* This is going to be the 1st in a mini series I've been wanting to write for a while now. I don't often bring my job into my blog but I'm so passionate about nursing and my career that I want to share my experiences and love as working in the healthcare sector. If my posts can encourage anyone of thinking of starting a nursing course then I'll be pleased*
Our NHS is in a sorry state at the moment isn't it. Gosh it makes me so sad hearing all the negativity surrounding it. We are incredibly lucky to have the NHS and more often than not people forget that we are getting free healthcare. People monopolise it, inappropriately use it and bad mouth it but my god you'd miss it if it was gone. It's all so glum, we never hear the good side of the NHS, and believe it or not there is a brighter side of it.....I promise. Amongst the darkness there is light and a damn hard working bunch of people that keep the NHS going.
This post is inspired by a recent thread I saw on the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) Facebook page with regards to the recent drop in university admissions to study nursing. You can read about here which gives you a bit more of an insight. It really deflates me to hear that not alot of people want to go on to study nursing, although I have to be honest I'm not overly surprised. The fairly recent change to a degree course from diploma and cutting the bursary is bound to have a big impact. Two huge factors that attract people to the course are now not available and will no doubt have a knock on effect in getting the numbers in.
When I applied to do my nursing in 2009 it was a very scary time, I was entering at a changing time within the healthcare sector, I was none the wiser really but knew I was in for the long haul. It was a tough course to get on then and I expect it's even harder now. When I applied I had to do an access course for my maths as my GCSE grade D (not afraid to admit it) was not enough to meet the required entry requirements (grade C and up), I did a Learn Direct course to gain an extra qualification to enable me to be able to apply. Once my application had been processed I was invited for a formal interview, then a group interview and literacy and numeracy assessments. It was stressful to say the least. I was over the moon to be accepted, it was like the making of me, the beginning of my new life.
Starting the course I was going on age 25, I was classed as a mature student which was totally bizarre because at the time I barely felt my life had started. I was very fortunate to be in receipt of a bursary and have tuition fees payed for. The bursary was not alot at just over £500 a month and if I'm being honest the lack of money over the duration of the course nearly broke myself and my husband. It was a shock to the system, I'd left a fairly well paid job and took a substantial pay cut but I was well aware of the challenges ahead and willing to take that risk. However, that being said having a non repayable bursary was fantastic, I had debts yes but these were so much less than if I was to have a loan to see me through 3 years.
The recent changes to the nursing course I feel are very obstructive to people like myself. I did not have the required qualifications to apply to a degree program and I definitely know I wouldn't have been able to afford to take a loan, we just wouldn't have been able to sustain our life knowing that we had a huge loan hanging over us.
My course was the hardest thing I have ever done. There were many a time I wanted to quit. There were times I loved it and times I hated it. Having been out of education for several years adapting to lectures, essays, placements and studying was tougher than I could have even imagined. My life became consumed with studying and juggling life and placements, it was tough, I mean extremely tough, I can't sugar coat it. Placements were incredibly hard in the sense that you don't really have much of a life for 5 weeks, it's intense and I had a mixture of some fab placements but some awful ones too and you kind of just have to take the rough with the smooth. I fell pregnant toward the end of my 2nd year, it was unplanned but a wonderful surprise, it definitely scuppered a few plans! I was so close to finishing the course when I went on maternity leave, I was blessed that I was still able to get my bursary as maternity pay and was fortunate that my university were fairly supportive.
Going back to the inspiration behind this posts, there were several comments on the RCN thread that really saddened me, however it's not just the online thread that brought it to my attention just how volatile the nursing career is but many of my colleagues often have expressed how worried and anxious they feel working within the healthcare sector and how nursing is not what is used to be. What concerns me more so with all this negativity is where does the future of nursing truly lie?
We are soon getting to the point that many of the older nurses will be getting ready to hang up their tunics and who do we have left to step into their shoes? With the recent university admissions dropping there is going to be a real lack of nursing students entering the sector and with the new nursing associate role that is up and running (which I am not going into!) will nursing lose the credit and respect that it once had. I wish they hadn't scrapped the diploma, it made the course so much more accessible for people to be able to get onto, it was the same course as the degree when I studied minus the dissertation, in my eyes I am still the same as the nurse that studied the degree, it makes no difference to the care or compassion that I provide in the day to day job.
