Is nursing/midwifery a good career choice?

[overthinkersanonnymus]

Off the back of another post on the mature study section, please could some nurses or midwives give us some insight in to what your day to day/ week looks like?

And maybe what you like and struggle with in your role? Would you recommend it as a career?

Thanks!

Thanks for all the responses so far. It really seems that the wards are something to avoid if someone was to go down the nursing route.

I would be so worried for and disappointed for my DC if they wanted to go into nursing.

I have worked for the NHS for 25 years now and still earn a lot less for a lot more responsibility than most people I know.

The public are generally awful and I have been verbally and physically assaulted so many times it's completely normal. Staff culture is normally fairly toxic, "put up and shut up" "survival of the fittest" type thing.

The jobs I have done have been mostly physically gruelling with very few breaks, poor rota organisation so you have to switch from nights to days v quickly, and no real say in what days or hours you work. I have missed so many family events and special occasions or been broken when attending them because of working the night before etc.

The care that you are trained to give is nothing but a fantasy so you have the theory and then the reality and it's your ability to cope with the shortfall that you rely on in the end. Being part of a system that neglects and fails people as routine is very hard for your mental health and emotional wellbeing being.

There is very poor access to cpd, courses, time to reflect or learn from your practice - all sorts of things which are completely standard in other lines of work. There is almost no mechanism for feeding back or making suggestions in a way that you are actually acknowledged or listened to.

I now work in an allied role (my nursing experience and qualifications are useful but not essential) for a public body where I WFH, arrange my own work, take breaks whenever I want, even flex my entirely social working hours and it blows my mind that I earn more doing this than I ever could actually nursing.

I'm an adult nurse of many years standing. Did work on wards initially but have been 9-5 (now only 3 days a week) as a nurse prescriber, Band 8A.
Good money, no unsocial hours.
Not sure I'd recommend ward work though.

Very true - but, and this is something I do think is important - it’s vital to do your time on the wards to make you safe, well rounded nurse of midwife. I am a highly specialised midwife. So specialised that I’ve been made redundant! But that’s not the point.

I did 3 years full time night on a very busy high risk obstetric unit in a massive university teaching hospital. If I hadn’t done that, there would be significant gaps in my knowledge and I wouldn’t have been able to practice at the high level I did. I can tell when colleagues have somehow managed to achieve a preceptorship with the minimum of time in a high risk acute clinical environment. And not in a good way.

I now do a much different, less specialised type of midwifery. I don’t do it full time and that’s okay.

In real terms, I earn less than I did in 2010 when I qualified. I notice someone who has been qualified for 27 yrs said the pension is good. Bear in mind the NHS currently runs a few pension schemes. The current pension is not good and nor is the AL provision. Yes, the sick pay is good but they hound you if you do go off sick for any longer than 10ish days.

I would not work on an acute unit again because I want to be able to leave my work at work and I want to keep my PIN. I got to the point where I worried about work when I was at home. Not good.

I would not suggest anyone I know or love go into nursing or midwifery. And I did love it once. Sometimes I still love it a bit.

It's really difficult because I do feel drawn to midwifery or paediatric nursing but I after hearing all your advice, I probably do have a romanticised view of the profession.

I work in financial services at the moment and it's so fucking boring. My job will probably be taken over by AI in the next 5 years!

When nursing is good it's very very good. After 37 years I still get a buzz when I am able to make a difference to people by helping to achieve what matters to them. It might be giving life saving treatment, finding ways to manage symptoms or supporting people's wishes at the end of their lives.

But... it can be soul breakingly hard. Not being able care for people in the way that you would want to and which they need and deserve destroys you. It just isn't possible to know that people are scared, in pain and dying earlier than they should and not be traumatised. It is physically exhausting, mentally draining and badly paid for the level of professional skill and expertise given.

I have found a happy place outside the NHS where I can do a good job and be proud of the care I can give. If I were starting again today, I would be more likely to look at something like physiotherapy where there is a greater choice of private and public settings.

I am an oncology nurse and absolutely love it.

Do you have kids? If so do you have partner/family support as you may struggle with the training and placements otherwise.

Could you afford to take on a health care support worker role for a bit to get a feel of whether you would like it? There are also many routes into nursing now such as the apprenticeship rather than just standard university so do explore those. Find out where placements can be as it can involve travel and won’t necessarily be your local hospital.

To be a nurse or any health care professional, you need resilience. There will be days where it will push you to your absolute limits and you will feel fatigued and burnt out.

Good luck with your decision.

No kids but I do have a partner.

I don't think I'd be able to get any financial help with living costs etc as my partner's salary is £36k and I believe the cut off is £35k. I could work part time for the first year maybe, but with placements in the second and third, I'm not sure how we'd manage to be honest!

