Considering retraining as a nurse. Looking for the good, the bad and the ugly experiences.

[tinkersfig]

I’ve been toying with idea for years and I’m finally taking the steps to take it seriously.

Those of you who have been nurses/HCP for a while, would you mind giving me some insight on what your days to day is like and how your career has progressed?

I know there are horror stories of working for the NHS but I’d like to hear from the horse’s mouth about how it really is.

What do you love about the job, what sort of career have you had, am I mad for considering etc 😂

Not mad. There’s a huge variety depending on what area you work in. Wherever you choose it will be hard work though. Shifts are (to me) not easy to plan / join things , done jobs are mom-Fri 9/5 though.
Training is intense , degree level academic stuff combined with full time work at times.
Any idea what you would like to do?

I’ve been a paediatric nurse for 22 years. On a very busy ward. Still love it.

Paediatrics is somewhat removed from the pressure adults are under. Workload is smaller. With 1:4 patients.

I think "old" nurses are the worst to ask. They remember "the good old days" and things have changed considerably. New nurses are entering a completely different job.

I nursed 2001-2018 and it was horrific. No staffing, crazy shifts, ridiculous responsibility- think the only nurse on shift from day two qualified, massive caseloads, bullying is vicious, tbe blame culture will kill you. Obviously there are the rewarding patient care stories but for me, it wasn't worth it.

Also a lot training currently don't get jobs when they qualify.

@notatinydancer Id like to be involved in women’s health some how so maybe gynaecology or sexual health nursing. I would have actually loved to be a midwife, but roles in my area are few and far between once qualified.

I nursed for 35 years, mostly Oncology and palliative care but became totally anxiety ridden and burnt out and ended up leaving for a different career. The positives are that it did enable us to juggle childcare better when our kids were young as we could work around each other. It also enabled me to travel, i spent almost five years in new Zealand and have Nursing friends who have worked in Canada and the US. My dd is currently training to be a Nurse. I didn't want her to do really as I feel overall I regret doing it.

good luck. As you’re training you will come across areas as well.

@Minty25 what was it that you think made you anxious? The type of nursing you were doing?

Probably a bad time to train TBH as alot of trusts have job freezes and its really hard to find a job.
Ive been qualified nearly 25 yr (worked on a medical ward all that time). You really have to have skin like a rhinoceros to cope with bullying staff, moany managers and aggressive patients...whilst also keeping your empathy and kindness towards your patients.
I am old school and really dont see the point of degree training, not when the most important 'skill' you can have is common sense!

But if you can put up with all the shit (figurative and literal!LOL) and enjoy a job that gives you a real sense of purpose and reward then its worth doing.😉

Many NQN can’t find jobs - even in Wales where students are guaranteed jobs, some UHB aren’t offering posts

Its a thankless job

Yes I think back in the days when I was fairly newly qualified a lot of things happened that training just didn't prepare me for and actually I think that training back in the late eighties whilst more hands on just threw you in at the deep end causing mistakes to happen and being a naturally anxious person anyway it just spiralled. I still remember awful things that happened 40 years ago and there was no real counselling/ debriefing back then. Nowadays I think students are a lot more protected.

Job freezes mean there are far more nurses graduating than there are jobs at present. Our trust employees c 20,000 people and currently there is only ONE band 5 nurse vacancy.

I think if you’re looking at starting next year there is almost 4 years to go before trying to get a job and with the 10 year plan and the massive shift to community that needs to happen I honestly think there will be more jobs so please don’t let that put you off.

I’ve been qualified over ten years and love being a nurse and the opportunities it has given me.

I would try and get some HCSW experience and look at the RNDA programme as you will get paid while you learn and the Trust pays your course fees. It does take a little bit longer 3.5-4 years rather than 3 years with the traditional uni route.

1990 to present day. Most of it in primary care, currently working as a practice nurse. It’s horrendously busy, lots of targets and box ticking and patients unrealistic demands and expectations. Have been part time for the last twenty years, would never have stuck it otherwise.
Retiring next year thank God as are many of my colleagues soon with the old special class pension benefits. It’s a timebomb.
I wouldn’t choose nursing again.

Been a nurse since the 90s and love it. But it’s changed. Patient conditions and treatments are more complex and I have never known morale so low. Finances are bad with recruitment freezes and sickness seems higher than ever.
I can’t see more money coming and I think there will be a lot more pressure in the next few years. The workforce plan is due out soon which I believe will talk about reforming roles.

