A day in the life of a UK nurse

[bds165]

Hello everyone! I noticed that there are several nurses posting here who have worked both in the U.K. and U.S. I was curious about the differences in practice that a staff nurse would see.

For example, the differences in ancillary staff. Do U.K. hospitals utilize specialized disciplines such as respiratory therapists, physical therapists, phlebotomists, etc. or do nurses cover those tasks?

What are the relationships between nurses and doctors? Is there a collaborative effort or more of a top-down model?

What are the typical staffing ratios?

What country did you prefer and why?

Forgive me if there are previous posts addressing this. I did a search and couldn't find much recent information.

Thank you very much!

[vandiola]

I'm sure HCA's/nurse aides can be trained to spot things, but as a student I feel comfortable assessing my patients whether that's by washing them or cleaning a bowel movement etc. I think north America takes a much more modern approach in terms of nursing where nursing as a profession has progressed and a lot of nurses consider basic care tasks beneath them. It's not at all the same in the UK where we have a far more traditional approach and basic care is ingrained in our studies. My first clinical skills session involved us washing a mannequin and making a bed aka a hospital corner.

[housecarl79]

Sorry earlier poster doesn't like the "too posh to wash" label for degreed nurses. But there's no doubt that the increasing use of HCAs reinforces the idea that nurses are there to deal with the more technical side of patient care; and the HCAs can handle the"nuts & bolts". I know some nurses don't mind getting down & dirty but there's just as many think they didn't do all that studying to have to clean up mess.