A typical working day…
I usually wake up at 5:30am and check emails, banking or outstanding bits that urgently need my attention. At 6:15am, I go for a walk to the top of the hill near my house and give thanks for everything that is amazing in my life. This sets the tone for my day as it puts my mind in a good place. It’s a beautiful time of the day as the moon is usually still out! I arrive back home at 7am, have a shower, get ready and drink a cup of tea before loading the car and leaving at 7:30am.
Between 8-8.15am, I get to my clinic Chamonix Clinic in Gateshead. My staff and I set up the clinic rooms, do a stock take, sort orders for the next day, get my patient list ready and look at what staff we have in. At 8.30am, my assistant Jess arrives, we have a cup of decaf coffee and conduct the ‘Head, Heart and Hands’ exercise. You have to say what’s in your HEAD – I can become overwhelmed so I can off load some things onto Jess, she can then make lists and we can see what we need to do that day. Next, your HEART is anything that is troubling or upsetting you – we can then get this out in the open. Finally, your HANDS are what tools you have at your disposal and what you need to complete each task. We try and be rigid with this as it sets the tone for everybody.
At 9am, the first patient will be in, and the day starts to become frantic and busy! I tend to see around 20-30 patients a day who are mainly seeking injectable treatments. Usually, around 10:30am I’ll try and run downstairs and have a vegan breakfast. Today, it’s oats with grated carrot and cinnamon. I continue seeing patients and performing treatments until 1pm when we stop for lunch. I will have a vegan lunch such as a Thai red curry with vegetables and rice. If there’s anything urgent that needs dealing with, I will do this in my lunch break. At 1:30pm, I will begin injecting again and it’s usually in the afternoon when the Aesthetics Complications Expert (ACE) Group World phone rings and the complications start. Sometimes, I might have to go onto FaceTime to assist another practitioner. This needs to be logged and written up, so Jess usually inputs the data from the call, and we monitor both the patient and practitioner for the rest of the day.
I finish my day at 6:30-7pm. We clean the clinic, update the stock and cash up. I drive home and arrive at 8pm, put another vegan meal in the microwave, do some housework and then by 9pm, I treat myself to one hour of Netflix before bed.
Other work commitments…
I’m a nursing director for the ACE Group World, which takes up a lot of my time. Myself, Dr Martyn King and Sharon King handle the majority of the complication calls. We also have a faculty and call handlers for when the phone rings, so one of us will answer and guide practitioners with any concerns or cases that have arisen. We tend to get around one call a day, but sometimes this can rise to three or four. I have noticed that there are periods of time when we receive more calls, such as Friday-Sunday and during December. I need to analyse the data as to why this might be happening, but it could be due to the busiest times of the week or year, so practitioners may be more rushed or stressed.
I also write some of the ACE Group World’s guidelines. I have recently finished one on blindness based on the latest research as this was out of date. These are reviewed and updated accordingly. I also write lessons to upload onto the ACE website, covering topics such as anaphylaxis, to help educate practitioners on any complications and how to deal with these should they arise.
As well as the ACE Group, I’m a board member for the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses. We have a WhatsApp group where members can discuss any issues they may be facing. If any complication questions arise, I usually give advice on this. Once a year, I write an editorial piece for industry publications. I’ve published articles on work development and nurse prescribing previously. I also attend conferences, regional meetings and symposiums to increase my education and raise awareness on complications.
Most memorable day…
This is really hard as I’ve had so many memorable days throughout my career. I would have to say when I got asked to help design the Master’s level aesthetics programme for Northumbria University. Afterwards, I got asked to sit on the validation panel which was phenomenal. Although the programme isn’t running anymore, I feel being part of this reflected my whole aesthetic journey. I’m so proud to have been a part of this!
