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Not sure if there are many Brits in this thread, but it would be interesting to hear from anyone who is qualified or in training. I worked as a HCA / CSW in my local hospital for a year before starting my Dip HE in Adult Nursing. Im in the middle of my acute care module in my 2nd year out of three. I think its all going pretty well, academically its been fine and my care management has really stepped up on my last placement (orthopedic surgery). Im curious to know if anyone has much trouble moving between working in different trusts? Ive only worked for the one trust so im a bit too comfortable with it i think. Also the age old question, how is it for jobs around the UK at the moment? Im loving every bit of my training so far. Apart from our dreadful student uniforms.
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Jun 6, 2010 17:01
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annaconda posted:I am curious about the British system for nursing training. You say you are doing your training in Adult care, and I have read about other students doing theirs in Paediatrics or Mental Health or what-have-you. What happens if you decide you're bored with adults and want to move on to Paediatrics? Do you have to re-train? Well where i am studying, the four branches of nursing (adult, kids, learning disability and mental health) do the same common foundation programme for a year before splitting off into our individual branches for the next two years. So as im studying adult nursing so i do acute / critical care, palliative / care of the elderly and public community health. If i wanted to do paediatric or mental health i would have to do a conversion course, which i think can be either a year or 18months, and allow you to be dual registered. Midwifery works the same way as your system. Its worth mentioning im in one of the last groups to be doing the nursing diploma in the UK, as it is being stopped to make nursing a graduate only profession. At the moment diploma and degree students qualify for the same level as job though. hmmm
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Jun 8, 2010 11:58
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Lady Demelza posted:I have some questions for British nurses too. The local HEI held an Open Day and I went along to some sessions on Adult and Child nursing. Whilst very informative, they did not actually help me decide which branch would to choose. Although I lean towards Adult nursing purely because of my limited experience with kids, in all honesty I don't really know enough to be certain. How did you choose? I dont know about most trusts, but generally if you have long hair - tie it back, doesnt matter what colour it is. Ear rings are fine but most other jewellery isnt (especially anything below the elbow). As for deciding between adult and child nursing - I dont really like kids, I have a background in adult nursing and i dont mind the elderly. My friends who are kids nurses seem to be spending a lot of time in the community with health visitors and school nurses - this may well be purely down to where they are on the course though. All of the basics are the same - kids nurses need to be able to communicate with children, and you need to think about the child's development all the time. There is a lot of overlap though, both kids nurses and adult nurses will work in A&E departments and be expected to treat both adults and children Ive just had a supremely satisfying week on placement - effectively running a bay of 8 or 9 patients each shift and basically doing everything. I think i might be able to do this properly one day.
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Jun 14, 2010 22:45
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Lady Demelza posted:UK Goonurses: if the NHS covers your fees/provides bursaries, are you tied to work for them for a period? What happens if a newly-qualified nurse gets a job in the private sector/emigrates/decides they can't stand nursing? Does the NHS recoup its investment or write it off? You can work wherever you like when you finish, which is always more likely to be NHS anyway. I think if you decide to drop it half way through you forfeit any chance of getting another NHS funded bursary. I wouldnt know if the NHS sees it as a write off, from my experience a lot of people drop out of nursing courses. But then again the NMC is apparently looking at making mentorship even more important in maintaining your registration, so there must be quite a few people out there needing training.
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Jul 19, 2010 01:38
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Lady Demelza posted:That seems very strange. Almost any other organisation would expect a minimum of two years work from someone who they had funded for training. It's not cheap. The NHS isnt really like any other organisation - it is massive and publicly funded. I would assume that the NHS can fund Nurses / Dieticians / Radiographers / Physios / and many more because it is in the country's interest to train people for these positions at a high standard.
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Jul 20, 2010 17:02
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antwizzle posted:
I think if you are going to look at things in terms of absolute moral value like that, you arent going to find very much that actually has any value. Sure you could volunteer, as long as you dont try to get anything out of it. Nursing may not be a career in which you are constantly behaving in a morally positive way - im not going to pretend that when i am drinking a cup of tea moaning about a relative or chatting about the football that i am behaving morally - but i think nursing gives you plenty of opportunity to do good things for people. Being ill is terrifying - using your knowledge to re-assure someone is a nice thing to do. Making someone comfortable, whether it is getting an extra blanket or organising extra analgesia is a nice thing to do. Its quite an interesting point to think about really, a lot of peoples first reaction to healthcare workers is to assume that they must be a good person - but in reality a lot of the perceived good things are really rules of the job. hmmmm
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Aug 30, 2010 22:29
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ICU is brilliant, but its really sad when its the only place in the hospital that is staffed properly and patients / relatives get unrealistic expectations about how the ward is going to be. Especially when someone is fit to be discharged but they cant get a bed - and therefore stay on ICU getting more attention than they need Its usually only little things but, its hard to find 15minutes to describe all the care provided today to the family, get cups of tea on demand or shave someone when you have eight patients as opposed to one. Im off to an acute/continuing medical ward next, after spending most of my time in surgical nursing. Im expecting a lot of COPD and cardiac problems. Oh and its going to be really busy as well.
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Oct 22, 2010 22:13
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Donkey Darko posted:So, I just accepted a place on my Nursing DipHE pre-registration course at Stafford University. I am led to believe that my intake shall be one of the last diploma level (as opposed to degree level) intakes ever. Yep Diploma is going to die very soon, from what i have heard you did really well to get on Diploma - once it was announced that Nursing was going to go all Degree based lots of people took their last chance to jump on the Diploma. Ive done all my placements in the same hospital, and combined with all the bank work I have done for the last couple of years, i think there are only 3 places in the hospital i havent worked in.
