They face many challenges, but they are a team of dedicated frontline healthcare professionals ensuring our hospitals function and patients get the best possible care.
A new four-part observational TV series has been given unprecedented access to nurses across a wide variety of health settings and disciplines in Health and Social Care (HSC).
Filmed over 12 months, it gives viewers an insight into the health service in Northern Ireland through the eyes of these nurses as they share their experiences caring for patients.
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Nurses, made by Below The Radar TV, and starting on BBC One NI on Wednesday follows nurses working on the frontline across our Health Trusts including Emergency Departments, Neonatal Units and with prisoners and those in mental health care.
The nurses all talk candidly about the pressures they often face, including staffing issues or lack of beds but also reflect on how nursing is rewarding. And all while dealing with the added complications triggered by the Covid pandemic.
Victoria McTurk has just graduated from university and is working as a Staff Nurse in the Stroke and Rehabilitation Unit in Newry's Daisy Hill Hospital.
She initially didn’t think she was cut out to be a nurse because she felt she "wasn't smart enough" and "too emotional". But after she cared for her granny following her dementia diagnosis, Victoria was convinced that she would make a great one.
"She told me one day that I'd make a really lovely nurse so I applied to Queen's and it all went into motion. I remember telling my granny that I'd got into nursing and she was balling her eyes out.
"I knew then that it was the right decision," Victoria says, adding that she could now do it for the rest of her life.
"When granny passed away, I remember seeing the nurse holding her hand and she turned around and said 'I just didn't want her to be alone'.
"It made me realise that I could be that person holding someone's hand in the most vulnerable situation. I know that she would be very proud of me for wanting to be that person," she added.
In the busy Emergency Department at the Ulster Hospital, Simon Bates, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, is dealing with the pressures of caring for patients as they arrive with a range of ailments.
"I did my training through St George's Hospital in Tooting, London, and one of my placements was in the Emergency Department over there so I always had a passion for nursing and ED," Simon explained.
Simon has worked in different EDs for the past 23 years and says he's always enjoyed the pace and variety that this type of nursing brings.
"There's certainly more trolley waits now and pressure on space than there has ever been in the departments. This isn't unique to us and is felt by our emergency colleagues across the whole of Northern Ireland.
"The pressures never go away. We just deal with it on a patient by patient basis and make sure we try and give the best care to everybody we see," he added.
The nurses care for both patients’ bodies and minds. Viewers also get to witness the skills and experience needed to work in an environment where it is crucial to understand patients’ mindsets and thought processes so that their wellbeing can be looked after.
Conor Martin is a Mental Health Nurse in Craigavon Hospital's Rosebrook Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit.
"Growing up I'd say there was very little experience of mental health and it wasn't something that was probably widely recognised going through school," Conor admits.
"What I did have was a wealth of lived experience with a brother who had a learning disability. It also equipped me with the knowledge to care and love someone who is living in a society that's not fundamentally set up to accommodate them."
He added: "A lot of our patients are on different stages of their journeys here. That's what makes the job so difficult but so worthwhile too because you're consistently adapting to what you see and constantly altering what way you work and your rapport with each individual patient.
"That is quite wearying too and you do come home and you don't feel physically tired but you feel mentally fatigued."
Elsewhere, the series goes out on the road with District Nurse, Maria Betts and follows the work of husband and wife nursing team, Oonagh and Barry Andrews in Omagh Hospital.
There’s also a look inside the Neonatal Unit in Derry's Altnagelvin Hospital with Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, Angela Hughes, where the nurses look after some of the tiniest patients who could be the sickest in the hospital.
Viewers can expect to see patients being treated in many different settings with the nurses carrying out a range of procedures and duties.
All four episodes of Nurses will be available to view on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday 9 November with the series starting on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.40pm that night.
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