Student nurses to qualify 6 months early. Would you?

[DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou]

There's big talks of letting 3rd year student nurses qualify 6 months early to cope with the current situation. I think the initial idea of asking retired nurses to return was bloody abominable and unrealistic.

Our uni has emailed us putting word out that they may be asking us soon.

Anyone in the same boat? Or have feelings on this?

There are so many nurses who are registered not working. I have 20years experience I gave up my permanent job last year as it is too hard to organise childcare when working shifts, and we have no family to help us.
I now only work a few bank shifts a month at a non nhs facility, I have not been asked to help and can’t just walk into a hospital and work, though I would be probably more helpful than a student nurse but I won’t put my registration at risk by putting myself in a position where I’m working outside my usual workplace without any sort of induction into the workplace.
Unfortunately the blame culture that is very very real would stop me volunteering in any new capacity.

Most newly qualified nurses have a period of preceptorship once they get their first qualified post. This means that they have a preceptor who works with them to ensure that they learn how to be a nurse. Are these students going to get a preceptorship? Are there any nurses able/qualified to actually be a mentor to these nurses to teach them the ways of the ward? I worry that corners will be cut in regards to safety as I dont think you can care for your patients and support multiple newly qualified(and lacking the 12 week management placement) nurses.

It is vastly different between being a last placement year 3 student and a qualified nurse. The first year of being qualified is hard work and stressful.

I dont think getting the year 3s qualifying early is going to help as all it will do is burn out them and their supporting experienced colleagues.

Also would the new nurses meet the required hours to qualify?

worry that corners will be cut in regards to safety as I dont think you can care for your patients and support multiple newly qualified(and lacking the 12 week management placement) nurses and deal with all the issues surrounding the epidemic ie extra pressures

And please don’t listen to the non nurses on hear expressing an opinion. They haven’t a clue. All the nurses on here are saying don’t do it. Those who say just doing paperwork really need to get their heads out their arses. That’s like saying teachings a nice job as you finish at three

agree, surely student nurses could work as hcas

As things may get really bad, I feel it's a good idea (along with opening up the register to any retired/lapsed nurses who wish to help out without obligation.)
Assuming the hours worked counted toward registration and the students were given Band 5 wages and worked within their skill sets/abilities.
As sashh said, shuffling around staff. Less skilled to run clinics, perform HCA tasks, give oral meds. More skilled staff in other areas.
I also completely agree with Elouera about a sign up for non-NHS or non-Hospital nurses.

other nurses could man the 111 phone line

I think this could work providing the clinical area can support, this is something redeployed staff could take on to assist?!

I work in an area where we take on a lot of newly qualified nurses, >15 per year. They spend the first year on their preceptorship, can't give meds, IV's etc until signed off, lots of study days so I think starting this process earlier would help. Speeding up the process of getting their PIN, recruitment would certainly help! Usually we recruit final years in the spring but they don't have their PIN and start in post until October .

I'm a qualified nurse who due to breast cancer has let her registration lapse as I've not met the required number of hours to revalidate my PIN. I'm sure there are many other nurses who have let their PIN lapse as well.

I just dont think it's appropriate to make a band 5 have 8 patients,supervise a student nurse, oversee the hca working with them and then add a newly under qualified nurse into the mix. It is just asking for trouble and will result in more nurses leaving.

Also not every nurse is cut out to mentor students or newly qualified nurses.

I have been a nurse and a midwife though I no longer work in these roles . My training was ward based so would have been no problem to join the work force . I am quite sure these nurses would not be expected to look after ventilated cases but would be used to relieve other more experienced staff from out patients departments etc

Lifesabeach09 that's basically how I see it happening, ideally.
In practice it may not be that simple of course but I can understand that idea.

I am listening to the nurses saying not to do it.

Unfortunately the bursary people think I can live in £400 a month since our mortgage decreased a bit, despite having 3 kids and £1200 on childcare, so I'm worried I can't financially finish the course anyway so this has come as a bit of a answer of prayers for me (I'm still bursary because I took a year out maternity leave and rejoined the next cohort).

However that being said, everything that nurses are saying is very much putting me off.
I would have to look closely at the way they would manage it and patients and me safe.

But more so, I'm child field and according to my lecturer they want all fields to join adult wards which I absolutely wouldn't do.

It would be wiser to suspend training and pay 3rd year student nurses as hcas for 6 months. And not charge them for car parking in hospitals of course.

That would mean getting less money than they get now, most student nurses work.

Absolutely no student nurse would take a pay cut, work on the wards, then have to go back and qualify late.

