Sheena Philips is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner with a difference. Sheena has a YouTube channel with 1.19K subscribers at the time of publication called ‘Sheena’s Guide’.
Sheena has two children with her husband, a full time job, her YouTube channel and she still managed to take time out to talk to us at EntrepreNurse!
Who are you?
I am Sheena Philips. I passed out of my Nursing in 1995 in India. From there, I got married and then went to Abu Dhabi, where I worked for a few years. In 2004, I came to the UK and worked in the admissions unit as a Staff Nurse. I arrived with a diploma in Nursing in Sunderland. I did my degree in Nursing in Sunderland University in my own time, alongside my full-time Nursing job, because at that time you were not given any time off to study.
I always wanted to do something more than becoming a staff Nurse, but I really didn’t know what to do at that time, because there was no guidance.
When I was a Staff Nurse, I wanted to start a Masters. They said they didn’t fund people on band five for a Master’s programme. My husband said, “If you’re really interested in that, then why don’t we take a bank loan?” So I thought, “Okay, I got good support from my husband.” And I thought, “Okay, why don’t we do it then.”
I started at Teeside University which was very good because the tutor called me up and said, “Sheena, you don’t have to pay for your Master’s. Through the HNE contract, everything is free for you because you are an NHS employee.” So that’s how I got everything free.
I applied for a couple of band six jobs. I think, I applied for more than six or seven. Every time I got rejected. But every time I did my interview, I learned something, I learned a lot from the interviews.
We used to always have appraisals from my ward manager, and I had a good rapport with my ward manager. At that time, she told me, “Sheena, I think -be more than being a band six on a ward, because you are more of a clinical girl, I think you would be better off doing clinical skills.” So, I said, “Okay, fine, I’ll go into it.” I then went for the clinical skills course, and I really enjoyed it. And I felt that was my cup of tea. After my clinical skills, my first Nurse Practitioner job came in, I applied for it, got it and did my prescribing.
Getting into General Practice
I then became an ambulatory care Nurse Practitioner, along with that, I was doing my Master’s. And during my Master’s programme, I met a couple of Nurse Practitioners who worked in GP practice, and I got fascinated. Then I picked up modules, as my tutor said, based on GP practice, pathophysiology, long-term conditions, women’s health. So these were modules I picked up when I did my master’s, as well as my prescribing. Then there was a couple more modules, which I needed to do, so I did my masters also in my own time. I had good support from my family, my husband and my kids. Otherwise I could not have never done this course.
I’ve been in general practice for three years. I didnt have any experience in community at all. My whole 22 years of experience was in acute medicine and the emergency care. So when I got interested in the community, I went to the different GPs around my area, and asked them if I could get a shadowing with the Practice Nurses or Nurse Practitioners. They were really openminded and allowed me.
I went to do shadowing at one of the practices, and then they said to me, “Why don’t you join here?” And that’s how I got the job there.
I love general practice because there’s lots of variety, because I work in general practice as a Nurse Practitioner, as well as a Practice Nurse. So my morning is full. I do a triage from 08:00 AM to 11:00 AM, and then see my patients, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. So that, and the afternoon is completely practice nursing – all the annual reviews and everything, women’s health. It’s the variety I like and then there is continuity of care because I can follow up the same patients and bring them back, and I know my patients, and that’s the main thing.
The YouTube Idea
I am one of the leads for the Sutherland CCG. Before the lockdown, we were thinking of digitalisation – we were thinking about eConsult. I was one of the digital leads in our CCG. Some of the GPs, were not interested, they still want to see the patients face-to-face, they didn’t want to go towards digitalisation like eConsult or telephone consultation, video consultation, but it totally went off the other way around when the lockdown started.
We were finding out what things can be done differently. The one main thing, that hit me was, as soon as the first lockdown came up, was that smear patients were not attending for smears. Long Term Condition reviews were not happening, pulmonary rehab which I was involved in, the same.
Sending out videos somebody has done, did not feel like it was resonating. So what I thought, is that I recorded a couple of videos about smears, and I sent that as a link, out to my patients. During lockdown smear uptake dropped down to 78%. We did an audit, after we send the videos, it went up to 96%.
