What do you do, Michael?

Michael is a PIMS-TS clinical nurse specialist
Colourful question marks drawn by a child

Michael Bell is a clinical nurse specialist at Evelina LondonApril 2022

What is your current role?

I’ve been working as a dedicated Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (PIMS-TS) clinical nurse specialist (CNS) since December 2021. I support patients who have PIMS-TS and their families. As it is a new condition, I help families understand the disease, and the symptoms their child has during and after their time in hospital. Often this can be the first time their child has been in hospital, so it can be a worrying time. I can provide reassurance to families, as well as providing follow-up care in outpatient clinics.

I have previously directly cared for patients who have PIMS-TS during my time in an intensive care unit at another children’s hospital. I then took a job where I was the nurse lead for four research studies relating to PIMS-TS. The knowledge gained from my previous experience has helped me to settle into my new role quickly, to help support patients and their families.

What is your passion?

I am passionate about learning new things. PIMS-TS is a new condition so lots of clinicians had to work collaboratively, learning together. We would each share our experiences of caring for patients with PIMS-TS so we could create a better idea of what the condition looked like and which treatments our patients responded best to.

What is your favourite part of your job?

Luckily children and teenagers who get PIMS-TS typically have good outcomes, due to the good treatment and care they receive. However, their patient journeys can vary. I really enjoy seeing my patients at their outpatient follow up appointments, especially when they’ve made a good recovery.

What is your proudest moment?

I was very lucky to be able to meet the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, when he came to visit to find out more about our specialist service. It was an honour to represent the hospital and raise awareness of PIMS-TS.

Being part of Evelina London means?

Being part of the Evelina London means working dynamically to streamline new services to meet the needs of a new patient group. Being at the forefront of learning about PIMS-TS is crucial that we share our knowledge with other hospitals to improve the care of children beyond south east London. 

Colourful question marks drawn by a child

Thank you to the children and young people who have so brilliantly illustrated our blog pages.

What do you do?