That's the worst idea I've heard yet.

Or we could, you know, go back to the old SEN system when a lot of nurses learned their craft on the wards as they went, and it was mainly the more academic nurses who had to have a degree...most of the nurses I know think it was one of the silliest decisions ever to get rid of that SEN system

Yay to this. The SRN/SEN system worked really well imo.

I have a friend who's an (early) retired SRN. She's a better diagnostician than many of the GPs at our surgery and can work miracles on wounds with steristrips (I'd have a big scar under my eye if she hadn't patched me up).

When her mother was in hospital with complications arising from swine flu, she went ballistic to find that her DM wasn't on an oximeter and was lying flat, with no pillows. She had to show nurses how to improvise pillows from rolled up blankets, ffs. The doctor in charge of her DM's care was in no doubt that she would not have survived without friend's input.

I've come across many things that make me feel that the new system is a bit short on the basics of patient care, but I also realise that there's a lot more technology to deal with these days.

But the biggest argument against the current system is that a lot of people who might opt for nursing simply can't afford to, because of fees and loans and the fact that you can't really work your way through uni because you need to be on wards. A friend who's supporting her daughter through a midwifery degree reckons it's going to cost her £60k to get her daughter qualified.

She can't wait for her to qualify, so she can retire!

Along with a 'sign up' for those already with a PIN, I know many friends who are trained nurses from NZ/Aus who are working in the UK as HCA's. Due to the cost and time involved in getting their PINS, they are choosing to just work in a bar, or as an HCA. These too are more experienced (some ITU/ventilator trained) than student nurses.

I feel there are resources available that aren't being used, or even enquired about.

The course is 3 years for a reason - I think removing a sixth of the course is too much

That SPP is such an important learning curve

Maybe going forward and after this crisis is over the government and the wider society might realise how highly skilled and trained nurses are and might actually start respecting us as a profession and improving our pay and conditions so that nurses don’t leave the profession in the numbers they currently do.

I feel there are resources available that aren't being used, or even enquired about.

Yep!

I’m an experienced RN qualified since the mid nineties.

I think this is a terrible idea.

It’s potentially unsafe for patients, other staff and the newly “qualified” nurse themselves. Newly qualified nurses after the full three years of training need a huge amount of support and preceptorship. This is not going to be forthcoming in the current crisis and I fear they’d be left to get on with it. Dangerous and unfair.

I also think it perpetuates the myth that nursing is a piece of piss and anyone can do it, anywhere. Not completed your training? No problem, just have a PIN and off you go. Makes a mockery of the whole process.

And I do wish people would stop spouting the bollocks comparing nurses from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and even the 80s. Bring back SENs etc. There is no place for a two tiered qualified system in the 21st century. Nursing now is so far removed from nursing 30-60 years ago it’s not even comparable really.

It’s about time “nurse” became a protected title, but that’s a whole different debate.

OP think long and hard about agreeing to this. Your professional safety and security could be threatened by this proposal and even more so as a RNC.

Good God, no way. I've just finished mentoring a 3rd year student. She was really good. But just not ready to qualify yetb

Nurses need degrees for a reason, most of the world has moved away from SENs and onto university degrees for nurses. Funny how nobody ever says there should be a two tier system for radiographers, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physiotherapists or dieticians.

Someone mentioned that in the world wars, VAD nursing auxiliaries were utilised. They did lots of cleaning and very little nursing. After the war, their experience counted for very little and they did had to train to be an SRN which was a three or four year course. They were paid next to nothing.

I can't see how retirees nurses can be called back as many won't have kept up their registration. And things have changed very quickly, they won't be up to speed.

These aren't ordinary times.

Even if the NHS did ask for volunteers - it takes weeks to get volunteers started after they do a DBS check, two references, occupational health and induction.

Who will be volunteering? Retirees have to stay indoors for four months. Other people have to go to paid employment. It’s not like the world wars where young women lived at home before marriage and middle class women didn’t have to work.

It would be possible to process checks etc quicker if need be, it's important to remember that even if this is considered it will be because it is desperate times and there isn't much choice. I don't doubt agency staff etc will be asked, but how many would choose to work for NHS wages is anybodies guess. They could pay more, but I can't see that improving morale when this is going to largely depend on the sacrifices of healthcare staff to pull together.

OP I would definitely wait to see what the package of support will be. For me my final placement was really important and I wouldn't advise missing it. But if things really do get as bad as feared then I would want to do my part as long as safeguarding for me as a professional and for patients as I would have that bit less experience than other nurses was protected. At a guess this is unlikely to happen if things are going south, but I would keep myself updated.