Community nursing

Hello, I am 1 year post registration and I have so far worked 6 months in an acute renal unit and 3 months in a renal and pancreatic transplant ward. I need to be more at home ( 13 year old is playing up, this is why I had to let go my last job) and I think a community job would be right for me. Could you tell me what it is like? what do you like/dislike about it .....

depends on what type of community nursing you are looking at. Practice nurse, district nurse, HV assistant.

I am a practice nurse and love it. I work for great set of gp's who are very supportive. I love it for the regular hours, every weekend off and every BH off including christmas and new year

I have gained experience in chronic management, respiratory care, generally getting to know the patients through thick and thin, if I wasn't leaving to move to the US I would have done a family planning and cytology course plus many other courses.

Best of luck

Thank you for your reply. You really seem very enthusiastic about your job. I am thinking of getting into district nursing. How easy is it to access courses/ study days in the community? I would appreciate if you could tell me what nursing topic I should read about, increase my knowledge of......

I love my job and wouldn't be leaving if not moving to the US :)

There are a lot of changes going on in primary care especially with district nursing (DN) so may be worth getting in touch with your local PCT and see if they have a link nurse you can chat to re jobs and whats happening. With DN you will still have shift work and weekends to work but not as frequent as in the hospital. Practice nursing generally you have more option on hours you work and generally are between 8-6 or whatever time the surgery is open. Where I work I generally do 3 shifts of 8.30-4.30 and 1 shift of 9-5. We have another nurse who just does 9-5 3 times a week and another does 8-4 all week. You will find because the surgery wants you to work you have a bit more controll over hours you work so can arrange round children.

topics would suggest wound care, chronic care management ie diabetes, COPD, Heart disease. These are areas which could be used both by DN or practice nurses

Good luck on whatever you decide

Michou - I would say you need a broader range of experience than you have got before you apply for a community post of any type. Have you considered working on the 'bank' at your local hospital. You can choose your hours and gain wider experience.

A good way of finding out what is required for community nursing is to send for application details for jobs as the skills/knowledge required will be outlined. Also, you could telephone and ask to speak to your local community nurses about the job - they will not usually mind.

Good luck.

hi

I agree that you need to have a wide breadth of knowledge to survive in primary care!! we have a student practice nurse with us at the moment (she doing a years training to become a practice nurse- its a degree course similiar to the DN course) and she looks stunned most of the time. shes admitted to being shocked by the amout of work we do, by the amount of knowledge we all have and at how independant we are! Remember, we deal with anything and everything... and there are no other nurses around or docs to ask.. you deal with it! a normal working day for me is 8am till 4 or 8am till 6pm............ depends on the day. I work full time and its great not working shifts or weekends. I love my work, i love the variety and its great establishing a rapport with my patients.. been 18yrs in the same practice so I must like it!!

good luck

Karen

Michou

I am a District Nurse and work with staff nurses and HCA. When recruiting more staff we usually want 2yrs post reg to be an E grade staff nurse however some trusts have d grade posts suitable for new qualified who once have gained experience in chronic diseas e management, palliative care and wound care then apply for e grade. You really need a good allround experince in various areas of nursing because nursing patients in the community opens up all types of cases from 1 off simple diagnostic visits to full complex packages of care and palliative care plays an imporant part of community nursing, especially if you have a good team of GP's who are comfortable etc with caring for end of life issues , Some of the girls sign up to the nurse bank and manage to work shifts to suit them , this way they gain hands on experience which always looks good on a CV when wanting a commuity post.

Good luck with job hunting

This is so refreshing, to read comments acknowledging the diverse skills required of a Community/District Nurse. I'm in the process of moving to the US and when I initially contacted recruitment agencies, was made to feel that unless I was working in an 'acute' environment, I would be no use to anyone. As previous posters have said, you have to already have a broad range of experience, be able to tackle anything that's thrown at you, and make important clinical decisions without the benefit of colleagues around you. I've been nursing for more than 20 years, but been a District Nurse for only 18 months and I can honestly say I've learned more in those last 18 months than I ever did on an acute ward. It's a great job, I love it and wish I'd have done it sooner.