TinaK

Try city university, I think they are offering a course for making up hours but you will have to arrange your own placements...

Hello everyone, Keep coming on here after long gaps of being AWOL. Hope all is well on herewith everyone?, works been very busy and I'm now working back in the outpatients department after another bad experience on the ward i was working on...keep seeming to have bad experiences with bullying managers where i'm based, except for in outpatients where i have now gained my confidence and self esteem back... I am curious to know has anyone succeeded in making up hours for the uk, I know that stenberg college in canada no longer offer the course .City university I think do offer one...I need to take the plunge now and just do the course...has anyone done it and found it rather hard working fulltime too?? Guess its just motivation really? Tina

Hi! Just want to wish you good luck in your job hunting, You will be fine, and I am sure you will find a suitable job in no time, if your passionate about nursing it will come through in the interview :) I left nursing for 7 months after 4 months ofbeing newly qualified, in the interview they may ask what you learnt in your gap year and how it has improved you as a person, :) just answer it as honest as poss :) Tina x

Hi there My very first job after being qualified lasted 5 months, cause I hated it sooo much..when I left however I couldnt get any other nursing job in my local trust for about 7 months cause of the awful jobs freeze I would definately IF you can try and do about 6 months at least, as that is how long a preceptorship period usually lasts...but also remember you have to be happy where you are working too! Don't go getting ill like i did, if your somewhere your not happy x

Hello fone nurse and Cheshire cat, Thanks for your posts! I ended up having a huge talk with my line manager...(she is the wardmanager) and I told her my general feelings about what was making me unhappy about the ward and why i did not think it was for me...but i didn't tell her my feelings towards her, she even was trying to twist someof what i was saying, it was she she wasnt' listening to my point of view at all.... the long and short of it is that she has agreed to let me go back to outpatients and i start back in outpatients on monday so i have all weekend to relax and get back to normal! I am quite relieved about it all actually, she has said I can come and do some bank shifts up there on the ward still if i want to, to keep my hand in the clinical care side of things so i may do that as well, as didn't totally want to loose my ability to nurse in a ward setting. Fonenurse, going to the usa and canada, has ALWAYS been a dream, and one i am still determined to do, but I will just find another way of getting my hours and applying to facilities directly over there as agencies will only recruit those nurses from acute care settings...I will end up there somehow one way or another lol but in the meantime i am not going to stay somewhere i am unhappy... so thankyou for the advice :) its been much appreciated... i will let you all know how my first day back goes Lots of love Tina xx

Thanks Sharrie and Silverdragon I have decided to tell my old boss today that i would like to come downstairs to the outpatients, and she going to talk to the top level management to see what can be done. I am absolutely dreading going back into the ward on tuesday , i feel sick at the thought of it...I wish I could assertively tell my current boss how she has made me feel, but I am totally petrified of doing so...if this feeling continues however , as I think it will I will have to say something.

If I were to move to outpatients would it jeopardize my being able to work in the states or canada? My main reason for moving to the ward was to gain surgical experience that would later allow me to work overseas's but I know deep down i would me much happier working in outpatients again, my only worry is if i do go back, i can say goodbye to my chances of living in canada... ? am I right to think this? tina

Thanks for replying all of you! My manager gave me some pointers, but she then kept bringing the conversation around to the idea that she was getting pressure from above level management and that I will need to sort my prioritization issues out because the situation will only get worse with staffing... My old boss from the outpatients department today has now offered to let me have my old post and i am seriously thinking about taking it back, i was very happy in outpatients and my old boss is one of the most supportive people i have ever known, I don't know what to do though , I really am not the personality type to be able to work in highly pressurised environments and I feel this is what i am getting on the surgical ward even though i have only been there 4 months, ... would it make me seem like a total failure if i went back to outpatients? I have have this gut feeling i may become ill and stressed out if i stay on the ward, as this is exactly what happened to me when i worked on another ward. tina x

Thankyou Sharrie and RGN1 for replying to my email . I had another bad day today and I tried to explain that I felt under pressure again to my boss, and she didn't shout at me or anything she went on to say that sooner or later I will be looking after more patients, and that the situation will be worse now than before and that I need to be able to sort out my time management, I am really worried whatif i never get my time management up to scratch? and that i will never be a good nurse, I feel so upset at the moment, i feel that i regretted my decision to movefrom outpatients to the ward , but i did so due to the fact that I've had verrry little experience on the ward and need some surgical experience. I really don't know what to do... tina

