Case studies : Paediatric nurse: Sarah Phipps

Sarah works at Birmingham Children’s Hospital as a paediatric nurse (junior sister) in the renal transplant unit. Sarah did a degree in nursing followed by a specialist course in paediatric nephrology.

I had experience of children’s nursing due to an illness in my family when I was young and from then on I knew I wanted to work in a hospital, I was fascinated by them. I went to college, did my A-levels and then started my nursing degree.

I got most of my experience initially on placements during my degree course. I was mentored while on a placement and learned lots of practical nursing skills such as gastric feeding, wound dressing and administering medication.

It was while I was on a placement at Birmingham Children’s Hospital that a job came up. I applied for it and got the job.

I went from being a general paediatric nurse to working on a renal ward and now work as a junior sister in renal transplant. I educate families about renal transplants prior to a child’s operation. I also have more responsibility for patient care and I oversee medical tests and results. Other tasks are listing patients for transplants, organising investigations and organising clinics.

In terms of my future I would like to stay in renal care but in a permanent position, as my current role is a secondment.

The best part of my job is definitely the patient contact and being involved with the families. A good relationship with a sick child’s family is very rewarding.

The downside to nursing these days is the amount of paperwork we have to do. Patient trauma and death are also negative points of the job.

I think anyone who wants to get into children’s nursing these days and do well in the profession needs to stand out from the crowd and be truly passionate about the job. I would say that when you are going for a job in this field you should do some serious research before the interview, to show that you are keen. When I went for the job on the renal ward I did a lot of research into the subject of renal medicine and this came through in my interview. The competition is quite stiff these days so passion and interest will mark you out as exceptional.