Becoming A Children’s Nurse – The Right Path For Me

Being a nurse is about giving and caring for a patient and their loved ones and being their advocate. Holding someone’s hand and being there for every low but also every high. Working long hours to ensure that you are that difference between a life and death situation. Feeding someone when they cannot do it themselves and being their voice when they are not able to use their own. For me, nursing is already a part of who I am and the thought of being the reason that someone can start making their next steps on the way to recovery makes me feel so much satisfaction and fulfillment.

My heart first became set on becoming a children’s nurse as a child after I spent a period of time in hospital. Watching the nurses on the ward, I could see the care and compassion they had for their patients. Nurses make such a huge difference in so many lives and being part of someone’s recovery must be the most rewarding feeling. Seeing how nurses can cope, even in the most difficult circumstances made me realize that this is what I am going to do with my own life.

As a children’s nurse, there will be challenging and difficult times but I will always be able to provide comfort and care when a child is at their lowest point, ensuring that I am looking after the whole family. There is nothing else that I would rather do. Even through the long, around the clock shifts, this is something that I know I would do best and I would wake up every day looking forward to getting to know each child and meeting their needs in the best way that I can. I attended a placement at a school for children with additional needs. This was such a rewarding experience and I learnt so much about how different children need to receive different types of care to benefit them in the best way. On this placement I helped feed and dress the children. I joined them in swimming lessons and outdoor play as well as rebound therapy and soft play to help them to develop new skills. Working with children has always been something I have been good at because I’m an empathetic and compassionate person and this placement helped me develop even more skills related to working with children. The feeling of empowering the children and helping them to make their own decisions made me feel so proud and fortunate to be able to be in that position. I talked to some nurses at the school who told me how rewarding nursing has been for them and made me feel so encouraged and positive about my future. As a nurse I know that I will always be learning new skills as research develops and it excites me to know that no two days will ever be the same. I have attended a medical school lecture course and Newcastle University which helped me so much with my research into university and taught me so much about the different professions. In 2016 I started my first job for a company called tumble tots. I worked with young children and their parents, encouraging them to learn new skills and helping their parents to understand how to help their child stay safe and active.

I qualified as a beach lifeguard in May this year after taking lifesaving lessons, as well as competing as a lifeguard. I joined a swimming club at the age of eight and went onto join a lifesaving club at the age of eleven after spending years being interested in first aid, and wanting to learn how to help people since I was young. I learnt how to help people in all areas of first aid, including how to do CPR. At lifeguard training, I often enjoyed teaching a group of children myself, to help them learn first aid and water safety which was extremely rewarding. When I did my beach lifeguard course I learnt how to deal with all types of casualties, including how to help people when they are injured or unconscious in the water. I feel that doing lifesaving for the past few years has demonstrated how passionate I am about helping people and ensuring the health and wellbeing of the people around me. This gave me the confidence I need to know that I can achieve what I want to and that I will be the right person for this career and course. Since 2010, I have kept 100% attendance through school and college which highlights that I am a reliable person who prioritizes work. I feel like this reflects how I will be as a nurse. I have great teamwork skills, which I believe will always be important in every situation, especially when giving the best care to a child and their family. I love learning new things every day and pushing myself to improve my skills is very important to me. Working under pressure is something I have always been good at and I will always do everything I can to care for people to the best of my ability.

The idea of being an advocate for a child and their family is so important to me and I think every person should be made to feel empowered. I believe that it will be a privilege to be a nurse and to always be there to serve people, offer compassion and love and always make sure I’m there to support them through everything. Although there are extremely challenging moments that come with being a nurse, this is what I know I am good at. I am extremely enthusiastic about my future in this career and I know that this is the right path for me.