Grace Roa is a senior sister on the John Farman Critical Care Unit (JVF ICU). Grace, originally from the Philippines, joined the CUH family in 2003 and has worked in a number of roles across the Trust. Here Grace tells us more about the 20 years she's worked with us.
Watch: Grace tells her story of working at CUH
Link: https://youtu.be/mJbqOamUfMc
What is your name and your role in our hospitals?
I'm Grace Roa, Senior Sister of JVF ICU
What do you enjoy most about your role?
I'm passionate about supporting staff while seeing them progress and develop in their roles.
Currently, I am one of the rota writers for JVF ICU. I always try to accommodate staff requests as I know that they need time for themselves. It is not easy to roster about 200 staff and grant all their requests and flexible patterns but we do try. I also help other members of staff with one on one interview practice for those aspiring to move up in their career as I have done interviews both locally and overseas.
Tell us a bit about your CUH journey.
I originally trained in the Philippines and joined the CUH family in March 2003 as a D Grade staff nurse on ward C7. 20 years ago when I joined ward C7 was a surgical ward where all surgical cases were initially admitted.
After roughly a year and a half I transferred to ICU on the same grade but was then promoted to E Grade senior staff nurse.
Over the next couple of years I progressed on to become a junior sister and then a senior sister in the ICU.
Why you like working at CUH?
CUH is known to be one of the best teaching hospitals in the UK and worldwide.
I love the diversity of it here.
How did you come to work at CUH? Did you work elsewhere before joining the CUH team?
I originally came from the Philippines where I trained and worked for 5 years mainly in dialysis but also in the pediatric unit, ICU, surgical and medical wards.
After moving to the UK I initially worked in Bedford in a care home. I chose to apply to work at CUH as a close friend of mine worked here too.
What does a usual day look like for you?
When I'm in the office I usually do the rota with another senior sister, or hold the critical bed manager role for the day where I am responsible for managing the beds and staff in the whole critical care department.
If I'm in the clinical area I am often in charge, or second in charge, and assist in running the ICU; allocating appropriate staff to all patients, ensuring guidelines are met and prioritising flow and capacity to plan ahead for any incoming patients.
At the start of a shift we have a safety briefing and handover. I then attend meetings with consultants as well as colleagues in charges of other ICU areas. There are four of these meetings in a day and two overnight.
I check each patient and staff member per bedside, to make sure I know the patients plan for the day, for example, when they have scans or any procedures that require special equipment or additional staff. I organise colleague breaks, patient washes, turning, rehabilitation and do any return to work interviews for staff. I also liaise with other teams for any concerns and follow ups, such as our amazing physio team, dieticians, pharmacy etc. If we have any patients being repatriated or transferred from other hospitals I liaise with the transfer team and I also work alongside our ward clerks, housekeeping, and our psychological well being team for staff support.
If there is a difficult situation or significant event, we have a debriefing for all staff involved.
Any complaints and concerns are dealt with together with the help of our matrons on the day, as well as gratefully acknowledging gratitude and compliments conveyed by patients and their relatives.
Using the handover sheets I will summarise the day and the plan for all patients. Then we have a safety briefing for the next shift and go through the whole ward. After this the team are released to receive individual handovers for their patient at their bedside, at which time I will give a thorough handover to the incoming senior sisters and check staffing and absences as well as finalising any bank staff.
A usual day for me when off work is a lot calmer. I usually have coffee for breakfast then do school runs, make home cooked meals, do some chores while watching TV, catching up with friends online or over the phone and a quick chat with my husband on how his day is going as we usually work opposite shifts.
Tell us about a case study/experience at CUH that really stands out to you.
The covid pandemic is without a doubt an ineffaceable experience in my career. It turned a 59 bedded ICU to 100 plus beds just to accommodate all the covid cases locally and within the region. It was like going to a battle that we were not sure if we could triumph over but we were certain that we would do our best no matter what so we could save lives. Looking back, I think we did exceptionally well, of course with great thanks to all the help we had from colleagues in other wards/units, GPs, consultants, military personnel and all the main ICU staff who are adept in looking after very sick patients and have worked tirelessly just to keep the service going.
I also believed that if not for the support of our loved ones and friends things would have been much more difficult.
How do you feel your role benefits our patients?
I feel that being one of the senior sisters in the unit, we epitomise a great role model in ICU. We work alongside our teams and engage them to deliver the best care possible to all our patients at all times. We always promote safety, we respect one another and we care. When you come to ICU you can feel that the staff really do care.