Jade Wightman

Jade Wightman

Staff Nurse, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit

When did you graduate and what degree did you complete?

I completed my 3 year degree in Child Nursing at Canterbury Christ Church University August 2015, graduating in January 2016.

Tell us about your current role – what does it entail?

I am now working in paediatric intensive care in a big London teaching hospital. My current role as a paediatric staff nurse entails caring for the most severely ill children who are highly dependent on the care you are able to provide, for example providing supportive ventilation.

We perform life saving interventions by applying crisis management techniques in order to stabilise patients. When I told people that paediatric intensive care was where I wanted to work when I qualified, most people doubted my decision due to the intensity of the environment along with the skill level and confidence that it requires of a single individual. However, my tutor and the Faculty at Christ Church always encouraged me to push myself, to strive to be the best to allow me to get to where I wanted to be, and to settle for nothing less. The nurses that I currently work with now have been extremely supportive and have provided me with invaluable opportunities that I believe would only have arisen in this specialist area of paediatric nursing. 

What excites you most about your work?

The best part of my job is being able to provide the quality and standard of care I came into nursing for. We often get assigned 1-2 children depending on their acuity level. Being able to provide one to one care really allows a trustworthy therapeutic relationship to be formed between nurse, child and their family. In turn, this allows for the needs of the child and family to be met whilst offering a caring attitude when the utmost support is required during this time in their lives.

One thing about paediatric intensive care though is that it's an extremely busy environment, the children certainly keep you on your toes. You have to be able to work well under pressure, remaining calm, structured and focused at all times, as situations can all change extremely quickly.

What advice would you give students trying to get into your profession?

One piece of advice I would give to future students is to keep organised from the very beginning, this course is not for the half hearted. Start work as soon as it is set in order to meet deadlines.

You will find many of the modules will run alongside each other meaning occasionally you will have more than one piece of work to complete within the same timeframe, as well as also completing set placement hours. This is a manageable degree, it requires a lot of hard work but the reward at the end of it is incredible. Ask all of the questions you can to get every piece of knowledge out of the programme that is provided by Christ Church and the local placement network in order to become the best health professional you can be at the end of the programme.

In what ways did studying at Christ Church prepare you for your current role?

Studying at Christ Church allowed me to gain an insight into the roles that would be available to me once qualified as a registered nurse. In my experience the support of staff at the university was incredible, and I received fast responses to emails regarding placement and assignment queries.

The child nursing team are very much holistically aware of their pupils keeping in mind that most students have additional stresses such as living away from home and settling in to a new environment, I myself being one of those people. The programme itself was very well organised, lectures were very informative and a variety of assessment criteria were used, such as; written assignments, presentations and group work. 

Do you have a favourite memory of your time at Christ Church?

My best memory of studying at Christ Church is my final day of placement and last day in university, celebrating the journey with a great group of friends I trained with. We were all able to reflect on our individual and professional progress from starting the degree to reaching the very end. Proud is an understatement.

"...my tutor and the Faculty at Christ Church always encouraged me to push myself, to strive to be the best to allow me to get to where I wanted to be, and to settle for nothing less."

Jade Wightman, Child Nursing Alumna
 

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Last edited: 25/02/2020 14:45:00