I think I'm flattered, but I'm also a little worried. One of the senior nurses in our trust has approached me to apply for an E-grade post in Elderly Medicine. I've only been at that hospital since December as a D-grade in Haematology. Previously I worked agency in Neurosurg ITU/HDU and Surg OPD for a year after graduating. There was a delay in processing my UKCC/NMC application, then I had to do an adaptation period, so while I have been out of uni for 2 yrs, I've only been full-time on the wards with all the responsibilities that entails for a few months.

I'm chuffed to bits that she thinks I'm up to the job, but I'm not so sure. I consider myself to be a fairly new nurse. The post is in elderly care, and after working in nursing homes since I was 17, I really don't want to go back into that area. I don't think it's any less serious or important, I've just had enough of it to last me a good few years yet. I'm also really enjoying the haematology side of our ward - there's a lot of gen. med too, but I'm really keen on doing courses etc on the different therapies they offer.

They're very big on upward movement through the ranks at this hospital and I'm concerned that my unwillingness to apply for this post (I've been told by two G grades that it's a sure thing) will look bad on my work record.

What do I do?

I am not familiar with the grades you have there. I would not take if it I was going to be unhappy though.

renerian

Originally posted by renerian

I would not take if it I was going to be unhappy though.

renerian

I agree,no point being miserable for an extra 30p an hour(which is what I got D---->E!!!)Don't forget we're ALL getting restructured soon anyway.

Don't dismiss it out of hand either. I think you might find elderly medicine is quite a bit different from nursing home work. Plus, (personal opinion here) elderly care - when I was an RGN at least - always seemed to me to be what proper nursing was about, not the high tech, drips'n'drains'n'bells'n'whistles end of things

Renerian, when a nurse first becomes registered in the UK, they start on a D-grade. After a certain amount of time, experience and sometimes extra courses, they become eligible to apply for E-grade posts. Someone working on haem as an E may go to another haem ward as an E or go to a different ward and have to start again as a D if the specialities are worlds apart (like gynae to cardiac, or gen med to neurosurg ITU). There are pay brackets for each grade so if you were on the top paypoint for a D grade on one ward and went to another similar ward, you'd stay on that paypoint. Having said all of that though, there's huge restructuring coming up so it'll all change very soon ayway.

Clive, I'm not dismissing it out of hand, least of all because of my nursing home experiences. I've been floated to the ward in question more than once and each time have spent the whole shift doing ECGs, phoning for telemetry readings, cleaning up wee on the floor (7 times in the space of 6 hrs on one shift) and chasing doctors to dose warfarin. I realise that that's not what it's like all the time, but it's all making an impression on me. To be honest, I quite like some of the gadgetry we use so that's not the problem. I might be raising a few hackles here, but in these days of modern nursing, all those drips and drains and bells and whistles are real nursing - they're just as important to patient care as the personal care and pill rounds we've always done. I'm not saying one is more important than the other, simply that you can't take the gadgetry away from nursing care in today's high-tech world. That's my personal opinion and I know there are a lot of people who disagree with me on that point. :chair:

Part of the problem in our trust is the serious lack of social support for elderly patients once their acute medical crisis is over - our ward currently has 6 patients (30 bed ward) who don't need to be in hospital but have nowhere else to go until the social workers/OTs/family/whoever decide what's happening to them. This is even more so the case on the elderly med ward, and it's something that saddens and frustrates me. I don't want that every day of my working life.

God, I think I've just talked myself out of a promotion!

I think at this point in your career you should get as many "experiences" as possible in order to make appropriate career choices later on. personally I have 25 years in Elderly mental health and love it!

You must be doing a great job if you were offered the position. The manager you speak of, must be talking with your supervisors.

He/she wouldnt offer you the position if he/she didnt think you had to experience and ability to do it......

Go for it, it will be good experience, and if you dont like it then you will know and you could move on.....

Elderly medicine is good fun................

Oo oo oooh! Have just found out that the ward I work on has 2 new E grade posts now - people are leaving because the staff morale is so bad and the workload really heavy. I'd be more inclined to apply for this one since I like haem and it'd mean I get preference for the relevant courses etc. I am really worried about the state of the ward though so I'll need to think this over before acting.

Thanks all for your views, they really are appreciated :)

ah but think- new staff may improve ward morale. whats the ward sister like? actually think I'd go for it.........but have always loved a challenge!!

Karen

There are two ward sisters. One is slightly more senior than the other but her 'skills' lie in management rather than haem, and the junior sister is a bit intimidated by her, although her clinical skills leave senior Sr for dead. I've not had a problem with either of them but most of the nurses I really respect have copped flack from SnrSr, to the point where a couple have called her a bully. She *is* moody and has her faves, but I don't want to get into it as I've not had any trouble. All the staff say they miss the old sisters, both of whom left because their plans for improving the ward were rejected by management.

People are leaving partly due to unsafe staffing levels. On one occasion this week, we had 1 RN and 1 AN for 28 pts, 17 of those were all-care. Senior Nurse was bleeped to ask for help but she sent our help to the wrong ward and never answered the 2nd bleep to ask where the help was. Another problem is the off-duty. We have mostly part-timers and they get the hrs they ask for, which means the full-timers have to work around that to the detriment of family and social life.

One of our ANs has been on weekends for NINE WEEKS without a break - she's asked to be swapped but has been ignored, while another AN only works M-F, and only PMs. This AN has no children or dependents to get home to, she just 'doesn't like' AMs or nights, and somehow has had every weekend off since December when I started. The rest of us have stupid shifts including loads of PM/AM splits, and week before last I had PM/AM/PM/N/N/N. Not bloody happy.

When we ask either sister about why the off-duty is so awful, we get the lecture about how hard it is to do the OD, how they have to try and take into account everyone's requests and AL etc - except they DON'T take any of this into account!

*growl*

I just don't know now, I'm thinking about not going for either of these posts...Jimmy is due to finish his studies in September and our lease runs out then. If we stay in this town, I'll think about applying then. Otherwise, we'll be heading either back to Australia (fingers crossed), or back up to Yorkshire until Jim can get a visa to stay in Oz.