Hello everyone Its been a long time since I last posted on this site, have had a really tough year, hada death in the family and getting to grips with a new job, its all been a bit crazy. I've been working on a surgical ward for the past 3 months, and it feels like starting over again as I went out of nursing for 6 months. I feel like a total fish out of water and I am having real problems with managing my time well...i always seem to never have enough time to finish the nursing kardex's and get everything done that needed to be done... manager put a bit of pressure on my today saying that i need to quicken up...she didn't mean it personally but I feel like im not nursing to the best of my ability... can any of you please please give me some advice on time management and how to quicken my pace up?? I would realllly appreciate it! Thanks everyone Tina xxx

Hi E. Nurse Thankyou ever soooo much for that info, sorry I have not replied sooner, have had a few problems at home and been tired! I realllly hope this course is real as it would save me sooo much more money than trying to do the course I was looking at in canada :) will give this chap a ring! Thankyou Tina K

Hello there english nurse If you don't mind me asking, could you please tell me who you spoke to at staffordshire uni regarding the transcripts? the chap who told you about the post grad courses for nurses wanting to make up the hours?? I am desperate to get to the usa or canada and really am excited about the news which you posted I just hope its for real...if you could remember the name of the man you spoke with i would reallly appreciate it! Thanks Tina kaur

hi there letina i was wondering if it would be okay for me to pm you or to email you?? i saw that you had written this: please......do not believe what this agency is telling you. i was a community nurse in the uk and was also told by a certain agency i didn't stand a chance of getting a job in the us unless i went back to an acute hospital job. i had been there, done that, years before, but they (the agency) said i would have to have more recent hospital experience. so i decided not to sign up with them and fast forward.....here i am working as a us rn. in one of the forum members posts and well i had a few queries myself about finding work in the us that you may be able to answer as they are similar to what was being discussed in that post... tina last name removed for your safety. we do not want you to get spammed. we try to keep things anonymous here, as much as possible.

Thanks for replying to all of you who replied to my post, the advice was reassuring and you all are right in that I should just relax a little and enjoy the job, the people there are all lovely, its not that big of a private hospital and its somewhere , where most of the staff know everyone so thats a nice feeling. My mentor is great and they have made me supernumary for 6 weeks, thats more than i got when i was newly qualified!! lol Seeing as it is a small hospital, there is a 24 bedded ward upstairs and i have been told i will be allowed to go work on the ward when they are short staffed, i spent two days on the ward this week as an induction and it was nice so in that sense i suppose i will still be able to keep some ward skills up! Tina k

Hello everyone I don't know if you remember but a couple months ago I had an interview for an outpatients/pre-assessment nurse job in a private hospital. WEll its now my second week working there ...the people are reallly nice and the hours are great and am seeing some new procedures i have not come across...i.e. minor dermatology procedures and gynae procedures, i will be soon put in for my ECG training and my cannulation and venepuncture.. I wanted some advice from other nurses who may work in outpatients..the only other job i had after being qualified was in A&E for just over 4 months, after which i left..i do not have any other staff nurse experience, i suppose what i am trying to ask about is the fact i am worried i will become rather de-skilled working in a clinic setting so soon after being qualified, i had to take this job because of the lack of nursing jobs available elsewhere, and the hours are so good for my home situation...so i couldnt afford to not take the job..i havent told some of my old nursing friends that my new job is in outpatients as i know a lot of them view it as 'not proper nursing' can anyone alleviate my fears and worries? Tina

Hello... I cannot believeee it , they offered me the post!! ...I was in such shock when they told me that I got the post for the OPD/Pre-Assessmemt nurse,..I couldnt thank them enough, am really excited, I won't start till april but Im really looking forward to it! Apparently they interviewed 9 other people, I really didn't think they would give it to me as I only have 4months post reg experience so I am ever so pleased...I am hoping my references will be okay though , it seems to good to be true, I have a fear they will retract the offer or something... I will be working for the BMI healthcare hospitalsand it seems a realllly nice place... I have a query for you RGN1... what will happen to my drug administration and IV skills?? in OPD will I still get to keep those up or not? my guess is not..? Tina K...