I admit that I would never want to go back into hospital nursing, even from very early on within my course I knew that I was destined to be in the community/primary care sector it was my calling for sure and I am very happy that I made my choice. Having left the community to enter a practice was a good decision for me and a really learning curve but in a good way. It's really something to love the job that you're in and I really can say that I love what I do.
So for anyone who is thinking about entering healthcare or nursing then do it. Don't be disillusioned, if I can do it you can. If you think you have what it takes to make it then you will. Yes it isn't the best paid job and it is tough and I mean really tough but you learn to manage your emotions and develop coping strategies. You are constantly learning while questioning what you are doing and also being exposed to abuse, germs, ignorance and unhappiness.
I have a handful of other posts that I would like to share surrounding nursing so I do hope you've enjoyed a little insight into how my nursing career started!
Great post. I can't only imagine how hard it was. It just seems daft when at a time we need more nurses than ever, they make it so much harder to get in to! #marvmondays
ReplyDeleteWhat a fab post and thanks for sharing. I don't think people get into nursing for the money, but because they're caring and want to make a difference. The NHS gets such bad press but we can't fault them for the care they took of Oliver and had we have lived in another country the care would have been very different. Thanks again for sharing for #marvmondays x
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely fascinating and a real insight into nursing. Looking forward to the rest of the series
ReplyDeleteBack again from this week's #bestandworst. Still a great post :)
DeleteI'm interested to read more posts. Well done you and it is such a shame the amount of negativity NHS get . #MarvMondays
ReplyDeleteAh this is great to read your journey! I remember some of the hiccups lol! So glad you stuck it out xxx #marvnondays x
ReplyDelete#bestandworst :-) xx
DeleteThankyou for sharing, I would love to become a nurse but its so difficult. I'm 32 and I would need to get an extra GCSE and a-levels before I can even apply, I'm so disheartened. #marvmondays
ReplyDeleteI've got nothing and I mean, nothing but respect for the NHS and all the staff. You're right, we'd be right up the creek without a paddle without it. And the bottom line is that my family (and friends) have received exceptional care when they really needed it (not least saving mine and our daughter's life when I gave birth; and then there was hubby's acute appendicitis.) Big up to the wonderful NHS and the wonderful staff!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that nursing is headed in that direction. Here in northern Italy there is a shortage of obstetricians. It's very difficult to get accepted but in the meantime, the current obstetricians are being worked to the bone and are getting less and less days off/vacation. Such important professions not gettin the attention required and deserved. #twinklytuesday
ReplyDeleteIt's such a shame that we only hear the negative side of things in the press. The NHS is a winderful resource and they have bene nothing but amazing to me and mine, but that's not such an inetersting story. I hope they start to make nursing a bit easier to get into, you are right, people find it way too difficult at the moment. Looking forward to the next little insight into your nursing life #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteBack again for #bestandworst. Thanks for hosting xx
ReplyDeleteI have nothing but praise for the nursing staff I have encountered in my life. You do a job that I could never do and I wish the public and government would properly recognise the contribution you make to our lives. #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I was really sad when the nursing bursary was stopped because I think so many fantastic people will no longer apply to be nurses. Can't wait to read more of your nursing posts #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteMy husband did his CRNA (anestesia) program when our oldest was one and I was pregnant with our second. 28 months of him basically living in the basement at the mercy of placements hours away. Now I am glad we endured but at the time it was nightmarish.
ReplyDelete#bestandworst
Great post. I love our NHS and it's about time the government started listening to the people who actually work in the sector before it's destroyed beyond all recognition.
