Page 12 - QARANC Vol 18 No 1 2020

10 The Gazette QARANC Association
Life as a NOT!
The little-known Nursing Officer Transfer Scheme (NOTS) seeks to transfer officers from other Corps to QARANC via a nursing degree in an institution of their choice. Although I am deeply fond and proud of my seven years in the Royal Engineers, upon hearing a whisper of the scheme I knew it was for me. I had always fancied nursing, was tired of the endless hours of staff-work, and wanted to make a more tangible difference in people’s lives. I applied and nine months later found myself living in a beachside apartment, completing a fully funded nursing degree at Bournemouth University, and wondering when someone was going to tell me there had been a mistake.
The degree itself has had its ups and downs. Transitioning from being a senior captain and Operations Officer of a busy regiment to a student nurse on her first placement in a dementia care home was a shock. It bruises the ego somewhat handing over responsibility and relative power and going back to the bottom of the pile to learn a new way of working. Add to the mix hectic, understaffed wards and a level of bureaucracy that manages to outdo the military, some days have really made me ponder my life choices.
There have, however, been some positives. Embarking on full time learning again has been a wonderful opportunity - and a walk in the park as a mature student with a prior degree. More importantly, the placements have exposed me to scenarios, many deeply humbling, that most of society
Kendal Moran with Nepalese nurses
does not get to be part of. I have watched dementia patients come to life while listening to Vera Lynn; I’ve held someone’s hand when they took their last breath; I have helped deliver babies in Nepal; in the same country I have replaced a common language with smiles and a hand squeeze to try and compensate for substandard care; I have been hit in the face by a very distressed lady with dementia; I have watched over patients under the influence of spice in a prison; I have washed and dressed all manner of wounds including one writhing with maggots (not the surgical kind); I have counselled a patient covered in the deep marks of self-harm; I have helped hundreds of people wash, dress, eat and drink when they were unable to do so for themselves; I have giggled away fear with a nervous patient before her surgery; I have tried, and failed, to help someone make healthier choices; I
have helped a man return to complete his prison sentence after a life changing stroke and seen his peers rally round to help; I’ve treated a different prisoner for the wounds inflicted by his peers due to the type of crime he had committed; I have chatted and laughed with people from all walks of life because, very occasionally, that is all that is left to do when a nurse’s endless list is complete. I have not loved every minute of it but writing this article has made me consider that I have experienced, and learnt, much more than I had realised.
Captain Kendal Moran
Birthing room in Nepal
Captain Kendal Moran