Nurses would you choose to nurse if you had your time again?

[Hairytangerine]

Ward manager here, qualified 20 years. Really struggling. Feel role hardest it’s even been. People are really unwell. No rescources,

Just can’t see a way out, no side step that I can see.

Would I choose to nurse again? Probably not 😩

Jules856 hows SIL finding it? I'm going to be doing my surgical first assistant training soon but unsure about the PA training, it's still relatively new really isn't it

‘NHS Stockholm syndrome maybe’

Absolutely!

I love to hate it. I would say I wouldn’t do it again but I can’t imagine not doing it.

@FrazzyAndFrumpled occupational therapist

I would , I retired ( at 49) after 30 yrs and for me it was a brilliant job that I could fit in around being a mainly SAHM . That said after my recent experience with ill health of both myself and currently my mother lots of nurses should rethink their career choice as they are certainly not in the right job .

Thanks, Littlechocola

I can’t believe the amount of people off sick at the minute we have three vacancies. 2 nurses off sick this week for the full week and three NA’s phoned in today. Bank couldn’t find anyone. So we just had to manage although unsafe to do so

Nope, and I actually like the type of work I do, and work with an amazing team, and have been able to work overseas,but still wouldn't choose it again.
Probably something in forensics line if choosing again

I remember the Australian lift too!

I remember creasing my hat doing an Australian lift many times.

To be fair you could really fly people up the bed if you were too energetic 

Definately wouldn’t do it again the way things have turned out.
So different to when I started.I quit my full time post to do bank about a year ago now ... even that’s bad enough.
Feeling undervalued on a daily basis, no one bats an eyelid at missed breaks and involuntary overtime ( if you dared to point it out I think the current culture of thinking is you’re not dedicated or a troublemaker or greedy!)
Less time to spend with patients and more time ticking boxes and doing form filling.
I’m already on a short course to retrain doing something which appeals more and am looking forward to doing less nursing very soon. I’ll keep up my registration because I worked hard for it but probably do the minimum allowed.
I’m not even near retirement yet.

To be fair you could really fly people up the bed if you were too energetic

I'm tall and I always ended up lifting opposite some tiny little 5 footer nurse. Hence my wrecked back.

Fellow Ward Manager here. Agree with PP that it's possibly the most shit, most thankless post in the NHS. That's why out of 16 Sisters in our team I don't think a single one will want to apply for the Ward Manager/Senior Sister role that's about to become vacant.

I love the patients, I obviously think the work we do is important, I just don't know the solution to stopping the collapse of the nursing workforce due to burnout.

I've got 20 plus years service under my belt. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone :(

As pps have said, it is soul destroying to be placed in impossible circumstances over and over again. You can never do a good job, you can never feel you've given good care, there's never an easy shift or a lighter day.

The sheer numbers and acuity now mean you work under huge pressure every single minute you're at work.

It's a physically demanding job with barely any breaks, long hours and a disorganised shift system (no rolling rota or structure just random days/nights/weekends).

There are no comforts or perks for staff ie I don't qualify for any transport or parking permits at my Trust, so have to pay extortionate sums to try to park in an on site or city centre car park, or add hours to my 13 hour shift using public transport that may or may not run at the unsocial times I need it, or park somewhere dodgy and walk back to my car at 2 am in the dark, alone and unaccompanied.

I'm on band 5 despite my skills and experience because there's no progression available for the vast majority of the workforce.

I experience aggression and anger from patients, relatives (and colleagues) every shift I work. I am shouted at, or grabbed, or spat at, threatened, every single day I go to work.

There's very little respect or social capital in being a nurse. People assume you're a wannabe doctor or not very academic..

I could go on and on and on..

