Sarah Deacon, 17/2/2010. I always knew that I wanted to practice in an extended role, ever since I completed my nurse training and started work in cardiothoracic surgery. 

Having gained experience in the pre-admission unit, ward and progressive care/ HDU environments I decided to move into cardiothoracic theatres, to gain a deeper knowledge of cardiothoracic surgery – which entailed moving Trust.  At this stage I was still aiming for a more traditional nurse specialist role – it wasn’t until I saw first hand what the Surgical Care Practitioners did, that I understood the type of future career that was possible. 

Working towards my goal, I looked at the person specifications for cardiac SCP posts being advertised and realised that I needed to access some kind of First Assistant or Advanced Scrub Practitioner training course.  As I’m sure is the case in many other Trusts, training is limited to a certain extent by the hierarchy of longevity, so I was unable to access the in-house courses available as I hadn’t been employed long enough.  I researched courses available privately, and found that I could access a basic surgical skills course without needing a specified amount of scrub experience.  I obtained funding privately through a medical equipment company’s education and training grant system.  Completing this course confirmed for me that this was definitely the career path I wished to follow.

As soon as I had the required 12 months experience as a scrub practitioner, I accessed the first Advanced Scrub Practitioner course I could – travelling down to Truro for 5 weekends over 6 months.  Again I obtained financial support privately to part fund the tuition fees and expenses.  At the latter end of this course a cardiac trainee SCP post was advertised at my Trust, which I successfully applied for.