Charlotte Kenny

• Year of graduation: 2018

I chose BSc in Adult Nursing as I had worked in healthcare both in the acute and ac community setting since the age of 16 and wanted to progress my knowledge as well as prove to myself that I could do it.  Nursing has always been a huge part of my life with my gran, aunt and mother being Nurses themselves, seeing the hard work they put in day in, and day out inspired me to follow in their footsteps. My sisters have also followed down the care route, one in elderly care and the other in mental health.

I had looked at going to university away from my home in Northampton but at the time the University of Northampton (UON) provided everything I wanted and expected from the course. I attended an open day at the previous campus, in Kingsthorpe at the time, and loved the airy feel and space of the campus, the welcoming smiles, and the size of the canteen! Not to mention the 96% success rate of the course, this is now 98% I believe, and Northampton has been named in the top 5 universities for Nursing in the Country. These things are very important to me.

Although I knew half of my time would be in classrooms and half on placement, I was apprehensive of how the classroom work would be conducted. I left school after my GCSE’s and went to college for my A levels, before working full time and travelling, so it was some years later that I decided to go back to education. I did not have a great experience through my GCSE’s and felt anxious that this may come back to haunt me at university.   However, these fears were unfounded as I realised when I first stepped into the hall on my first day. I along with my peers were treated as adults, not children, there was adult conversation, expectation, and ownership. This was our course, we owned it, we got out of it what we wanted. I relished in that concept and sat beady eyed with the mindset of a sponge and lapped it up. I absolutely loved the classroom work and miss it greatly even now.

My prior experience before coming to university meant I had worked at Northampton General Hospital (NGH) for 5 years before enrolling, I wanted to experience a different trust, see how they do things, did I like that better? Also working with those who didn’t know me gave me a chance to reset the level of expectation, no one knew my abilities or knowledge, a clean slate and fresh sponge ready to absorb. So, I requested Kettering General Hospital (KGH) as part of my placements.

Whilst working on placement in KGH, I completed terms in day case surgery, elderly medicine, stroke units, district nursing, assessment wards and with several teams who collaborate with those areas. I was very supported by my mentors in each area and was able to complete all my competencies through PebblePad. I was fortunate enough to consistently work alongside Nurses to learn the processes behind medication rounds, admissions, and discharges, escalating deteriorating patients and the general workings of the NHS trust.  Although I knew I wasn’t a born and bred surgical nurse like my gran, I had the best time in the surgical placement and learnt so much from my mentor, it definitely made me question where I wanted to work after qualifying, but in the end I realised I quite liked my patients awake so I could speak to them and not under general anaesthetic.

My placements benefitted me in providing a range of experiences and knowledge in several different areas. I was fortunate enough to see what roles Nurses performed in the trust, their responsibilities, and the breadth of influence they achieved. The confidence I received was incredible, I was your stereotypical 1st year when starting out at university, despite being older than most of my peers, I did what I was told and followed my mentor around like a lost sheep.   By the end of my placements, I was using my initiative and anticipating jobs that needed doing, I spoke confidently with patients and those that were important to them and even spoke up on ward rounds when I felt patient needs were not being advocated for by the Doctors; something I take great pride in doing even now.  Once my placements were completed, I had a firm view of where my future lied, what kind of Nurse I wanted to be and equally important, what kind of Nurse I did not want to be. The path I wished to walk once qualifying was set, I just needed to pass.

Throughout my placements I became proficient in a number of IT programmes used throughout the trust and nationwide like ICE, Mediviewer, SystmOne and EDN. I was confident in my handovers and able to escalate appropriately. I was able to sign off all my competencies through PebblePad and completed reflective accounts on areas of specific importance such as effective communication, deteriorating patients and symptom management. I became a fairly reliable touch-typer and could perform cannulation, venepuncture and ECG’s.

Whilst on placement I received amazing feedback from patients and those who were important to them, I could manage my time and prioritise the days’ workload as required and I was also able to document clearly and concisely to ensure everything that concerned the care of the patients was handed over and actioned were appropriate.

Placements helped me gain employment after graduating by giving me the knowledge and confidence in how wards and hospitals run and what values need to be upheld in order to maintain the best possible standard of care. Although trusts and wards differ in many aspects, the fundamentals are the same no matter where you work; the best individual care and safety of the patients is paramount, and we treat those we care for and each other with respect, courtesy, and compassion. Understanding these core values helped me show that I am a Nurse worthy of employing and one that will happily work as part of a multidisciplinary team to achieve great standards of care.

My top tips for placements are when applying, express where you have worked before if any, and where you would like to gain experience. Speak to those areas and express your interest in gaining a placement there.

To get the most out of your placement, request and schedule insight days with teams that work alongside those areas. For example, when I worked on the stroke unit, I spent a day with the speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, nutritionist, physiotherapists and neurology doctors. Any team that came onto the unit, I found out who they were what they did and asked I could shadow them for a day.

