AIBU - Training as a nurse - to work in Aesthetics only!

[Wishingitwassummer]

I’ve came across this a fair few times now. Student nurses completing their nursing degrees as they want to work in aesthetics (and aesthetics only).
This is just such a waste of government funding. I’m in Scotland - so we don’t pay tuition fees and the bursary is still available.
Now I know this will only be a very small minority of people who are doing this but it just doesn’t sit right with me at all.
AIBU?

You may not think you are judging women, those who you think are supposed to be caring and make a difference in peoples lives, but you certainly arent answering whether you have an issue with doctors or other more traditionally male professions doing the same, your iritation seems to be reserved for 'girls’

Imo it’s anyone who recieves funding or bursary for their degree.

You want to go into private practice, whether that’s nursing, medicine, law, airline pilot, take student loans like everyone else.

If you receive governmental funding so you significantly reduce that debt, knowing the intention is to support you into state school teaching, nhs nursing/medicine, whatever, then yes there should be an expectation that you work in that field.

Dr’s I think have to work in the nhs post graduation as they have one or two pg years before they’re fully qualified.

As for “thousands of hours working for free” if they haven’t graduated they can’t practice. Those hours are part of their course and necessary training. They need supervision and assessment, which costs money. They aren’t free labour, or shouldn’t be.

We aren’t public property because of our training .

Yes, given that slavery has been abolished, intellectual capital always belongs to individuals.

If the public wants to ensure a return on any education funding, they need to get it via interest on a loan. (Though in the case of people doing on-the-job training, the option of working for low pay is also valid.)

@Wishingitwassummer

I believe many moons ago, before Nursing was degree only, student nurses were paid when on placement.

I was a student nurse for a while before it was degree only. We were paid, full stop. Not just for working on the wards. Went out on the wards after eight weeks of initial training.

I know someone who has been working on the side the whole pandemic in their self employed trade and claiming all the grants and loans possible while earning over and beyond their usual wages , they built an extension on their house with one of the 20k ones , maybe people should concern themselves with people like that and what they owe the public purse rather than nurses already working on too low pay doing the job of 3-4 people in their training alone .

They aren’t free labour, or shouldn’t be.

Absolutely they shouldn't be but have you worked on a hospital ward yourself? The only way I can accurately describe it is free labour. Hospitals are so short staffed and screaming for nurses, students fill the gaps because there is no-one else to do so

FWIW I am not a nurse myself but have spent most of my career on hospital wards in a number of specialties so have met and worked with many student nurses

@ichifanny Possibly, but that’s not what my thread was about.
As someone said previously, taking government funding to go private asap is a bit shit.

I find this attitude is the basic way in which our society gets by not paying nurses decently. My wife is a nurse, and her pay hasn't gone up except for promotions ever since she started. So this last "pay rise" still means nurses are earning less in real terms than they were when she started 8 years ago.

The term "vocation" has a specific meaning- it is a calling by which you come closer to God. It is a specifically Christian term that is leftover in the nursing world because many, many hospitals used to be staffed by nurses who were also nuns.

This is unobjectionable to me, because when someone becomes a nun or a priest or a monk etc, they have done this specifically with the intention of not having a career- their stated intention is to give their life to this work as a way of serving God.

If you aren't a dedicated or ordained religious though, it is frankly taking the piss. Most women (and it is mostly women) are grossly underpaid and overworked in this profession because they ought to "care". Yes, great that they care, but at the end of the day, if you don't pay them enough they won't stick around to keep caring because they have to earn enough to provide for their families. It's total bs.

If you want there to be some guarantee of return for the bursary, then sure put in one year after qualifying or whatever. But total bs to say "call me old fashioned but I thought nurses were supposed to care". You can't care if you can't afford to care, and it's outrageous that our society insists on it.

@Wishingitwassummer

It is a shame that the NHS is losing so many good nurses. I’ve seen a fair few go down the ANP route. But even they are underpaid for the work they put in and the extra responsibility. It really does sadden me, the state of our healthcare system.

So here is the real problem. The underfunded state of our healthcare system. Instead of discussing this, you are patronising and judging nurses which is a predominantly female career.

Health professionals that do placements without pay all provide some level of labour during their placement which in turn they benefit from by learning essential skills for their future career. The NHS gets the labour without paying a wage, the individual gains skills usually partly funded by a bursary which does not come close to minimum wage but allows them to continue studying. It should not leave them obligated to be employed by the NHS as it is an essential part of funding. Once they go on to work for NHS (which the majority of them do), any further education and training (such as the independent prescribing course you speak of) usually means they are tied to their organisation for a fixed period which is appropriate