00:00:01 My name is Sarah Chaney, and my job title is Senior Sister. A Senior Sister involves managing the ward on a day to day basis. It is my responsibility to ensure that the patients have a good experience in hospital, from the moment they come onto the ward, until the moment they're discharged. It is a lot, it is a lot, but it's what I want to do, I'm passionate about it, I love every single minute of my job. It's a worthwhile job I mean that's - I think that's the - the crux of it is, is that it's such a worthwhile job. You go home and you know that you've made a difference in someone's day. Yes, I've always been a very energetic person, yes, I've always had bags of energy. I'm energetic from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed!
00:00:43 As a young child I never thought I'd be a nurse. My family were all nurses, and I have very clear images of my parents coming in and they would finish work at eleven o'clock, I always thought - I don't think that's something that I want to do. I didn't think I'd have the qualifications to do it. It was something that I thought that you needed to have A levels, you needed to be getting straight A's at school. I found my GCSEs very difficult, I struggled with my GCSEs, it wasn't an easy time for me. And I decided that after struggling through studying for two years of GCSEs, that I couldn't do any more study at that time in my life, I just wanted a change. So I just decided to leave education behind for a while. When I left school I decided that I would to do some voluntary work at my local hospital, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I loved every single minute of it. I used to go in every day and I just - every day was different.
00:01:38 And I thought to myself, I could do this. So I got a job as a Health Care Assistant, which is an untrained nurse, and I said to my mother - I'm going to apply to be a nurse. And she supported me the whole way. So I applied to do my training at Addenbrookes. My nurse training was - it was difficult, it was three years, and it was a difficult time for me. And I think if I had had some A-Levels behind me, that might have made it easier. For example if I'd done an A-Level in Biology - Human Biology - it would certainly have made that easier. But I think I'm - at the time I wanted to put my heart and soul into voluntary work.
00:02:11 In ten years time I hope to be a Senior Sister still where I am now. When you go up higher within the nursing profession you move away from patient care, and my focus is patient care. I came into nursing to nurse, I didn't come in to - to just attend meetings that's - it's my passion, my patients are my passion. Definitely the patients energise me, them smiling at me, them being upset and me being able to help them, them coming in very very unwell and leaving well. That's what drives me, definitely.
00:02:42 Nursing has definitely changed me. I was a very very shy and quiet person as a teenager, and it's made me a confident person, it's made me be more trusting in my own abilities, probably that's the biggest thing that nursing has probably changed, for me, is the way I perceive life. Life is very precious - I live every day for - every minute that it gives me, every exposure I have, every experience I have, I go home and think - I did that today, and that's good.
00:03:12 ENDS
Sarah Chaney
Sarah Chaney
My name is Sarah Chaney, and my job title is Senior Sister. A Senior Sister involves managing the ward on a day to day basis. It is my responsibility to ensure that the patients have a good experience in hospital, from the moment they come onto the ward, until the moment they're discharged. It is a lot, it is a lot, but it's what I want to do, I'm passionate about it, I love every single minute of my job. It's a worthwhile job I mean that's - I think that's the - the crux of it is, is that it's such a worthwhile job. You go home and you know that you've made a difference in someone's day. Yes, I've always been a very energetic person, yes, I've always had bags of energy. I'm energetic from the minute I get up to the minute I go to bed!
As a young child I never thought I'd be a nurse. My family were all nurses, and I have very clear images of my parents coming in and they would finish work at eleven o'clock, I always thought - I don't think that's something that I want to do. I didn't think I'd have the qualifications to do it. It was something that I thought that you needed to have A levels, you needed to be getting straight A's at school. I found my GCSEs very difficult, I struggled with my GCSEs, it wasn't an easy time for me. And I decided that after struggling through studying for two years of GCSEs, that I couldn't do any more study at that time in my life, I just wanted a change. So I just decided to leave education behind for a while. When I left school I decided that I would to do some voluntary work at my local hospital, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I loved every single minute of it. I used to go in every day and I just - every day was different.
And I thought to myself, I could do this. So I got a job as a Health Care Assistant, which is an untrained nurse, and I said to my mother - I'm going to apply to be a nurse. And she supported me the whole way. So I applied to do my training at Addenbrookes. My nurse training was - it was difficult, it was three years, and it was a difficult time for me. And I think if I had had some A-Levels behind me, that might have made it easier. For example if I'd done an A-Level in Biology - Human Biology - it would certainly have made that easier. But I think I'm - at the time I wanted to put my heart and soul into voluntary work.
In ten years time I hope to be a Senior Sister still where I am now. When you go up higher within the nursing profession you move away from patient care, and my focus is patient care. I came into nursing to nurse, I didn't come in to - to just attend meetings that's - it's my passion, my patients are my passion. Definitely the patients energise me, them smiling at me, them being upset and me being able to help them, them coming in very very unwell and leaving well. That's what drives me, definitely.
Nursing has definitely changed me. I was a very very shy and quiet person as a teenager, and it's made me a confident person, it's made me be more trusting in my own abilities, probably that's the biggest thing that nursing has probably changed, for me, is the way I perceive life. Life is very precious - I live every day for - every minute that it gives me, every exposure I have, every experience I have, I go home and think - I did that today, and that's good.
ENDS
Sarah's patients are her passion. As senior sister at Addenbrookes hospital she knows she makes a difference and that is why she finds her job so worthwhile. On a personal level nursing has transformed Sarah from a shy and quiet teenager who struggled with her GCSEs, to the confident and self assured person she is today.
As part of icould's continuous development, we plan to include additional material from icould storytellers in the form of Blogs and other information which will enrich their filmed stories. So watch this space!
The tag map below allows you to explore some of the many stories here on icould.
