants and varying other members of the multi-disciplinary team.  The excellent working relationships and camaraderie between us supports reflective practice and opportunities to team debrief if required. Learning from reflective practice is hugely important in improving patient care and aligned to NMC revalidation.

Post registration Education

Since taking up my post within the Emergency Department and to support my practice and develop my skills I have undertaken various education programmes including:

Intermediate Life Support (ILS)
Paediatric life support (PLS)
Acute Life Threatening Events Recognition and Treatment ALERT

Within the last year I have successfully completed my NMC mentorship programme which allows me to support pre-registration nursing students on placement within the Emergency Department.  I recently mentored my first student which was hugely rewarding as I supported them to meet their learning objectives. I would really recommend becoming a mentor as it is such a privilege to teach nurture and support students who have never worked in an Emergency Department. The NMC code states that as a nurse you must ‘share your skills, knowledge and experience for the benefit of people receiving your care and your colleagues – support students’ and colleagues’ learning to help them develop their professional competence and confidence’.

Advice for those considering the type of job/role

For anyone interested in working within Emergency Department I would recommend it. It is a place where you work across all fields of nursing practice and you gain a wide understanding of all specialties.  I enjoy coming to work each day and not knowing what we may get through the doors.  Prior to my arrival in the department I read ‘Emergency Nurse’ Journal and Emergency nursing books to gain knowledge on what to expect, I still would read regularly to keep my knowledge up to date.

Emergency nursing has good days and challenging days but the good days by far outweigh the challenging ones.