NHS workers

[RoseGardenDreams]

What do you do in the NHS and which other professionals do you work alongside who you have (job) envy for? I'm trying to decide which career I should choose and need inspiration!

Meandyou- most ward physios also cover acute respiratory patients as well as their ward. I was juggling 2 full wards for rehab and respiratory, plus outliers plus ITU that could take all morning. Can be v v stressful with the bleep going off left right and centre. Plus overnight on calls too.
I appreciate your hospital might work differently though but wanted to give a different perspective

I am a GP and envy the midwives.

RoseGarden ah that's good about job availability. Good luck making a decision!

choco - not me! But yes, hoping the libre is accessible for all T1's nationally, very soon!

I'm a neonatal nurse in a smaller unit and I adore my job.

I love supporting the families and it always brings tears to my eyes on going home day and I'm always there ready to be the parents photographer.

I love my job, it tough but it's rewarding. I love making cards out of the babies wires when they come off and leaving them for the parents to find when they come in in the morning.

It's not about the babies as such, it's about the families as a whole

@RoseGardenDreams I did my training as a single parent with little family support, I had a great childminder, a great student loan and fantastic understanding placements

@RoseGardenDreams oh I sometimes envy the support workers we have as they get lots of cuddles and I envy units who have milk prep and incubator cleaning teams (since there are a million types of milk and a billion different incubator parts!)

Anyone who envies ward nurses wants their heads examined.

I envy anyone who is able to sit down and concentrate on their job.

I'm an OT. I work with people with Dementia in their own homes and love the work I do. If I had to pick different I'd go with SLT not sure I'd like the swallowing stuff but very interested in the work they do around communication. I chose OT as I didn't want to work shifts as oppose to nursing but a lot of places are 7 day working now, although not night shifts!!

@Wishicouldsleep I found your post hilarious! Don’t really recognise the job you describe as “non-messy” and “non-touching of bodies” which I did for 30+ years, mainly at quite a senior level. (Despite that I didn’t envy anyone)

Just an idea - there is a real shortage of therapy radiographers (treating patients with radiotherapy). Don’t think there’s much (if any) out of hours work.

Was a HCA , 1st on the bank, then cardiology, then ICU. Had a work force review and lost my job. I'm now a cross section imaging assistant on radiology. It's not a job I would choose to work. I miss patient contact, and the rewarding aspect of the role I had on the wards. I'm in my 3rd year of a non clinical degree and would like to work with drug and alcohol liaison.

noidea, neonatal nursing is the thing I always come back to when considering careers, although I'm not sure I could hack it. Can I ask, did you train in adult or child nursing originally?

I am a theatre recovery nurse, an icu nurse and do some LD nursing on the side (yes, 3 jobs to pay the bills thank you nhs) I absolutely LOVE all of my jobs but wish I had specialised in LD as that is my favourite. I envy LD nurses.

ImaMonet definetly had the experience you're describing when in an acute ward -'I'm currently in a rehab hospital. To be honest they are probably bored more than "less stressed" once the person is "assistance x 1 with Zimmer frame" they hand them over to support staff to progress to independence with it, every profession has its pros and cons it seems!

Hi @ladybirdsaredotty I am an adult trained nurse and I begged for my last placement on the unit and I've stayed ever since.

I am confident that I could never work in a tieratry unit, where they do surgery and lots of beds of itu and hdu. We have those babies but we are a 18 cot unit and have lots of babies in and out of the bigger units.

I'm a smaller unit special care nurse at heart, and everytime we transfer out im a little broken but it makes my week when they come back to us and we get to prepare them for home

@noideawhattodonow thanks so much for your reply. I was actually training to be an adult nurse several years ago but I wanted to be doing child branch. I do wonder if I should have done what you did (or tried to, at least) instead of dropping out (they wouldn't let me swap branch). Great to hear you love your job

Critical Care nurse. I do love it but I’ve been doing it for years and tbh I’m getting a bit bored now. I’d like to retrain as a midwife or specialist nurse in organ donation but I have a fixed part time rota (which is brilliant and I’m so lucky to get this as a Band 7) and changing jobs now would be impossible with juggling child care etc.

I'm a student nurse and no one envies me 😁.

I envy every one who has a wage 😁

I'm a radiographer Manager ie I have a mix of clinical and managerial work, and I love it.

I envy non-clinical managers, which is my career aim.

I'll never make chief exec, but have respect for their role. My CEO is fab!

I'm a pharmacist and I have to say the profession has been good to me. It's varied and well paid. The hours are good in the main, although early on in a hospital career will come with weekend working and nights on call. Mostly there's always the option to work in the private sector if our beloved NHS doesn't survive the next Tory government. I can highly recommend it and don't really envy anyone else, particularly the burnt out GPs and ward nurses who seem to be bearing the brunt of the cuts.

@BryanAdamsLeftAnkle I don't envy but I do sympathise as my training wasn't so long ago!

I'm a paediatric nurse. I love it. It envy the OT's

I'm an ODP and I can't say I realllly envy anyone. I'd love to work with children more but I love where I am right now (said at the end of a difficult run of nights!)

Another OT here. Have worked in various roles including acute physical ward, stroke rehab, paediatrics and community physical. I have now settled in a mental health team. I work as a generic mental health practitioner and I also complete pre senile dementia assessments and memory rehab. Love my job.