It takes many different people with diverse roles, skills and backgrounds to provide the very best care. This year through our Moments in Care series, we look forward to introducing you to some of the incredible people who come to work in our hospital each and every day.
In our first Moments in Care profile, meet our Emergency Centre’s Clinical Nurse Manager, Cindy.
Like many other healthcare workers, Cindy has found the pandemic to be challenging, especially given the extra responsibility of her management duties and juggling the risk that COVID has posed to her patients and team.
A nurse for almost 20 years, Cindy joined our Buderim Private Hospital team in 2019, first in a patient flow role before accepting a role to lead our Emergency Centre’s nursing team.
“I love working as a nurse in all areas of my role. I get great satisfaction from caring for those who are vulnerable and seeking medical advice. I feel I can provide patients and families with safe and supportive care. I can relate to their fears having been a patient in a vulnerable position myself,” Cindy said.
“I equally love my management duties as I get to support our staff to strive and develop both themselves and our service as we grow. It brings me great pleasure to be able to support and encourage our team to come up with new ideas and positive ways of working,” she said.
What made you decide to become a nurse?
Originally I wanted to be an airline hostess and see the world whilst being paid but in those days, you had to be aged 21 to become an international air hostess so I ended up starting my nursing degree immediately after I left year 12. I loved every part of my training and completely forgot about any intentions of becoming an air hostess. I feel I am blessed to be one of those rare and lucky people who chose their passion from the very start of their career.
What do you like about nursing?
Working in Emergency gives me a wide variety of skills and knowledge and it’s an exciting atmosphere since no two days are the same. We have a unique environment where we have to be able to multitask and work calmly under pressure whilst ensuring our patients get a gold standard service and feel in control of their journey.
What are some of the challenges right now?
COVID, what can I say. We never thought we would still be challenged with it over two years later.
During the COVID pandemic, members of our community have often been afraid to seek healthcare for fear of being exposed to the virus. We found our patients to be profoundly more unwell due to extended periods of waiting at home before seeking help. We had a dramatic increase in phone calls seeking advice and reassurance. Patients and families require extra support and education about COVID to help relieve their fears or even to discuss their own worries. Caring for the community during an unknown pandemic is exhausting.
It has been a challenge seeing some of our team contracting COVID and riding the wave of uncertainty. Our Emergency Team are very supportive of each other, which is beautiful to see. We have vested interest in the health and safety of our patients and each other.
How challenging has it been wearing extra PPE?
Wearing full PPE has been tiring for all of us in the Emergency Centre. We have become more aware of reminding our staff to take regular breaks and rehydrate. Given we care for the aging population, our patients and families require extra time to clearly articulate their concerns and information due to the barrier of mask-wearing. Despite the discomfort and heat when wearing full PPE, our Emergency staff understand its importance and have maintained wearing full PPE for the safety of ourselves, our families and our patients.
How are you caring for your wellbeing right now?
I have made a conscious effort to attend to my own health and mental requirements by exercising outdoors at least four times a week. I make sure I see the sunrise at least twice a week including a brief meditation, reflection or moment of gratitude moment. I also love adding a learning into my week which can either be from myself or from my children.