modernising nursing careers..

[karenG]

hi

ok.. having made a complete muck up of modernising doctors careers, our beloved goverment has turned its beady eye on nurses.. there are consultation documents out about this (bet none of you have seen them) and they seem to have forgotten to consult with us, the nurses who do the work! the RCN are involved (so where is my info from the RCN?).

http://tinyurl.com/35bgw2

so there is a link to the Nurse practitioner site on which you can find the documents.

it looks as the opening of a register of advanced nurse practitioners will be delayed until this has gone through, Reading it, there seems to be no mention of the role of the NP or nursing in primary care (and we are different to hospital nurses!). So read it and respond......

Karen

[RGN1]

Did get wind of this in the NUrsing Times - though nothing from the RCN as yet - despite all I pay them -although I think there was metion of it in that newspaper they send & I dump pretty much straight int he recycle!

At least we can look on-line & respond now thanks to your heads up!!

I think they went wrong with education the minute they stopped training nurses in hospitals - like it or not it's a practical, skilled career -NOT an academic, theoretical one!!

Of course theory & knowledge are important but they need to be learned and applied in a structured way & you can't do that with students being placed all over the shop with no structure. It's what all the students I work with complain about - some come to us - on their last placement & have spent most of their time out on the community or in care of the elderly rehab!!

[nightmare, RN]

Did any of us know what we wanted to do when we first qualified? I started out in Neurology and would have thrown up my hands in horror at Elderly care but ,years down the line that's where I am. If nurses specialise too quickly will it actually cut down their job prospects as they grow and mature?

[karenG]

what I find interesting is that is is going to affect all of us. they are proposing 5 pathways... as a nurse practitioner, I am a generalist (ok I'm doing a masters in respiratory medicine) and fit into all 5 pathways. so... how does that work??

I am saddened but not surprised that the RCN has not bothered to contact its members- I have almost given up hope on the RCN.. I'm still a member because of the indemity insurance but not convinced they would defend me to the hilt if anything happened! this is out for consultation. It will affect both pre and post reg training. pity they havent included those of us who actually see patients!

when i qualified, I wanted to work on cruise ships and see the world..! never planned to end up a lead nurse (done that!) or a nurse practitioner.

though sometimes stacking shelves in M&S seems more appealing!

Karen

[RGN1]

I agree with both of you! I wish they'd stop trying to compartmentalise nursing - we're better off learning the general nursing side of things 1st & then deciding what we want to do.

In my time I've been in ophthalmics, OPD, Medical & surgical nursing. When I qualified I could have chosen to go on to do midwifery, paediatrics or pyschiatry on shorter training programs with my general training behind me.