‘My dedicated nurses inspired me to join the profession’
RCNi student nurse award winner says the care she received while recovering from sepsis made her want to be a nurse
Picture: Tim George
I was working in microbiology when I contracted sepsis. I was being transferred from one hospital to another with a PICC (peripherally inserted central cathter) line in place, but my paperwork did not come with me. No one had a record of how long the line had been in place, and it became infected.
At one point I was given a 15% chance of survival. The care I received throughout my long recovery made me determined to become a nurse. I decided I wanted to be that person making a difference to patients.
From my hospital bed, I began a distance learning nursing course.
Watch: RCNi Nurse Awards 2018 Student Nurse winner Katie Dutton on her winning project
‘She fought for me every step of the way’
There were two nurses who especially inspired me with the amazing way they cared for me. One was a pain nurse at Lister Hospital in Stevenage.
‘I decided I wanted to be that person making a difference to patients’
I was in real pain, but the doctors were saying to me ‘you shouldn’t be feeling pain’ and because the urinary tract condition was so rare, the doctors didn’t know what to do. It took a year to diagnose the condition and have the subsequent reconstruction I needed.
My nurse was amazing, a strong advocate for her patient. She fought for me every step of the way, even when it was probably not great for her to be doing it. She never gave up.
began a distance learning nursing course
The second nurse who had a big impact on me was an intensive treatment unit nurse who looked after me when I was recovering in ITU from major internal reconstructive surgery at University College Hospital in London.
She was trying to encourage me to get up out of bed, but mentally I could not do it. I was terrified that the wound on my stomach would burst open. I had received groundbreaking surgery and was afraid.
Reminded me how far I had come
This nurse really bigged me up. She told me how strong I was, kept telling me how far I had come. She reminded me that I had been strong enough to study while recovering.
She kept supporting me and encouraging me and eventually she gave me the confidence to stand up, to get out of bed.
A few days later, after I had been transferred to the ward, she came to see me. It was Christmas day and she brought me a card and a small present. I was really touched that she had taken time out of her day for me.
I am in the second year of my university degree now. When I qualify, I want to be the kind of nurse that those two nurses are.
Katie Dutton is a second-year adult nursing student at De Montfort University in Leicester, and our 2018 Andrew Parker Student Nurse Award winner