Hello Thanks for replying to my post, I am pleased to hear you have worked as an ODP nurse in the private sector , I would really like some help with a query of mine if that is okay...I know zilch about the independent sector, where could i find out info? and could you tell me a little more about your role please? I am really nervous about my interview and I don't know what kind of questions they may ask me about the role and how much info i will have to know about the private sector...do you enjoy the job?? any advice will be much appreciated :) Thanks Tina

Thanks guys You have given me some 'leads to go on' I will look into those further...I'm absolutely bricking it to be honest...Its a private hospital and I have no experience of those whatsoever , I really didn't expect them to even interview me due to my having just 4 months post reg exp....how do i stop being sooo nervous?! lol Tinak

Hello everyone Some good news...I have an interview for a staff nurse post in a private hospital..its an outpatient role and Im a bit stumped on a couple of the questions seeing as I only have 4 months exp as a qualified nurse on the person specs it says they want me to have knowledge of Health and safety issues and Quality Initiatives Does any experienced nurse here know what sort of questions I may get asked in relation to those issues?? Any advice would be most appreciated please :) Thanks everyone Tina K

I have always wanted to go into theatre nursing and its very hard to get a job in that area now..however have spotted a support worker role in theatres in a childrens hospital, i spoke to the manager today and asked if i could apply even though I am a qualified staff nurse, she was encouraging me to apply because she has said later in the year she will be putting out ads for band 5 theatre nurse posts and so she said if i got the support worker role , i would have my foot in the door, and my face would be known to the theatre team so i would have a big advantage over other nurse applicants due to my theatre experience.. plus i would be keeping up some clinical skills (very basic ones mind you ..) So what do you guys think...should i 'speculate to accumulate' so to speak?? Tina x

Hi there Thanks for replying, I don't know if you know but the reason I want to take the role is that where i am there are NO other nursing jobs available... too many trust cutbacks and redundancies..nobody wants to hire nurses at the moment... i have bills to pay and family commitments so i can't afford to move to a different city... I have been out of nursing since july 2006 and i do not want any more time to pass with me having very little clinical experience, i onlyh ave 4 months as a staff nurse...that is why i am interested in the theatre support worker role because it may lead me onto being picked by the manager for a theatre role that will be coming up later... Tina

Hello , Thanks to everyone who replied to my post ... Im currently in a non nursing job..which is Full time...so can't afford to go voluntary as i have bills to pay... however i would like your opinions on this I have always wanted to go into theatre nursing and its very hard to get a job in that area now..however have spotted a support worker role in theatres in a childrens hospital, i spoke to the manager today and asked if i could apply even though I am a qualified staff nurse, she was encouraging me to apply because she has said later in the year she will be putting out ads for band 5 theatre nurse posts and so she said if i got the support worker role , i would have my foot in the door, and my face would be known to the theatre team so i would have a big advantage over other nurse applicants due to my theatre experience.. plus i would be keeping up some clinical skills (very basic ones mind you ..) So what do you guys think...should i 'speculate to accumulate' so to speak?? Tina x

hello all.. Its been a long time since I have posted on here, but well I suppose I wanted some advice , I just am verrrry worried , I was a newly qualified nurse in feb 2006, and i had my first post as a staff nurse, but due to personal reasons I had to leave my post after just a little over 4 months...ever since then i have had noo luck in getting another nursing job...and its even harder now as hardly any vacancies for nurses in my home town, I cannot look in another city as don't drive and have commitments at home and for the past 3 months have been working in a non nursing job...i am really worried about my lack of clinical skills...i am soooo worried that i will never be given a chance to be a staff nurse again cause of my lack of experience... what should I do? Tina

Hello Denise The government indeed does need to get its priorities straightened out regarding funding for the NHS , but I can't see it happening any time soon ...and thankyou for your comments, i think your right, a lot has happened to me which has brough my faith and esteem in myself down and i'm letting thingsget to me in a personal way that i shouldnt... i am hoping now that i am out of the bad nursing job i was in that i can build myself back up as you have said... (fingers crossed!) Tina K

Hi madwife Yes that is good advice, I should have thought to have done an informal visit initially but it didnt' cross my mind , but thanks for the advice, it is something I will make sure I do in the future for any upcoming nursing posts that I apply for! Tina K