Celebrating International Nurses Day: Meet paediatric nurse Ruth Oliver
As part of our International Nurses Day celebrations, we spoke to paediatric nurse Ruth Oliver. She shared her experiences of being redeployed during Covid-19 and what she hopes for the future for her role.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Ruth Oliver and I’m a paediatric nurse. I started at North Mid 14 years ago; I came as a student and have stayed at North Mid my entire career as I loved the experience so much.
I started off as a junior nurse and then I was promoted to senior nurse. I’m usually the deputy ward sister so I’ll be managing the ward, making sure the staff are okay and supporting them with their patients. I’ve also taken on a monthly link role for diabetes in paediatrics so if the paediatric team have any problems then I can bridge the gap between them and the community.
How has your role changed over time?
Nurses are more involved in patient’s plans – previously it was heavily led by the doctors, whereas in the last five years or so, there has been more of a multidisciplinary approach so we all plan together. If it was a long-term patient for example, then the dieticians, physiotherapists, nurses, doctors and consultants all would be involved in the patient’s plan. There would also be a discharge planning meeting where the community would be involved and potentially other hospitals too.
The last year has been a challenging time, but are there any positives that have come out of it?
The pandemic has shown me that I’m able to adapt. In March last year I helped set up Osborne Grove which was our outreach centre for adult patients who didn’t need to be in hospital any more, but couldn’t go home because they didn’t have care packages or they had a positive Covid swab.
We spent the first couple of weeks setting up, ensuring the equipment was safe as well as lots of training — as paediatric nurses we had to learn about the likes of dementia and back care. We were there from March until the summer so you got to know the patients and seeing them get better was incredible. It really felt like you were doing something to help.
The second lockdown I actually went to Great Ormond Street Hospital to support our children - this was a great experience because I was helping the nurses look after general paediatric patients that they hadn’t looked after before. We all came together, teaching each other and learning skills from each other, and it broke down barriers between two different hospitals.
It’s great because I’m still in contact with the people I met at Great Ormond Street, and when I’ve got a question about something I can just email them and they’re happy to help so it’s helped build professional connections as well.
What would you like to see in the future for your role?
Having had this experience of going to a different hospital, learning new skills and then teaching other nurses what I had learnt, it would be great to do that on a regular basis. A lot of hospitals have their own specialities, and so it would be amazing to learn more and experience those specialities, and also being able to have other nurses from other Trusts at North Mid so they can learn from us too. It could be an umbrella of hospitals where knowledge and skills are shared!