So, that smear video had a big impact. During the lockdown, the immunisations were still going on, but parents were reluctant to come. We wanted to give that awareness, so I made a video of that. I thought, “Okay, if I make a YouTube channel, these videos will be there on YouTube, so anytime you can go back and see it.” On YouTube the videos will be available not only to my patients. Anybody who needs it can go and look at it. So then I sent the videos to CCGs, they were happy, and everybody liked the idea.
Initially, I started with videos according to my patients’ needs, like diabetes, smears, flu. It was mainly health education. Then I covered career choices for students. Also, we live near to the Sunderland University, and we have seen quite a few people travel to the UK to do a Master’s in Nursing. They were being told by the agencies that, “If you come and do a Master’s in Nursing in UK, then straight away, you can get a band six job in the hospital.” This is not actually true.
For poor children they spend £15,000 and they come over here, get this course, which is not fit for purpose, then they have to go back. So then I was asked, “Sheena, can you just create an awareness so that people don’t come…” that was how those topics developed.
We are not computer savvy at all. My husband has got a camera. So he does the video, and we’ll take it together, and edit the video. We go on to different YouTube channels and see how they edit the videos and what they do. So it takes a longer time for us to edit and put things all together, but that’s how we have done. We’re not a computer techy at all.
Best Piece of Advice
I think, my best advice, was what my Dad has given me -it is, “Follow your dream, and let that dream be your signature.” That’s what always he tells me. And that’s what I followed.
Sustaining High Motivation
My energy I think comes from when it comes all together as a family, when everybody’s involved in everything, you have got your kids, and you got your husband and everybody all together involved with housework, your day-to-day life, and even with cooking, everything, it is not monotonous, you all do it as a family and everybody loves to, that’s what I like in my family. We never do it alone, we do it together.
Ultimate Goal
My ultimate goal would be to become a GP Nurse Partner. I don’t know how to go about it, but that’s what I fancy because I really feel like that being a general practice partner as a Nurse, makes a safer environment and everything that nurse will do, would make a big difference.
Regrets
With regards to regrets, in 2004, when I came to UK, because nursing in India is totally different than nursing in UK, because in nursing in UK, you have more opportunities. If I had known all the opportunities that were available, but in 2004, I didn’t have that guidance to know what I could do. If I had known I could, I would have become a Nurse Barrister.
Proudest Achievement
If you look at my family life, the proudest moment is having a husband. Mine is an arranged marriage. And still, I’m very proud of my husband because whatever I’m doing today here is what I’m here to do. I’ve got a beautiful two daughters. They’re always there to support me, they’re always there for me. That’s from my family point of view, my in-laws, my parents, everybody is very supportive. From the academic point of view, my proudest moment was when I got my Master’s, and then when I awarded my Angel of North, Digital Nurse of the Year Award. Somebody else, put my name forward. I don’t even know who it was..
Nurses in Business
I think it’s a great idea because as a Nurse, you will be more patient-oriented. Whatever you will do, you will look, whether that is really needed for the patient? Is it accessible for the patient? Is it safe for the patient? You do things according to that, because you have got a Nursing background, it makes a big difference when going into business.
Advice to Nurses starting out now
Well, this is what I told my daughter who is doing her Nursing. I told her that, “Nursing is totally different, it’s not only bedside Nursing. You have got loads of things there to explore. Just come out of your comfort zone. Don’t become shy.” I think the majority of Nurses at the moment in band fives are working in their comfort zone. Come out of your comfort zone! Follow your dreams and find out what you wanted to do. If you once time failed in interview, that doesn’t mean that job is not for you. Go for it because I have failed eight times in my band 6 interview and still went for it. And I have gotten to what…
My advice is that “You know what you want to know, follow your dream, and then just go out and find, and go and ask and ask and ask, then only will find it,” because there’s nobody who’s going to say, “Sheena, this is all you have to do..”, No! You will not get the answer like that. You have to go yourself!
There is some hard work there, unless you put that hard work in. So a little bit of hard work, but it definitely will pay you off at the end, and you will be rewarded for that. So come out of your comfort zone, know your dream and follow that dream!
Thanks so much Sheena Philips, if you would like to check out her YouTube Channel – you will find her @Sheena’s Guide