International Nurses Day: Megan's story

Megan knew she wanted to be a nurse from the very start.

Megan says: “I started my nurse training when I was 19, but I knew I wanted to be a nurse when I was two years old.

“When I was a child I had surgery on my eye – in those days children weren’t communicated with, the doctors just spoke to your parents, but I remember my mum being really upset that I had to go into hospital. Parents couldn’t stay with their children on the ward, and I was painfully shy as a child, so being alone in hospital was terrifying. But this lovely nurse came into my room and ate breakfast with me and just talked to me. Her kindness made me feel so comfortable and totally inspired me – I knew that’s who I wanted to be when I grew up.”

Megan’s unconventional early career shaped her nursing ambitions, and she wanted a role that allowed her to work more closely with families.

Megan explains: “I trained at Great Ormand Street Hospital and then spent three years working in Romanian orphanages. It was a really amazing experience and when I came back, I found it difficult to find a role that was as satisfying as working in Romania. I loved being able to look after the kids, getting to know them and really understanding their needs. I met a trustee of a children’s hospice and they asked if I’d ever considered hospice care, but I thought it sounded so depressing. However, they convinced me it wasn’t like that, and I saw a job in a children’s hospice in Devon, so I went to visit. I fell in love with the place and worked there for over a year, until I had to come back home to look after my dad. I worked at Demelza’s Kent hospice for 18 months, and I’ve been working in paediatric palliative care ever since, either in the community, in hospices or in tertiary palliative care teams, before rejoining Demelza at the South East London hospice.”

For Megan, hospice care allows you to nurse in a way that means you really get to know and understand the children and families.

Megan says: “What’s different about working in a hospice is that you can give children the time they need. Because hospital wards are so busy, it often ends up being very task-oriented nursing – it’s not the fault of the staff, it’s just the pressures of having so many children to look after, all needing a lot of medical input. It can become a very medical, task-based job that I found really dissatisfying. You didn’t have the time to sit and eat breakfast with the patients! When I was a little girl in hospital, a lot of people popped by to say hello to me, but I was shy, so I didn’t talk back. But because that nurse took her time and kept me company, it made such a difference to me.

“In hospice care, we are really lucky that we’re able to get to know a family understand what’s important to them and what the challenges are, making their care holistic and personal – I just find that really satisfying. Getting to understand a child’s condition, how it affects them and how they communicate their needs means you can offer individualised care, and being able to see the difference we make is huge. We often have really challenging conversations with families and it’s so hard, but because you know the family, you can put it across in a way that’s relevant to them, and I find that really rewarding.”

Nursing at a children’s hospice means you need to be adaptable, because every child and every family is completely different – you have to bring all your knowledge and experience to each situation.

Megan explains: “You have to think outside the box in palliative care. You can’t follow a textbook, because each child and family is so different. You’re constantly balancing your medical knowledge with your knowledge of that family, trying to work out how to make things work for them, or find alternatives to meet their needs. It’s creative, it’s problem-solving, you’re not just following a standard pathway, you’re working out ways to make a difference. It can be detective work! You develop a real gut instinct.”

Working in children’s palliative care requires more than just specialist medical knowledge – you also bring a lot of yourself to the role.

Megan says: “To be a great nurse, you need compassion. You need to be resilient too and you need good support around you. You need to be a good communicator – you need to read families and adapt your approach to make sure they understand. You have to be flexible – you can’t go into any situation thinking you know exactly what to do. Every single family is different and you never know what they might ask you or how a child will present. I’m still learning all the time, so you have to be able to respond to whatever is thrown at you!”

As Megan’s career has progressed into more senior roles, she isn’t on the care floor all the time, but she still provides direct care as often as she can.

Megan says: “As lead nurse, I’m in the office more than on the care floor and I really miss it. I do get to do shifts occasionally and I will never lose that because I love delivering hands-on care. I will always get involved. When we have families come in for end of life care I always make sure I get to know the family - it’s really important that I know what that family’s experience is so I can make sure my team are delivering the best service they can.”

From being that little girl in hospital to leading an expert care team today, Megan has never wanted to do anything else.

Megan says: “I would never change my career path. I love what I do – it’s part of who I am. And I know that if I, as a little girl, had come to Demelza, our team would go out of their way to make sure I was made to feel welcome and encourage me to talk, or not talk, at my own pace. I am confident our team would make that little girl feel safe and cared for.”