Do you have kids, & if so do you have a solid plan for childcare? I trained as a MH nurse (although didn't end up completing due to my own MH at the time) and a number of fellow students (both MH & Adult students) ended up dropping out as they just couldn't make it work with childcare during placements.
As a student you were usually expected to work alongside your placement mentor for a decent proportion of the time, so there wasn't much room for negotiation re shifts.

The current issues around NQ HCPs
struggling to find roles is a worry too; you can work Bank as your registered role until you've been in post for a certain period (6 months, I think) either.

Please don’t become a nurse unless you really want to help others, and you’ve got a caring heart. Some of the nurses ive encountered just see nursing as a job, and their attitude demonstrates this.

Mixed bag.

I have been provided with amazing opportunities through my qualifications.

BUT I had to “survive” on the fuckng battlefield for decades to get there.

COVID was beyond any fathomable horror, I can’t even begin to describe those conditions then I was so badly assaulted by a patient that I made the decision that it was time to look elsewhere.
Last straw

The mix of night shifts and day shifts (many times in the same week) working Christmas Day, new years night shifts, bank holidays, weekend after weekend, missing kids parents evenings, sports days, birthdays family weddings wears thin very quickly.

Now I’ve been screwed over with my NHS pension. Final kick in the tits.

As pp said, there’s a country wide jobs freeze in the NHS, so chronic shortage of staffing made 100 times worse. The battlefield continues.

Dont Don’t do is my advice. There’s better ways of earning much much more money.

qualified 24 years ago. Did about a year on a surgical ward then took a risk moving into a training sexual health post doing both until I was fully trained. I then moved into practice nursing which I love. I like the variety of my day seeing a mixture of ages from babies to elderly. Great hours. I choose to work 3 long days and finish at 6. We get weekends and bank holidays, Christmas etc off. I also do bank shifts in sexual health. They’re busy days but less stressful than working on a ward. I get paid the equivalent of a band 7.

I’ve been nursing for nearly 25 years, in a specialist nurse post now, I still love nursing 🤷‍♀️

Have you looked at the different options to qualifying?

The majority of adult nursing roles are some variation on elderly care. In almost any speciality, the majority of illness and the majority of need is for frail, complex, multi-morbid patients. There are precious few roles in sexual health, and gynae as an inpatient specialty is being faded out as they convert more and more gynae procedures to day cases. If you can't get excited about the hard graft of elderly care, you will limp through training at best with no guarantee of a different type of role at the end.

I qualified just before covid so that was awful. I'm now in community, my team is great, the work is really interesting which keeps me going, and no night shifts. But it is physically hard, mentally hard, emotionally hard.

If you are prone to anxiety or burnout, if your work boundaries are blurry, nursing will chew you up and spit you out. The job (and the managers, and the patients, and their families) demand more than any person has to give. I wouldn't do nursing again if I had my time back, but on the other hand I'm not sorry to have a skill which is genuinely valuable to humanity.

I would advise my children against any NHS role but particularly against adult nursing or medicine.

Qualified nurse for over 20 years.
I've always worked in secondary care/ hospital ward settings.
Band 5 nurse to band 8 acp in that time.
I have a love hate relationship with my job. I love learning and I'm always looking to develop further. But I also get frustrated with myself sometimes about why I can't just be satisfied with a lower stress role. With each promotion ( that I insist on going for 😂) I have more stress, more responsibility, a greater workload and at some point every shift I worry about safety.
Patients can make or break your day.
Other staff can be unpleasant at times but I know that everyone is stressed out so I don't hold it against them. I wouldn't say I've ever felt bullied- I'm comfortable holding my own and will say it how it is when I need to.
To have a career with good progression, you need amazing support at home if you have children. There's no guarantee that you'll get home on time and if you want to complete further study such as a masters etc, you need a partner/ spouse / family member who will be your biggest champion and not whinge about your time and energy sometimes being elsewhere.
Would I do it all again? I'm not so sure.
I've actively discouraged my dc's from a career in health care/ the nhs.

Think really carefully before you commit. I think nursing is great if you’re young and wish to travel the world. It’s also great for variation in roles. You can work in any speciality and when you get bored you can move on. However, if you are anxious it is perhaps not the career choice for you. You’ll worry about your patients, your work load, the management, families… the list goes on. Perhaps SALT or an OT/ PT role would be better. I’m leaving nursing, I’ve been trained since 2008 and it’s got worse every year. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I still love nursing and am glad I trained, but it's very hard at the moment- lots of patients and not enough hospital capacity

How old are you op?