Congratulations Clodagh, Republic of Ireland’s Nurse of the Year. We caught up with Clodagh on her win.
I’ve been working with the Guild since January 2020, I don’t know where the time has gone!
For me it has to be the easy going and flexible nature of the Guild and the team in the office who delegate our shifts. It gives me more energy to apply to my work but also more time to explore other interests and hobbies, things I wouldn’t be able to commit to, being tied to a roster all year.
The fantastic pay rates were of course, a great incentive, not only for me personally to earn more but the fact that the Guild recognise the often tough and stressful job that nurses do and agree that it should be reflected in their pay. I was also super keen to work in other areas and see more aspects of nursing that I hadn’t seen yet, and I have definitely had great opportunities to do that.
So grateful. I honestly can’t believe it. It’s been the early Christmas present I didn’t know I needed after a crazy global pandemic year for everyone, so thank you guys so much!!
Being a patient in hospital can be really isolating and upsetting, especially this year, so whether it’s finally relieving pain for someone, getting them up and moving after major surgery or just having a bit of craic can really make a difference to their outlook on the day. Seeing them one step closer to their goal, and feeling like you played a part in that, is a great aspect of being a nurse.
Lots of things for sure, but mainly how quickly we as humans adapt to what is thrown at us. Nursing patients sometimes through windowpanes, covering ourselves head to toe in PPE and relearning methods of how to do things was overwhelming but everyone I’ve worked with got really stuck in and got on with it.
I would have hated to think I was leaving it to other people to sort it all out. I try not to turn a blind eye to many of the global issues we face, and this wasn’t going to be one of them. I’m glad I was part of the fight against Covid 19.