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Dec 14, 2010 22:34
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Lady Demelza posted:Good luck! Mental Health and Learning Disability are the two branches of nursing that I absolutely could not do, and I admire anyone with the patience for it. The the moment, the RCN (the nursing union) seems just to be going along with cuts - like no increments etc., but i dont think anyone is sure how the big stuff like ending PCTs is going to affect nursing. Ive worked on many different general wards, as a qualified nurse you are likely to have between 7 and 12 patients, maybe more in some areas. With a support worker to assist of course. Which isnt too bad really, mornings can be hell if you have a lot of dependent or demanding patients, but generally they wont be critically unwell patients. As for being an elderly dumping ground, it varies according to department really. Obviously most patients are elderly (even on ICU), and that usually means there is a lot of social stuff to sort out on top of getting people medically fit, which can make admissions drag on and on. And yeah more resources go to ICU, because specialised equipment is more expensive and you need more of it. You just dont need half of the equipment ICU use of a general ward. Ive never had a problem getting equipment on any ward ive worked on, it would be nice to have a few more IV pumps, but they just arent necessary. A few more staff would be nice, but they'd have to be decent and there arent that many of them around. I like general wards, you have to be ridiculously organised and be able to prioritise well, but it can be very satisfying.
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Jan 26, 2011 13:41
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Donkey Darko posted:UK Nurses! I joined the RCN as a student member a few weeks ago, and I've just started receiving Nursing Standards through the post. I hadn't signed anything to say I wanted them, and I'm definitely not paying for them. I remember getting one as a complimentary joining gift, though it was only one. I think. Just had a rough day on palliative care home visits, lets just say there were a lot of tears and paperwork
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Jan 28, 2011 21:43
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Ive finally qualified as an RN in the UK, am im in the second week of my first job. The job situation here seems to be very mixed at the moment, the hospital i trained in have only been offering hours on the bank and short-ish temporary contracts, whereas the hospital im working in now have been offering plenty of permanent jobs to newly qualified staff. It would be amazing if it wasnt an hours drive away. I got offered a dermatology ward, day surgery and an orthopedic rehab ward. I went with the ortho ward as I had it in my head that I wanted a proper ward for my first job. Basically its good fun, but completely unexciting. For example no IV anything most of the time. No post op patients, anyone unwell gets shipped out quickly and the biggest concern is making sure everyone gets a walk. I am jealous of everyone working in all of these exciting areas, and sort of hope that starting off somewhere like this isnt going to hold me back from where I want to go next (hopefully acute medical). But really having a permanent job in a trust that is spending money on training is pretty nice at the moment.
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May 17, 2012 20:18
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Not kept up with the thread for a while, but are there any UK advanced practitioners in here? I'm about to start as Trainee ANP in my trust and I'm looking for pointers for the Advanced Practice MSc? I've bought the Oxford handbook of my specialty so far
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Aug 7, 2021 17:47
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Any recommendations for Stethoscopes? I'm starting my MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice and looks like I am going to need one. Littman Classic 3 looks like what I would go for, but it is quite expensive
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Sep 16, 2021 13:14
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djfooboo posted:I worry about the legal precedence of the whole thing. This never would have seen the light of day in court if Vanderbilt didn’t try a cover it up.l Agreed. Would it have been policy to double check meds prior to administration? I've questioned many a prescription even with senior rgns - albeit not in the ITU setting. I had to look up what the drug she was supposed to give was (versed) - and are people seriously getting Midazolam as sedation for a scan? To someone with a brain injury?
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Apr 3, 2022 19:47
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Nice and hot piss posted:Welp, I'm in a bit of a predicament here. This kind of sums up to me the variety in work that you only really get in nursing. This kind of depends on your own circumstances - I've got kids and dropped all the antisocial hours to go 9-5 5 days a week as an advanced practitioner and it has been amazing.
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Sep 24, 2022 06:28
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combee posted:Any tips for a new grad re: time management, getting stuff done properly and feeling less crap about being a newbie? I've been a Band 6 / Clinical Leader / charge nurse (not sure how this translates out of the UK) for a good few years and I've never worked with a good newly qualified rn who isn't anxious about this. My main advice is that experience is the best means of managing your time as you learn what aspects of the job to prioritise and what push down your list. I prefer for a junior to keep me updated on where they are up to rather than drowning on their own. Don't get complacent (sounds like you aren't) Work with the rest of the team - if you have to ask someone to put up an IV or something like that, offer to do something in exchange - if even you cant do much Keep your senior colleagues informed Make the most of being able to ask everyone questions (colleagues / patients / doctors/ cleaners / porters) - this was the best part of being newly qualified for me. I've got my prescribing OSCE tomorrow, getting close to achieving one of my big career goals, but also back to being a novice again!
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Feb 26, 2023 11:42
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combee posted:Thanks all. I’ve now done a week of solo work as an RN and it’s been full of ups and downs. You won't ever miss whatever it was again, and it is a bit lovely giving an ICU Stepdown to a newly qualified RN. And to me stable isn't really compatible with a few unusual things needing monitored. I've had a mind-blowing week working with the most senior Gastro cons. dealing with a couple of really unusual cases that I've had to read up so much on.
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Mar 4, 2023 16:11
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