Nine-year-old Karin was lying in a hospital bed. It was being pushed into the elevator that would bring her to the operating room. It would not be long now until her abdomen would be cut open. It was a relatively minor medical intervention, but as a little girl in a hospital for the first time as far as she could remember, Karin was scared. Her nervousness had been building up in the days leading up to this moment.
When the elevator door closed, her mom had to stay behind. But by that time, Karin had forgotten that her mom was even with her, so she hardly noticed the moment of separation. Little Karin felt at ease. Why? Because a nurse had been accompanying her, always with a welcoming smile. “This nurse was so lovely to me, and with his warmth, completely took away my excitement and nervousness,” Karin said. “He really made me feel safe.” This interaction left a deep impression in her heart that stays with her to this day.
Two years later, Karin’s big brother was studying anatomy, and he explained to Karin how a human heart worked. A fascination for medicine had gotten a hold of Karin. She wanted to become a nurse someday.
During her training to become a nurse in southern Germany, Karin Gottwald realized that she either wanted to work in the surgical field or in intensive care. “I am a curious person, and these felt like areas where I could develop my expertise as a nurse,” Karin says. “You need to understand blood values, medications, procedures. And you need to pay attention to small details, so that you can react fast and provide the best care for patients.”
Karin ended up working in an intensive care unit at a prestigious university hospital in Munich. She cared for patients lying in comas or facing other serious conditions that other hospitals in the region were not equipped to handle.
Karin understood that no matter how ill the patient, you should always show respect and empathy as a nurse. She also learned that the relatives of patients often feel just as powerless as their loved one lying next to them in the hospital bed.
“I had experienced myself how good it feels when you’re really listened to, treated with respect and given a smile, so I always returned the favor,” Karin shared.
“I had experienced myself how good it feels when you're really listened to, treated with respect and given a smile, so I always returned the favor.”—Karin Gottwald, Senior Device Support Specialist
Karin learned that as a nurse, it is her duty to speak up and actively work with physicians to find the best solution for each patient. When someone is recovering from a coma, for example, they eventually must start moving again. The medical goal may be for the patient to sit in a chair again. “But when my professional assessment is that the patient is just not there yet, we can stop at him or her sitting at the edge of the bed instead, and try again the next day. That may seem like a small difference, but for that patient, it makes all the difference,” she says.
Several years later, Karin had become a mother, and in addition, her husband had to be on-call around the clock for his own job. Therefore, Karin was not able to work in the often unpredictable shifts at the hospital anymore. Even though she loved being a nurse, she was looking for a job that she was able to fit better into her life at this point, a job with more predictable hours and flexibility.
When she heard from Philipp Gläser, a former colleague of hers, who now worked as a trainer for our regional team of Device Support Specialist (DSS) at Novocure, she became curious. Philipp, who has since switched to another role, educating physicians about our therapy, explained our mission to Karin: together with our patients, we strive to extend survival in some of the most aggressive forms of cancer, with our innovative therapy, Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields).
The DSSs are employees that visit patients and their caregivers and teach them how to handle our portable medical device that delivers the therapy, often at their home. They also provide technical support throughout the duration of the therapy.
“The personal contact with patients, imparting knowledge, working independently, all of that really appealed to me. So I decided to apply, and thankfully got the job,” Karin shares.
Just as in her previous job as a nurse, Karin doesn’t visit our patients with pity. She knows she can’t undo the terrible diagnosis that they are dealing with. “But I can organize my technical support appointments well, and conduct them professionally and with empathy,” she says.
For Karin, the job as a DSS at Novocure never gets boring. “When I ring the doorbell, I never know who is standing in front of me, and I need to adjust how I communicate with that individual,” she says. Patients with brain cancer may face challenges on the emotional, cognitive and physical levels, so providing technical support is not just a matter of going through a checklist.
Even though Karin is out on the road a lot to visit the patients in her assigned area, she doesn’t feel isolated. “In our team, we look out for each other,” she says. “If I don’t know something, I can ask, and someone always provides solid advice. We also connect regularly and share our experiences with each other. I have to say that this is best team I’ve ever worked in.”
As a former nurse, Karin is very happy that at Novocure, she has found another job with a purpose, a job where she can make a difference for patients. “We have a patient-forward vision at Novocure, and we have the privilege to live it every day,” she says.
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