If you’re a student and about to start your nursing placement, always carry a pocket notebook, take plenty of pens (some will go ‘missing’). Jot down everything you have done and learnt that day, then once you get home, spend no more than hour going through it to solidify what you have learnt and write down any questions you may have for the next day.

Throw yourself into it, for 3 years become a ‘yes’ person, do not say no to an opportunity as you don’t know where it may lead and people may stop offering them to you if you say no.  Even if you think you know something, a process, a condition, a medication, listen and ask when others tell you about them as they may mention something you didn’t know before or put it in a way that suddenly makes more sense, or relates it to something else that you were unsure of.

During my time studying, I took part in lots of extra-curricular activities. Along with 3 of my peers from adult and mental health nursing, we set up the Nurses Society in our first year, ambitious I know but we were and still are high achievers and were unfazed by the reasons as to why there wasn’t one already or others remarks on time and resources that we did not possess. It was a great experience, and we were supported with further IT programme skills, accountancy skills and access to funding to support our wild ideas. We made changes to the menus in the canteen, providing healthier options, allergy listings and ensuring there was a vegetarian and gluten free options daily for our ever-growing student base and faculty. We attended job fairs and spoke on open days about enrolling into the variety of Nursing courses and shared concerns and values of the cohorts to our course leads. Having extra-curricular activities on your CV is always a pro when applying for jobs in future, it set me apart from others and also provided the employers with knowledge that I could multitask well, I was interested in going above and beyond, I wanted to get the most out of my opportunities and relished in quality improvements for my peers.

My studies have helped my career. During my studies my Personal Academic Tutor and course leads noticed that I had traits of dyslexia. I had not been diagnosed with this previously but had always struggled with my writing skills. With the support of the university, I went through an official assessment and received the diagnosis of dyslexia I needed to gain the individual support required to fulfil my potential. Without this I do not believe I would understand the ‘quirks’ I have, the coping mechanisms I have put in place intuitively and pass my degree with First Class Honours. I now see my dyslexia as a gift more than a hindrance, I see things differently to others, I think out of the box, I tackle problems in a different way and my perspective can be wildly dissimilar from that of my peers. This gives me the ability to pitch new ideas, problem solve and implement quality improvements that others have not thought of before.   I have always strived to do the best I possibly can and love academics so with the support and experience of Northampton University I have continued down the clinical academics route and continue to apply for educational opportunities where possible.

My career progression to date started after qualifying in 2018 I went straight to Accident and Emergency as a newly qualified nurse for 4 years. During this time, I worked through my band 5 competencies to become a senior band 5 and then applied and was promoted to Junior Sister in 3 years.   Whilst working as a Junior Sister in A&E I was offered a secondment for the Director of Nursing Fellowship with Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), where I was fortunate enough to spend a year shadowing three CNS teams of my choosing; Palliative care, Safeguarding and Acute Pain Team. The insight I gained of each team and how they work within the trust was invaluable and I took that knowledge back to A&E in the form of quality improvement initiatives which are ongoing and utilised today. I was also welcomed by the teams to offer my advice and ideas on how they could better engage with Nurses and education in A&E and trust wide. Following my completion of the fellowship, I took on the role of Regional Representative for DoN Fellows and work collaboratively with trusts in the east midlands on how the fellowship is going and our plans for future cohorts. I am also available to offer mentorship for our current cohort of fellows.

As a result of the fellowship, I realised a passion for teaching, sharing knowledge and experience and making educational offerings more applicable to emergency nursing. I am now working in Practice Development for Medicine and Urgent Care, I facilitate training of CNS teams, teach accredited programmes to Nurses and Healthcare Support Workers and lead on an Urgent Care Assessment Course with a Sister on A&E for urgent care Nurses. I continue to widen my skills and knowledge through completing the Professional Nurse Advocate course, SAGE and THYME foundation communication facilitator and attend conferences and webinars where my diary allows.  My plans for the future are to get back into clinical nurse specialist care and advance my practical nursing and communication skills further. Hopefully a band 7 role is on the horizon.

The skills and knowledge around communication I learned from my degree have been invaluable, respect and time management have been vital and transferable from my degree to my current role. I believe that my understanding of my dyslexia has improved my empathy and understanding of other learning difficulties, disabilities, and neurodiversity across the trust not just in terms of my peers but also the patients I come in contact with daily. This means I feel better prepared to advocate for those people and make reasonable adjustments where possible to make them experience much more familiar and stress free.

In my spare time, I also take part in a lot of charity work such as completing challenges for fundraising events, I have raised money for stillborn and neonatal deaths (SANDs) charity, Alzheimer’s, Crohn’s disease, and Motor Neurone Disease. I am a Armed Forces Champion for the trust and take part in the Connect, Explore, Improve group where any members of staff trust wide can gather to make improvements to how the department or trust works and connect with those who may be able to help.

The one piece of advice I would give undergraduates is to attend open days of all your local trusts to gain insight into development programmes, support and opportunities that you might be interested it.

My experience at UON in 10 words are:  Welcoming, Revolutionary, Exciting, Innovative, Overwhelming, Supportive, Nurturing, Warm, Unrivalled, Excellence.