Lissamma Titti is a rheumatology research nurse who has worked in both clinical and research roles during her 20 years at CUH. Here she tells us more about how she came to work at Addenbrooke's and her time at CUH.
What is your name and your role in our hospitals?
Hi, I'm Lissamma Titti and I'm a rheumatology research nurse.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
When I know my role or interaction has helped someone immensely and they felt supported, whether in the case of patient care or simply helping the people around me. Another aspect I enjoy is accomplishing challenges.
How did you come to work at CUH? Did you work elsewhere before joining the CUH team?
I trained as a nurse in Kerala, India and when I was recruited from India, Cambridge was my first placement where I worked in a nursing home. Nursing homes in India are very different to the UK, they are more like clinics run by doctors, I didn't realise I would be caring for elderly people. While working in the nursing home I came to know Addenbrooke's, the only hospital in this area. After my Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) registration, my employer transferred me to Edinburgh, Scotland. As I was a trained nurse I wanted to move back into acute care and as Addenbrooke's was the only hospital I knew I applied for a staff nurse post with CUH while I was in Scotland, I remember then the applications were on paper and I called the HR office to send me an application form and I returned it via post. I came down from Edinburgh on a train for the interview, it costed £70.00 for a return ticket which was a lot then. I got the job and started as nurse on ward G6 in February 2003.
Tell us a bit about your CUH journey. Have you worked in other areas of the hospital?
From 2003-2007 I was a staff nurse on ward G6, it was a diabetes and endocrine ward when I started there 20 years ago. Then from 2007-2011 I was a staff nurse on the neurosciences critical care unit (NCCU) however I had to step down from this role and any further clinical roles due to knee injuries.
I feel lucky that I was able to continue with my nursing career given that I had to step down from clinical roles.
If I had been in India I would have had to retire or change careers completely. However, being at CUH meant I was able to move internally and I became a data analyst in the critical care units in 2011.
In 2017 I was able to go on secondment for four months as a research nurse in division C. At CUH division C covers acute medicine, inflammation/infection, transplant, the emergency department (ED) and medicine for the elderly, I worked for the inflammation/infectious team, particularly on respiratory medicine and infection and immunology. This 4 months was like a crash course for me to learn about the responsibilities of a research nurse and helped me in further research roles. After this secondment, in 2018, I worked part time as a research nurse in the John Farman Critical Care Unit (JVF ICU) while also working part time in the critical care audit team as data analyst.
Finally in 2019 I became a research nurse in rheumatology research which is where I work to this day. I may have been here for 20 years, but I still get lost on level 1 of the hospital!
What does a usual day look like for you?
I will be following up research participants or recruiting a new participant. I am involved in a number of different studies at any one time and will be following different protocols, which means the activities can be varied. For example, I could be collecting blood samples and processing them, studying specific measurements and data collection, dealing with sponsors and study co-ordinators.
I develop a rapport with our study participants and make sure they are supported well throughout their journey in the study.
Tell us about a case study/experience at CUH that really stands out to you.
I like caring for patients and supporting their families in that difficult time of their life. Therefore, my experience in the neuro critical care unit (NCCU) was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. There is no single experience I can think of to share, it is more general and the overall care that is provided in our intensive care unit's at CUH is incredible. I gained a considerable amount of nursing skill during my time in the NCCU. I witnessed so many grieving families; sometimes it was difficult to hold back my own emotions at their situations.
How do you feel your role benefits our patients?
The incredible developments in modern medicine are a result of cutting edge research and innovations. During covid the world heard about clinical trials and the trials done for the treatment of covid are more than enough to explain the value of clinical trials as a whole and how we can make a difference in treating all types of conditions. In rheumatology the advances in treatment options has made life-changing impacts to our patients.
