At home on the ward

As a child Rachael Johnson had extensive experience of hospital from the patient’s point of view. She’s now using that experience to inform her work as a nurse on a children’s ward

I’m a Children’s Nurse and work on an oncology ward at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Before I started this job, I spent just over a year at the Evelina Children’s Hospital where I worked on general, renal and cardiac wards.

Throughout my training I had a really bad time and was treated unfairly because of my disability. But since I started working the staff have been amazing and treat me no differently to any other nurse. It’s been absolutely brilliant, I’ve loved every minute of it.

I had a kidney transplant aged seven and I’d been on dialysis for four years before that. I’ve spent a lot of time in hospital and nurses have been like my second family.

I wanted to be a nurse so I could do the same for other children and I thought that my knowledge of spending time in hospital would be really useful too.

My job involves monitoring patients’ test results, giving them medication and attending to their hygiene needs. But it’s also important that their experience of being in hospital is not a horrible one, so I also spend time playing games and making them laugh too.

Some children are in for a long time so their parents need a lot of emotional support.

They often need a lot of teaching too so that they know how to care for their children at home.

Sometimes the children say “you’re too small to be a nurse” and I find it hilarious.

They don’t mean it in a nasty way, it shows that they’re inquisitive and it’s good for them to pick up on it. I laugh with them which I suppose is a good way to build a rapport and develop a fun relationship with them.

There are things that are too high for me to reach but I wouldn’t say that there’s anything that I can’t do on the ward; I’ve found ways to adapt from such a young age that it’s easy now. There are steps to climb on to reach medication on high shelves in store rooms, I use a trolley if I have to move a stack of heavy boxes and the beds move up and down so I can change the bedding easily.

The one most important characteristic you need to be a good nurse is passion for the work. My shifts are twelve and a half hours and you can’t give good patient care if you don’t enjoy your job. Nursing is something you either want to do or you don’t and if you’re not sure it’s something you want to do, I don’t think you’ll make a good nurse.

• Rachael Johnson was talking to Sunil Peck


Rachael Johnson: Career Path

• 2004 – Left La Sagesse school in Newcastle with A-levels in maths, accounting and geography.
• 2009 – Graduated with a degree in Children’s Nursing.
• 2009 – Started working at the Evelina Children’s Hospital.