From Support Work to Nursing Excellence: What Solomon Wants Future Nurses to Know
Solomon’s path to becoming a finalist in the Nursing and Midwifery Awards wasn’t always a straight line. His story, shaped by support work, cultural empathy, and a deep commitment to patient care, offers invaluable lessons for aspiring nurses and healthcare professionals.
Early in his degree, Solomon was keen to gain hands-on experience in the industry by exploring roles such as nursing assistant, orderly, and support worker. Taking the path of support work provided Solomon with foundational skills, building his confidence and comfort with patient care.
Advice for Nursing Students: Why Trying Support Work Matters
For students starting out in nursing, Solomon recommends support work as an option. While hospital-based roles are ideal, support work provides person-to-person interaction and complements your studies and understanding of the hospital system.
“…if you want something separate from the hospital, because you’re about to spend the next however many years of your career there, support works is on the list.”
The one-to-one nature of support work allows students the time to build confidence and people skills that are difficult to achieve in a busy hospital setting. During clinical placements, staff often assumed he was already an Assistant Nurse due to his behaviours, a testament to the value of early, firsthand work.
“You have this natural, not self-assurance, but you’re comfortable with some of the things that other students are not, when they start they would be initially a bit skittish about. It builds up your confidence to go into a patient’s room and talk to them, and it helps you control the situation a little bit and get things done for your patients.”
You’re helping someone whose life has been changed due to a newly acquired injury or a disability they live with. But you also get to witness their growth
Building Skills and Empathy Through Support Work
Support work isn’t just about assisting with daily tasks; it’s about advocating for clients and developing the ability to communicate, sometimes without words. Solomon highlights the importance of recognising distress in patients, especially those who struggle to express it. These skills, he says, are invaluable in nursing and beyond.
“You’re helping someone whose life has been changed due to a newly acquired injury or a disability they live with. But you also get to witness their growth and become familiar with the signs of someone in distress who may not be good at verbalising it, whether that’s due to shame or an inability to say it. So, you develop better communication skills, which then enhance your overall communication because you’re now more aware.”
Managing both clients and their families is another skill you’ll develop, as family wellbeing directly impacts patient wellbeing. “Being able to calm the situation and make families feel safe is invaluable,” he says.
Seeing Life Beyond the Hospital
Support work gives you an insight into patients’ lives outside the hospital, offering a perspective that’s often missing in clinical placements. “It provides a better understanding and enables you to advocate for your patients over time,” Solomon explains. Understanding the realities of daily life for people with disabilities enables nurses to communicate their needs to doctors more effectively and advocate for appropriate resources.
Community care experience gives nurses a holistic perspective of patient needs after discharge. “You don’t fully grasp a patient’s world until you see the daily realities they face outside the hospital. Often, it’s the things we take for granted that those with a disability have to fight for”
His experiences have also made him more aware of accessibility issues in everyday life. “When I’m out shopping, I notice how accessible places are for clients in wheelchairs,” he says, recalling taking a client to his son’s wedding and noticing the lack of adequate ramps. Simple changes, he notes, benefit not just people with disabilities but also the older people and injured.
Balancing Study and Support Work
Solomon recognises the emotional impact of support work, especially when close bonds form with clients. He understands that everyone is different, and working with various clients has helped him manage this and keep his approach fresh.
“You’re helping them just as much as they’re helping you. Nursing students might only manage one shift a week, always with the same client. If you can, that’s a good routine. But being able to break up that time and see different clients, for me, helped to lessen the mental load of studying.
Sometimes I would see someone just once and pop in to help out the shift, just randomly, which helped break up that cycle.
Community access shifts, like taking clients to movies or simply out and about, helped break up the routine of study and work, making it more enjoyable.”
Misconceptions and the Rewards of Support Work
A common misconception is that support work is a full-time job, but Solomon emphasises its rewarding nature and casual options. “You help someone have a normal day, and that’s pretty rewarding,” he says. The impact of small actions is often much greater for clients with significant disabilities, and support workers get to witness the whole journey of their clients, something that is rarely possible in hospital settings.
“You might see someone going through physical rehabilitation, gradually gaining strength with the help of new equipment and resources. It can be truly inspiring and rewarding in ways you might not have expected.”
Support work, he argues, is always in demand, and who better to fill those roles than future nurses? It can be casual to fit with your studies, and while it can be hard for clients when staff move on, the experience is mutually beneficial.
Looking Ahead: Teaching, Mentorship, and Continued Growth
Now working in Intensive Care and eyeing future roles in teaching or mentorship, Solomon credits support work with building the foundational skills that make great nurses. The mentors he admires all have a background in hands-on care, and he believes breaking complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps is the key to excellence in nursing.
His advice for aspiring nurses? Dive into support work. Build your confidence. Embrace the opportunity to make a difference, one person at a time. The lessons learned and empathy gained will serve you and your patients for years to come.
