A Nurse

In the past couple of years frontline healthcare workers have been right at the forefront - and nobody more than our hospital nurses. It's one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs out there. We sat down with Mirri Slavin to chat about what it's like being an on-call nurse!

MIRRI SLAVIN: NURSE

Can you describe a typical day on the job?

Honestly no there is no typical day and no way to describe your day quickly in nursing! But one thing is always the same rarely do we leave on time. In eight hours you have to fit in a set of obs give four sets of meds abulate toilet dress clean and more– for a minimum of four patients usually around 6-7. That doesn’t even begin to cover your extras wound dressings new admissions discharges ICU step downs and medical emergencies. Honestly there’s no way to explain what a typical day is. 

Why did you choose to become a nurse?

If I’m being 100% honest I chose to go into nursing because I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted a job where I could use my people skills and my science skills. However while studying I had a lot of doubts about whether or not I had what it takes. I found inspiration in a nurse named Irena Sendler a nurse who smuggled 2 500 children out of ghettos imposed by the Nazis in the second world war.

What are three key personality aspects or skills that make for a good nurse?

Compassion is a huge part of the job and I don’t just mean having sympathy for the 90 year old lady with the broken hip you have to have compassion even for the person screaming at you from across the room. At times it can be really difficult to have compassion I try to remind myself that if I were the one in the hospital bed I probably wouldn’t be particularly well put together either.

Another skill needed for nursing is being able to work on very little sleep at times– there have been days where I’ve started work at 13:30 finished the next morning at 07:30 and started at 16:00 the same day (it’s also good to get your 24 hour time skills in check).

Lastly you need to be resilient. There are times where you will be immensely challenged in nursing in lots and lots of different ways; but being resilient being able to understand the patient’s daughter is yelling at you because she’s scared for her mother being able to walk out of the room where a patient has passed away and keep doing your job. Don’t misunderstand me we aren't just immune to sadness and you will need support but you need to be able to compartmentalize. 

What have you learned about yourself through the work that you do?

I’ve learned that I’m made of much tougher stuff than I thought. Although you see some amazing and occasionally beautiful things happen around the hospital you also see really sad things really uncomfortable things and sometimes you’re just yelled at by a patient for no reason.

That being said the longer I’m in this job the tougher my skin gets; but that doesn’t mean I’ve compromised on passion. I think there is a huge misconception that you can’t be made of the 'tough stuff' and still be sweet and caring but it’s simply not true – you cannot witness someone pass away and ten minutes later reassure someone else that their surgery will go fine if you're not both tough and compassionate. I think the biggest thing I’ve learnt about myself is that I am just as tough and resilient as I am kind and empathetic. 

What’s been your best moment while doing your work?

When I was finishing my second year of nursing I was leaving a cancer centre (think a chemo and transfusion clinic). Most of the patients there were regulars– you would see the same people at least once a fortnight for their chemo IVIG blood transfusions etc. I knew about almost all of patients lives what their kids were doing how long they had been married where they were vacationing that year etc. In the last week several patients brought in chocolates cards and many of them were teary to see me go I was teary to say goodbye to them. Those patients saw me for about 2 hours once every 2-4 weeks I worked there for about a year which means that those patients each spent around 24-80 hours with me in total depending on what treatment they were getting.

My best moment in nursing was realising what a huge impact I had had on the lives of these people in such a small amount of time. Every single card is on my fridge I even kept chocolate wrappers and a broken pen a patient gave me.

And a difficult moment?

I had a patient who was in respiratory failure. When my shift started, he was not doing well, we had to put him on high levels of oxygen, called multiple rapid responses, and finally managed to get his oxygen saturation above 95%, the minimum requirement to be considered “okay”. I had called the respiratory ward to hand him over, we were going to move him there for respiratory treatment we don’t do on my unit. I went to check on him and in a second, his oxygen dropped to 76%, despite still being on 10 litres of oxygen. I called a medical emergency, but within minutes, he passed away. I went for my break, I called my mother, and I couldn’t even get words out, I just cried and cried. 

How do you keep going when things get really tough?

Well for starters, I see a therapist and make sure that I make use of the staff counseling service. But a big part of it is leaning on the nurses around you. At the end of the day, you can really know the ins and outs of this job without being there and doing it, the only other people that know what you’re going through are other nurses. But I make use of my downtime and sick leave, if I need a mental health day, I take one.

Are there any surprising or odd things that people wouldn't expect in this career?

90% of your patients are going to be nice, normal people, the other 10%, absolute weirdos.

I’ve been asked if a blood transfusion can change your personality, why bed bugs are such a big deal, if we can give raw eggs instead of blood, and much, much more. 

Can you share a funny or weird story about something you experienced while working on a project?

I was once knocked out by a patient who was 101 years old… at least I got the day off after that, because I am a wimp.

What advice would you give to young people thinking of pursuing a career in this industry?

I know it seems intimidating, difficult and tiring, but I promise you it’s worth it. You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. 

Our healthcare workers are some of the most hard-working, compassionate and driven people out there. Skillsroad is proud to acknowledge the thousands of things that nurses and other frontline healthcare workers do on a daily basis to keep us safe and save lives - the real superheroes. 

Think you've got what it takes to become a healthcare hero? Take our Careers Quiz now to test yourself against over 300 different careers to tell if you've got what it takes to become one of these heroes too.