ReplyDelete#Bestandworst
Really interesting to read how you became a nurse, and really interesting it read how different it would be if you were training now! Xx
ReplyDeleteGreat post and inspiring that you can take up a new career whatever you're age. It's never too late! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteGood for you. I started X Ray school when I was just a 17 year old baby and had problems getting people to take me seriously because of my age. Health care is a very rewarding career - as well as very challenging #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely read and a great insight. You truly do an amazing job. #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for sharing your story. It is very inspiring and hopefully it will encourage others to become nurses #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteHey lovely, just forwarded your post to my sister in law. I think your story (despite the potential knock backs and degree implications) is still inspirational to get into nursing. Keep the stories coming, it's refreshing reading something new that I don't know about x #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteI admire anyone who takes the career path you have and my goodness this post is a great motivation to anyone thinking of following you #BestandWorst
ReplyDeleteWe've had to use the NHS a fair bit recently, and I think it's shocking how much it gets knocked down, people work so so hard to keep it going, with little or no thanks xx #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteWe are in Canada so my input on this issue can only be based on what I know of the healthcare system here. We too have free healthcare. I too worked (until November when I became a SAHM) around the healthcare industry but in a very different capacity. I worked for a company that sells medical supplies to hospitals, nursing homes, and so on. I have been doing so for almost 15 years.
ReplyDeleteThe landscape is changing and will continue to do so. People who aren't involved in the industry have no idea how far reaching these changes will be and how much things have changed already. The current model isn't working and the entire industry is struggling. The truth is that the world has changed. People live longer and have higher expectations. There is a huge aging population on the horizon (baby boomers). Prices need to be a great deal more competitive in a world where consumers have access to infinite information and endless comparison shopping (the internet).
There are massive changes to our healthcare system in the works. The biggest impact will be on the care of the elderly. The role of hospitals will be redefined. The people who staff those hospitals will need to have a different set of skills than they do now. What has worked up until now will no longer work in the coming years.
I have no idea how the healthcare system works in your part of the world. However, many of the issues our healthcare system is facing are issues that will be felt globally. I suspect that the changes you are seeing are in preparation for the unavoidable shift in the healthcare model. It's going to be difficult, without a doubt, but it is necessary and it has been coming for a long time. #bestandworst
Nurses work so incredibly hard but with all the stick they get, all the bad mouthing of the NHS and the genuine worry that will it be here that much longer you can kind of see why young people don't want to do it anymore, which is a real shame. However, I don't know why they needed to change it to a degree format and add in the dissertation, nursing is about practical experience, compassion, help to heal, knowledge, of course, but a dissertation isn't really relevant? #Bestandworst
ReplyDeleteThis was so interesting to read about your journey! I have huge admiration for nurses especially, you seem to get the raw end of the deal far too often and people are very quick to criticise. We have come across some amazing nurses in our experiences with the NHS, although admittedly some terrible nurses too, but you sound like an amazing nurse and your determination is hugely admirable. #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteThe NHS is amazing, I really admire nurses for the work they do. I certainly wouldn't be strong enough. Thank you. #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteThis was such a great post to read. My step-daughter is currently in university doing a chid nursing degree. It does sound incredibly hard, but it will be worth it for an amazing career. Thanks for linking up to #ThatFridayLinky
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I started the Nursing degree course in 2008. Also had a surprise pregnancy in my final year and finished 2 months before my son was born. Single parenting and then a cancer diagnosis has prevented me from working but I'm hopeful to do a return to practice course in September. I also have belief in the NHS and just hope Nursing can return to patient focused. #ThatFridayLinky
ReplyDeleteThe NHS is amazing, nurses and doctors are amazing. It's the higher up lot causing the issues and the stupid government. It's lovely to read your journey and I hope it makes people consider it as a career! Thanks for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday
ReplyDeleteWow what fantastic read Helen my daughter is studying nursing at uni at the moment but I bet it was really tough for you great post Thanks for linking to the #THAT FRIDAY LINKY come back next week please
ReplyDeleteA great post. There are similar problems in Ireland the working conditions are so poor that many are leaving to work abroad once qualified.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting #bestandworst
I grew up with a love of Twinkle and wanted to be nurse Nancy. My grades were similar to yours and thus I didn't ever think it would be a career option for me. Everybody learns in different ways but sadly our schooling only really touches on one type. It's great that you are doing a job you love. #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends has just started a midwifery course and is loving it - we need many more midwives though! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends has just started a midwifery course and is loving it. We need many more midwives though! #bestandworst
ReplyDeleteInteresting reading
ReplyDeleteWill look forward to reading
I'm no longer in mursing-loved my days but the "politics" within the NHS left me disillusioned