Bumping this for the tea time crowd

You could look at an apprenticeship route - become a healthcare assistant and then progress towards a qualified nurse or midwife. I cant remember the details, but you would earn as you learn, even if it's not as much.

I wouldn’t recommend it as the majority of jobs are in the nhs. Every year I think it can’t get any worse, but it does. I stay for the nhs pension. If the govt ‘raids’ it, they will remove a major incentive for working in the nhs, and there aren’t many!

Reading these comments, nursing sounds v v difficult nowadays. Hats off to anyone taking that career atm.
I am old, and qualified in the early 80s, eventually progressed to being a practise nurse which was a lovely job without unsociable hours. There were always some tricky patients/senior staff but it really was rewarding and I genuinely miss it some days, especially those mad early shifts where you had to literally run from bed to bed to get the patients sorted! Good luck in whatever you decide.

I’ve been nursing 41 years I’ve been in numerous areas both in hospitals and the community and I’m still here.
Ive left and tried other things and I’ve come back.
At its best it’s the best job in the world I really do make a positive difference to people’s lives. I have literally looked after patients from cradle (27 weekers) to grave. I have laughed and cried with 100s of patients and their loved ones, and although I may not remember their names so many are etched in my memory and will stay there for life.
As nurses we are in a unique and privileged position we are literally paid to care for a complete stranger at often the worst time in their lives to reach out a metaphorical and physical hand and say I am here for you and I care about you.
But there are bad times I’ve been physically assaulted with knives chairs bottles I’ve had guns pulled on me, I’ve been pushed bitten chased sworn out accused of doing things I haven’t done. I’ve answered complaints about my behaviour and my staff many of which have proven to be factually incorrect. I’ve answered complaints that are unbelievable, people who didn’t like the view out if the window, or they were given a soup spoon to eat their pudding, that nurses turned the light on at night to see them I could go on. I’ve been supported and unsupported by my senior colleagues, I’ve tried to work with colleagues who are lazy or plain useless, I experienced impossible levels of staff shortages and patients and their families who are unrealistic about what a completely overstretched NHS can offer. I work in an NHS that has completely collapsed under the strain of of many years underfunding. I saw tremendous support for us during Covid and now we seem to have gone the other way it’s demoralising most of us are trying to do our best in an impossible situation. It is not my fault the food is crap, that there are no beds anywhere and the waiting lists are a mile long. Im empathetic I also use the NHS but as an individual nurse there is nothing I can do about it.
But at its best the NHS provides top quantity health care regardless of who or what you are regardless of your financial or social circumstances, most of us are committed to this ethos and most of us are trying our best and we do care about you. We talk about you in our breaks, I and most of my colleagues as we drive home think about what we’ve done did we make the right decisions, we cry for you when your die, we shocked and saddened when we find out you’ve got a serious diagnosis, we discuss what we’ve done or what we could do, did I do the right thing what could I do to make things better for you. Even our days off we think about you.
It’s not for everyone but there are so many different areas you can work in as a nurse and you can move anywhere in the UK you’ll always find work I’ve worked in over 40 hospitals numerous department across the whole of the UK. And if course abroad as well. Everyone can find something that interests them.
There are easier ways of making a living and careers where you can earn more money but if I could turn the clock back and start again I reckon I’d still train to be a nurse.

I'm 55 and qualified 4 years ago. My midlife crisis!!
I'm very lucky I'm a CNS band 6 now, 30 hour contract and no nights, weekends or bank holidays.
I do think I went into it with my eyes open and found a new love for learning. I've never had a post qualifying job on a ward as such, more A&E/AMU. I'm definitely not cut out to be a ward nurse.
I love my work, enjoy my patient contact and am lucky to be part of a supportive team (most of whom I knew).

I'm a nurse prescriber and a band 6😯

IMO and IME it’s important to work in as many settings as possible. Ward work is hard and demoralising at times as are places like ED (my 1 st choice of setting but not currently there) but you will learn so much this knowledge you can take with you into other settings. I’ve virtually done everything now barely anything phases me, my colleagues including my medical colleagues think I am the font of all knowledge on everything and although this isnt completely true I never stop learning new things my wide range of experiences and knowledge is exceedingly beneficial to my patients and my work in general.
if you going to train do at a uni linked to hospitals that offers lots of different placements and have many different in patient wards you’ll get a better and broader training which will stand you in good stead when you qualify.

❤️

Paeds nurse here and it depends what day you ask me. Most of the time I love my job, other times the stress makes me feel ill and the pressure to do more with less in terms of resource is frightening.
I loved the flexibility of shifts when my kids were little and I have been able to progress to a more senior role.

Still bubbling away with thought of being a midwife. It's obviously not a great choice of career going off all the responses for those in the NHS. I need a shake!!