62 ‘but I’m Just a Children’s Nurse...’ Reflections on Redeployment During the Covid 19 Pandemic

It is well known that children are less likely to be severely affected by Covid 19 than the adult population, and therefore the pandemic earlier this year placed greater demand on adult services. However, the paediatric workforce contributed in a wide variety of ways during the pandemic, including many Children’s Nurses at GOSH who volunteered for redeployment into challenging and unfamiliar environments. This presentation will draw on the reflections of just two of these Children’s Nurses, who were redeployed to services and roles that were very different to their normal working environments. The first of these was with the Pandemic Multi-agency Response Team (PMART), attending sudden, unexpected Covid related adult deaths outside of a hospital setting. Working with the London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police, the nurse’s role included verifying the death, preparing the body, and supporting bereaved relatives. The second nurse transferred her paediatric intensive care skills to an adult intensive care unit in London. A post seen on a Covid 19 staff support group on Social Media recently started with ‘I’m only a Children’s Nurse....’ and the author went onto apologise for their need to seek emotional support following their experiences of redeployment to an adult intensive care unit, implying that they had less to offer, or less right to access support because of their qualification. This desperately sad post highlighted the importance of sharing lessons learned during the first wave, especially in the face of currently rising cases. Using examples from clinical practice within both these areas, this presentation will describe both the challenges and rewards of redeployment as a Children’s Nurse into adult services, demonstrating that fundamental nursing skills such as compassion, communication, flexibility and kindness are transferable, and the contributions of Children’s Nurses in these and other fields were important and valued by others.