job seekingWhat type of job are you looking for? I am looking for a nursing job within The Gambia. I am a qualified RGN, with 11 years post reg. experience in all fields of nursing, including orthopaedic, surgical, HDU and emergency care. What nationality are you? British. What languages do you speak (and at what level)? English, fluently. What country or area are you looking to work in and why? The Gambia, preferably in Banjul. My husband is Gambian, and we have been considering to move to the Gambia for some time. We feel the time is right as our children are 2yrs and 4yrs old. We are hoping to settle in the Gambia as our children would very much love the lifestyle and culture and learn their fathers' language. I have visited Gambia many times, including for our Marriage! and love the country and it's people. What field do you currently work in? Surgical assessment unit, emergency care. Within this unit, for the past 4 yrs, I work as a Sister, taking charge of the unit on a daily basis. I have been involved in the set up and running of the unit from its conception. We recieve emergency care patients, bypassing A&E, to fast track them appropriatley. This involves triaging patients and instigating clinical investigations. This covers patients under the care of the Surgery, Urology, Gynaecology, Ear, Nose & Throat, and Orthopaedic specialities. What fields have you worked in before? I have worked on Medical wards, Care of the Elderly wards, Elective and Emergency care Orthopaedic wards, Surgical wards, again caring for both elective and emergency care patients. High Dependency, particularly those who have undergone major, lifethreatening surgery. What qualifications do you hold? Diploma in Nursing Studies, RGN, from University of Surrey. Mentorship Course. High Dependency Course. Phlebotomy and cannulation. IV Additive Course. Leadership & Management Training. Stoma Care Update. Basic Life Support & Intermediate Life Support Training. Blood Transfusion Training. Pharmacy dispensing Training, for Discharge Medications. Conflict Management Training. Infection Control Link Nurse Training. Which do you consider more valuable? Formal education or skills and why? Education and clinical skills go 'hand in hand', neither one of these are useful without the application of the other. I believe that good clinical skills must be used and rationalised with evidence based practice. Describe the benefits of working with others Working with others comes with many benefits, if a team can work co-herently, with all members understanding their role as individuals and as a team this can very much benefit patient care, making nursing more efficient and consistent high levels of nursing care. Being able to ask questions and support others is vital in giving your patients the best care possible. Communication between professionals is paramount for this to work to its full potential. Describe the benefits of working alone The benenfits of working alone can be of greater responsibility and accountability. Knowing you are solely responsible for certain tasks or patient care can give an enormous amount of job satisfaction. This also allows a special relationship to develop between nurse and patient, and can make that patient feel secure and satisfied with the level of consistency they recieve during their care. What was your worst working experience? My worst and most frightening experience was when an angry relative was behaving in a threatening and violent nature towards the nursng staff on a ward. This was frightening as he was a very large man, shouting at the nursing staff in an aggressive manner, and also this happened in open area of the ward in full view of many of the patients, who also found this frightening. Eventually, the hospital security had to attend and this was resolved by removing him from the hospital on this occassion. What is the most important lesson you have learnt throughout your career? Communication is the key. Throughout all my experiences from different specialities, the same communication skills must be applied, whether dealing with an angry relative, a confused or poorly patient, medical staff and nursing colleagues, open communication has always been the key to informed patients making decisions on thier care, to dealing with patients and relatives in avoiding compliants, even if this means saying something they might not want to hear. For example: even if the waiting time for patients to be seen is delayed, they may not like to hear this but would prefer to be kept up to date on progress and this can keep people calm and prevent any compliants in the future. What unique skills do you have? I feel my most unique skills that I posess is communication and people management skills, whether this is dealing with nursing collaegues and student nurses, in a leadership or management role, or dealing with patients and relatives. What would you consider as your 'dream job'? My dream job would be to work in an acute setting, ie:emergency care/ practice center, to be able to triage patients appropriately, educating staff and collaegues in clinical skills. Maybe also to be involved in some form of health education programme, teaching and supporting the community. What are the most interesting aspects of your field? The unit I work in at present has a varied and interesting line of work. As all of the cases are so different, initiating treatment, investigations and seeing how the patient responds to treatment is the most interesting and satisfying part of my job. I also find that managing a team a nurses and staff is also very interesting to me and I take satisfaction to see the team working well together and the unit running smoothly. What are the least interesting aspects of your field? Having to consider outside influences, for example: government targets for waiting times etc.. This occassionaly can impact negatively on patient care, and I feel that these pressures on nurses can alter their performance and priorty of workload. Please replace this with a question of your own If I obtained a job in The Gambia, would this be of an equivalant salary to this country? How can potential employers contact you? E-mail. Lucyandbala@hotmail.com | 