My mum was a nurse and trained in the 70s/80s, lived with colleagues in the nurses home and worked alongside each other, there was a clear hierarchy of staff and patients all ‘fell into line’ with a certain expectation.
My training in the 2000s was very different as I worked alongside students from other unis, you might not see a matron or sister on the ward during your shift and patients had more choice.
I think in moving with the times and trying to revamp the role with an ever increasing population nurses have been lost.
The job description now doesn’t meet the day to day expectations. The pay doesn’t reflect the role, having to pay the NMC an increasing fee and having to complete revalidation to prove you’re fit to practice offers no incentive to newly qualifieds.
The split of health and social care needs to be rejoined as they don’t work as separate entities. The pressures put on the health services due to poor social funding are so demoralising as there is simply nothing you can do about it.

@Birdie69 I’m not sure what you meant by the job requires more than the degree gives you? One of the reasons I’m interested in going into MH nursing is I am a qualified Counsellor with little or no prospects of paid employment- all the counsellor roles seem to be filled by MH nurses with a certificate in counselling. I’d like to be able to use my counselling and perhaps add on a CBT qualification as a nurse...

@FaithInfinity I will definitely try to get some work experience. I don’t fancy OT work at all though, I would be wanting to be working more therapeutically than physically.

I got out and retrained as a teacher, so a bit out of frying pan into fire, but my childcare bill is lower, I see a lot more of Dh and kids and there is always the next holiday as the light at the end of the tunnel. I know which I prefer. Thing is, I remember nursing fondly and encourage students into the nhs.

Anybody read the other thread on aibu about the nhs ? Not devaluing them but it's just depressing reading post after post about poor experiences out of the many thousands of good ones every day.
And the invariable comments about unprofessional nursing staff chewing gum and giggling at the nurses station raise their ugly head

Octavia I had to come off that thread for the sake of my blood pressure. I am astonished so many people think that the NHS would be saved if only nurses worked a bit harder. They literally have no idea what it is like.

Yes I would. Neonatal Intensive Care nurse of 6 years. I absolutely adore my job.

Isadora - have you looked at the OT role in MH though? From what you've posted about counselling experience, it could be a good fit for you.

OT's are unfairly labelled as being basket weavers, when they are trained to deliver a range of professional interventions.

I wish if done ot in mental health. So.much more time with people. Valuable in the discharge of patients

I’m off the wards now, and office hours. I enjoy my job but I wouldn’t be a nurse if I had my time again. No idea what I’d actually be though! And, as pp said, how many people when asked the same would say they wouldn’t be a lawyer/teacher/OT etc again? Probably quite a lot.

I have read the thread and wanted to comment but couldn’t see the point tbh . No wonder there is a recruitment and retention crisis in the NHS.

To answer your question, no I would not do nursing. Not entirely sure what I would do. Pharmacy maybe. However, my mum was a nurse and told me not to do it and I did it anyway . I often wonder if I will be telling my DC not to do it and they will ignore me and do it anyway!

To answer the questionablut what is so awful about nursing, especially ward nursing and especially being a ward manager, there are many problems. To me the main ones though are the lack of respect or public support for HCPs, the blame culture and the paperwork and constant need to duplicate work (therefore doing unnecessary paperwork which removes you from patient care) to cover your back from the ever present threat of complaints. Add in the lack of respect for ward nursing even within the profession itself . Plus it is so not family friendly.

I have been very lucky to get out. I took a sideways move and am in a related HCP role (too scared of being outed to be more specific). Getting that role was a combination of being in the right place at the right time, luck and my training and experience leading me there. Mainly the first two factors though.

I wouldn’t encourage anyone in their right mind to start training now to be an adult nurse (or a doctor or a paramedic).

30 years behind me. yes i would do it again. i would tell my younger self to pay better attention in class. go for my bachelors earlier and move towards a masters.
a friend of mine (who is a retired nurse) has a daughter who is specializing in quality assurance within the hospital setting it sounds so rewarding.
i'm also bringing in a nice helpful pension.
downfalls though include weight gain from decades of shift work.

florence, I have a Masters. I think it has been zero help in my career although of course I can’t know whether it helped me get jobs or not.