Ishmal Khan

Hello, 

My name is Ishmal Khan and I am an experienced Healthcare Assistant in care homes, domiciliary and hospital settings. Though, more recently I have trained to specialise as a Theatre Support Worker in Operating Theatres, as part of my pre-medical school application as surgery is a field I aspire to once I complete my medical school training. At the moment I am free and available over the next year and as a result very enthusiastic to build up my skill set and work experience within the healthcare sector to become a better registered professional in the long run. I am specifically keen to work in theatres again, however I am passionate about caring for people and a person-centred approach not only to the care I give, but the jobs I choose to do, whether it's supporting the theatre team and patients pre, intra or post operation, ill patients in hospital wards or simply caring for those in their own homes. People is at the forefront of what I choose to do.

I hope you'd like to get to know me more and consider me for your team.

I look forward to meeting you!

Ish :)

The NHS Constitution rules that it has a duty to provide service to everyone irrespective of background and I've thoroughly enjoyed working with individuals from all walks of life as a Healthcare Assistant. Assisting with end-of-life care at a local care home has taught me how to respond to the unpredictable - due to deterioration, despite providing the best care I can, lives are still lost. This reality has given me a glance into the difficult patient losses nurses may face. Despite this, I wanted to understand how I could ensure quality of life was prioritised to those under my care, so I achieved an NHS Care Certificate. Undertaking medication training and assisting with training new staff has enforced the degree of responsibility I wish to have as a healthcare professional.
Transferring to my local hospital, 5 months of getting to know the needs of a resident turned into 5 mins by the bedside of a patient. The diversity of the dynamic hospital environment has allowed me an insight into how different conditions can affect people's lives. An example of this was when upon meeting a patient diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, she took the time to explain her condition to me, stating how a lack of a sterile field while changing the dressing of her Hickman line had caused continuous hospitalization. Having to adapt to care for various conditions, I rely on learning from my patients. Just as a condition may be lifelong for a patient, I believe lifelong commitment to the holistic care of patients as a healthcare professional can make a difference.
Having the responsibility of monitoring standard observations of patient's post-operation has taught me the importance of my role within the Multi-Disciplinary Team. This was especially animated when I was a theatre support worker: observing consistent communication between the surgeons, the TSW, the anaesthetists and the scrub nurses was vital in ensuring patient safety throughout the procedure. Watching a c-section has opened my eyes to surgery; witnessing the joy the success of the operation brought to the family humanised surgery to me. It is the professionalism balanced alongside emotions associated with caring for someone at their most vulnerable that I wish to embody.

I have had clerical responsibilities for a clinical environment in my previous job supporting theatre staff as well as patients pre, post and intra operation, holding shared responsibility for the care of the recording of the patient’s journey through the hospital. My clerical responsibilities within the theatre environment includes and is not limited to:
- Greeting and signposting patients throughout the hospital
- Ensuring the patients care plans and online record (PAS) is updated throughout their procedures in hospital.
- Ensuring the WHO, scrub counts and surgical and anaesthetic equipment is correct and suitable for function.
- Ensuring their medical records are kept up to date and correct and is kept confidential in accordance with local information governance.
- Typing and filling important documents
- Performing computer entry for patients
- Handling phone calls and bleeps for theatre and medical staff mid surgery and further signposting
- Managing inventory and ordering medical supplies as well as fast-tracking and maintaining surgical equipment for elective and emergency cases and managing specimens
- Confirming, managing, and transporting patients to their surgeries and surgical appointments.
- Supporting patients emotionally during anaesthetic and surgical procedures, when inpatients, outpatients or emergencies.
- Preparing of theatres for emergency or elective lists.
- Teaching and support of medical, nursing and midwifery students as well as new theatre staff Public health education.
- Assisting consultants and the theatre team when sterile invasive procedures are being performed.
- Reporting all clinical and non-clinical accidents or incidents promptly
- Maintain and ensuring local policies and procedures (e.g., manual handling, safeguarding, infection control etc) are maintained, being able to identify risk and consequently escalate concerns.

Volunteering at my local prison during family visits, regularly supporting play activities to build relationships between fathers and their children, has allowed me to become well practised in communicating with people without judgement. Supporting a family adjusting to life in the UK, through my council's Refugee Resettlement Programme, has given me a sensitivity needed in communication when confronting trauma, language, and cultural barriers. Educating a first school on the concepts of discrimination and racism through carrying out my own adaptation of the Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Social Experiment, has allowed young children to engage with difficult concepts, by simply adapting my style of communication. As a Holocaust Memorial Day Trust Youth Champion, I have spoken publicly on Remembrance Day and on numerous occasions in my community, educating on what it's like to be a minority. Being Chair of my Student Voice has taught me the importance of leadership and teamwork in acknowledging issues faced by students. For example, establishing a school link with a Special Needs School, allowing visits to my school to help de-mystify anxieties SEN students faced about being bullied for their struggles.
Whatever I do, I want to help people validate their stories. Whenever I meet someone, I wonder what their story is, and so this is how I approach my patients and my residents – with curiosity. Because I feel to maintain person-centred approach to care, the person itself (all the stories, all the good, all the bad) must be acknowledged, with utmost respect and compassion. Because through my eyes, a nurse isn’t just an RN, nor an emergency practitioner, a mental health specialist or a midwife, it’s someone who sees the person as a whole – a human being, not just “Bed 23 in Bay 2." For me, there is no greater capacity for caring for someone than committing years to gaining the skills and knowledge to improve a stranger’s quality of life, or in some cases, the continuity of life. While I may not be able to really understand what someone is going through without experiencing it myself, I can care. But a working within a hospital environment will allow me to manifest this deep willingness to care into action.

My willingness to try to understand what people must endure and my perseverance to gauge the knowledge and tools to support patients through their struggles will ensure my commitment to a healthcare profession.

Level 3 Access to Medicine - A level Equivalent

GCSES - 11 Grade 8 to 4 Passes

GCSE English - 8/A*

GCSE Maths - 7/A