Careers
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected]
Joining the Army Reserve was the start of a dual career for Kelly Bennett, allowing her to hone her clinical skills while taking leadership roles at home and abroad
READY FOR DUTY TO CALL I am captain Kelly Bennett and I have ten years’ experience of working in an NHS hospital. I originally worked on an observation ward in an emergency department. Eight years ago, I saw a TV advertisement and embarked on a journey that has enhanced my work and life skills, letting me travel the world and meet some tremendous folk. That was when I joined the Territorial Army – now the Army Reserve – as a private soldier. Several training exercises later, I emerged as a fully trained corporal, thanks to my qualification as a nurse. Two years later, with my unit 201 field hospital preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, I was involved in pre-deployment training. I passed my army officer selection board and took up professionally qualified officers’ training courses. In late 2007, I headed off to Camp Bastion as a new lieutenant and team leader on the hospital ward. That was a wonderful and humbling experience, not only enhancing my clinical skills but showing me how teamwork made for the best quality care for soldiers and civilians alike. My NHS trust
Kelly Bennett: ‘I always bring the army ethos of teamwork with me’
Using skills in new ways The Army Reserve provides highly trained soldiers to work alongside regular soldiers on missions in the UK and overseas. The Reserve gives skilled specialists such as nurses opportunities to use their skills in new ways. The reserve workforce is expanding and members will work even more closely with regular soldiers, opening more career opportunities.
NURSING STANDARD
had fully supported me throughout my training and even caught up with me via email to keep my spirits lifted. On returning to serve my time as a reservist, I was eager to share my skills and stories with colleagues. Six months later I was promoted to band 6, junior sister on my ward. Ready to launch into an even bigger challenge, I transferred to co-ordinate a 60-bed admission unit and use the leadership skills I had developed through military training and operational experience. I returned to Camp Bastion as a team leader and then as a captain, working in a larger, more developed hospital. This time, we lived and worked alongside our American allies, developing further clinical and leadership skills and
also social and cultural insights that helped us work with our American and Danish counterparts. Back at work in 2012, with my successful tours and experience in the admissions unit, I applied for my present post of patient flow manager/night matron. At night I am the most senior manager on site, called on for important decision making and problem solving. Throughout my time as a reservist, I have had challenging experiences that I would never have encountered in civilian life. I have become an accomplished skier, a mountain bike leader and a competent map reader – so I’ll never get lost either skiing or on my bike! I have enjoyed the physical rigours of military exercises and participated in many competitions where I have been pushed to my physical and mental limits. I feel my nursing skills have greatly advanced, and am now confident in nursing people I would not normally encounter, such as surgical patients. I look after patients whenever I can, and always bring the army ethos of teamwork with me. I am looking forward to another deployment in future NS Kelly Bennett is a captain in the Army Reserve and a matron at the City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust RESOURCES The Army Reserve tinyurl.com/ArmyRes The joining process tinyurl.com/JoinArmyRes july 2 :: vol 28 no 44 :: 2014 63
Nursing Standard 2014.28:63-63. Downloaded from journals.rcni.com by Monash University on 11/15/15. For personal use only.
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected]
Joining the Army Reserve was the start of a dual career for Kelly Bennett, allowing her to hone her clinical skills while taking leadership roles at home and abroad
READY FOR DUTY TO CALL I am captain Kelly Bennett and I have ten years’ experience of working in an NHS hospital. I originally worked on an observation ward in an emergency department. Eight years ago, I saw a TV advertisement and embarked on a journey that has enhanced my work and life skills, letting me travel the world and meet some tremendous folk. That was when I joined the Territorial Army – now the Army Reserve – as a private soldier. Several training exercises later, I emerged as a fully trained corporal, thanks to my qualification as a nurse. Two years later, with my unit 201 field hospital preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, I was involved in pre-deployment training. I passed my army officer selection board and took up professionally qualified officers’ training courses. In late 2007, I headed off to Camp Bastion as a new lieutenant and team leader on the hospital ward. That was a wonderful and humbling experience, not only enhancing my clinical skills but showing me how teamwork made for the best quality care for soldiers and civilians alike. My NHS trust
Kelly Bennett: ‘I always bring the army ethos of teamwork with me’
Using skills in new ways The Army Reserve provides highly trained soldiers to work alongside regular soldiers on missions in the UK and overseas. The Reserve gives skilled specialists such as nurses opportunities to use their skills in new ways. The reserve workforce is expanding and members will work even more closely with regular soldiers, opening more career opportunities.
NURSING STANDARD
had fully supported me throughout my training and even caught up with me via email to keep my spirits lifted. On returning to serve my time as a reservist, I was eager to share my skills and stories with colleagues. Six months later I was promoted to band 6, junior sister on my ward. Ready to launch into an even bigger challenge, I transferred to co-ordinate a 60-bed admission unit and use the leadership skills I had developed through military training and operational experience. I returned to Camp Bastion as a team leader and then as a captain, working in a larger, more developed hospital. This time, we lived and worked alongside our American allies, developing further clinical and leadership skills and
also social and cultural insights that helped us work with our American and Danish counterparts. Back at work in 2012, with my successful tours and experience in the admissions unit, I applied for my present post of patient flow manager/night matron. At night I am the most senior manager on site, called on for important decision making and problem solving. Throughout my time as a reservist, I have had challenging experiences that I would never have encountered in civilian life. I have become an accomplished skier, a mountain bike leader and a competent map reader – so I’ll never get lost either skiing or on my bike! I have enjoyed the physical rigours of military exercises and participated in many competitions where I have been pushed to my physical and mental limits. I feel my nursing skills have greatly advanced, and am now confident in nursing people I would not normally encounter, such as surgical patients. I look after patients whenever I can, and always bring the army ethos of teamwork with me. I am looking forward to another deployment in future NS Kelly Bennett is a captain in the Army Reserve and a matron at the City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust RESOURCES The Army Reserve tinyurl.com/ArmyRes The joining process tinyurl.com/JoinArmyRes july 2 :: vol 28 no 44 :: 2014 63
Nursing Standard 2014.28:63-63. Downloaded from journals.rcni.com by Monash University on 11/15/15. For personal use only.
