Shifa Basjarahil

Wound Care Clinical Nurse Consultant

Sutherland Hospital

“I’m a wound care specialist. I assess and review wounds and pressure injuries  across the organisation.  It keeps me busy. I’ve got a theory that summer is the busy period for wounds, we always talk about winter being busy, but with wounds, our climate and being where we are situated, wounds can break down quickly in summer.

I actually wanted to be a paramedic initially. When I was 17, I got an admin job in an Emergency Department (ED) while I was waiting for Uni, to see if I could do it. I had heard of people who wanted to be doctors or nurses and when they got to the blood and guts it’s ‘Oh no, I can’t do that’. It was there I met an amazing Nurse Unit Manager. She said ‘you should do nursing’. So I enrolled and it was 80% practical and she gave me a job straight after I graduated. The ED gave me so much confidence, because it was either you speak up or someone could die. I really grew up there as a person. ED showed me how to be more outgoing and how to speak up for patients. Then I became an Registered Nurse and the rest is history.”