‘NURSING HAS HAD SUCH A BIG IMPACT ON HOW I LOOK AT LIFE’
Lucy Bradford, 45, has worked for the NHS since 1995 and is currently advanced clinical practitioner for older persons care in Suffolk.
She lives in Clacton-on-sea, Essex, with her husband and three sons.
It may sound like a cliché, but I always wanted to be a nurse. I remember my great aunt being taken into hospital when I was around seven and I went to visit her with my mum. I loved being on the ward, and was gripped by watching the nurses, and listening to them discussing care and patients.
I followed my dream and began my nursing career when I was 15, with a Saturday job working in a nursing home, before becoming a healthcare assistant in a local hospital. At the age of 19, I began my nursing studies, qualifying in 2000.
Since then, I’ve done everything from 14 years working in an intensive care unit to being part of a critical care outreach programme and working to provide education about sepsis. As part of my career, I’ve also completed a degree in Acute Care and a Masters in Advanced Care.
Working in an ITU is a tough role but incredibly rewarding – you’re looking after the sickest patients and supporting them in their greatest time of need.
The teamwork and sense of camaraderie
‘I have seen first-hand how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away’
is also wonderful in the ITU; everyone has bad days but there is so much support around you.
Of course, one of the greatest challenges I’ve faced during my nursing career was COVID-19. During the pandemic, I went back to the ITU for four months. At the beginning, it was so tough because we were dealing with the unknown – you didn’t know what to expect. It was like standing at the edge of the ocean and waiting for a tsunami to hit you. It was slightly easier for me because of my experience working in ITU, but other nurses were frightened. I found the hardest part was having to video-call the families of patients to say goodbye, as they weren’t able to come into the hospital. That’s why I do my job, though, through the good times and the bad.
I have so many memories of people I’ve helped. On one occasion, I managed to help a woman who had been in a car accident to get home to spend Christmas with her family who lived overseas. I was proud that I’d been part of making that happen.
I feel as though nursing has had such a big impact on how I look at life: I don’t take anything for granted, I don’t procrastinate or put things off, and
I don’t take myself too seriously. I’m not sure I’d be like that if it wasn’t for nursing – I’ve seen first-hand how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away. Nursing means everything to me. I have so much pride in what I do and I can’t imagine ever having done anything else.
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