As part of our focus on nurses from Fife and Tayside for International Nurses Day, we talked to nurses about their career highs and lows.
There are 62,346 NHS nurses working in Scotland. Of those, 3780 nurses work for NHS Fife, 92% of them female.
We spoke to three who all carry out different roles.
Alison Orr started as a nurse just a year ago in Ward 51 at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
She decided to retrain after being made redundant from her role as an Onboard Manager with British Airways.
During the pandemic, this was the ward used to treated patients with Covid-19.
“I had to get up to speed really fast. And I’d say my career high and low was the same day.
“We’d had a very challenging night. A patient had gone into respiratory failure and sadly passed away.
“It was a desperately sad and hard night.
“We only have 10 rooms on the ward and you can’t help but develop a relationship with people.
“Two of us decided to walk the family back to their car and although we wanted to, we couldn’t even hug them and that was really hard.
“We managed to keep it together, but once we were back inside the hospital, we burst into tears.
“We just both stood and cried.
“After going back to the ward the nurse in charge gave us time. She made us a cuppa and gave us the chance to regroup. Being part of a team like that makes it feel like we are a family. We all went into it together and came out of it together.”
Nicola Robertson, Associate Director of Nursing has been in nursing for 30 years.
She admits there are more opportunities to carve out different careers and futures within the profession, which is a welcome step forward.
“The developments in nursing during the course of my career have been huge.
“The potential for nurses to further their careers now has never been better and there are lots of different routes into nursing too.
“Nurses can train to become highly specialised in their field, advanced practitioners, train in other areas or go into research for example.”
But for Nicola, one thing still remains the same.
“Nurses are here to deliver the best care possible and come to work to deliver a high standard of care.”
Amy Piper is a Family Nurse Supervisor who has been working in the NHS for over 30 years.
The Family Nurse Partnership is a nurse-led service which supports first-time young parents, building their confidence and helping them to make positive choices.
The programme begins early in pregnancy, with Family Nurses visiting their client regularly at home offering guidance in a number of areas including child development, parenting skills, breastfeeding, diet, education, and employment.
Working together more with the mums and families has been the biggest change she has seen and gives a fresh approach to delivering the best care.
She said: “What we know is appreciated is that the mums have one professional the whole way through. We get to know them well, they learn to trust us and talk.
“It gives them experience of a positive relationship with a professional. It’s a partnership – they are experts in their own lives and what is right for them.”
- If you would you like to thank a nurse who has made the difference, please let us know by emailing healthandwellbeing@thecourier.co.uk