chapmajc

Thanks, I do try to be optimistic but it's difficult some days. English Nurse, I have been looking for jobs in the surrounding areas too. Thank you both for your replies :icon_hug:

I qualified in January. I can't do bank because I don't have 6 months post reg experience. I can't sign up to be HCA because they are not taking new applicants (they are taking on nurses). The job situation is bleak. There has not been one single job that I can apply for within my trust since I qualified. They say that the job freeze is over, but there are no jobs advertised, so..... I worked hard during my training and qualified with hons. All the seconded students were given jobs to start immediately after they have qualified. (5 have failed their OSCEs for the second time, so have not qualified yet and still have a job). I phoned the job centre today to find out if I was entitled to jobseekers allowance. I am.....£57 per week. In all I have studied for four years and I gave up a job to come into Nursing and at the moment I wish I hadn't.

That is so true. We had a patient brought in by ambulance last year and it turned out that I knew him years ago. I was told he was a drug user, a drunk and violent. He was, when I knew him a very nice clean living bloke who only liked a drink. When he came round (on the floor) I asked him what was going on? After lots of questioning he finally told me that his wife had left him over a year ago and for 6 months he had been trying various ways to kill himself. He said he was violent to the staff once because he wanted to be sectioned and they refused. On this occasion he was found lying in the middle of a busy road on a blind bend after taking lots of alcohol and sleeping tablets. I told the staff that he was not like this and he that he needed help. So, they discharged him as soon as he was up on his feet. How can anyone possibly think things like this will save money?

So do I! I due to qualify in 6 months and with 650 nursing posts to go in my area theres not much hope of me finding work after studying for four years.

Hi Denise I am a student, hope these answers help you in some way. On the diploma programme you should still have time for a social life but you do need to set aside regualr study time. You should get a bursary for around £140 per week. Dealing with a death is not nice but it is part of the job. Everyone copes in different ways, so you just have to find your own coping mechanism. Messy jobs with body fluids, well I have a weak stomach. A travel size strong perfume and olbus oil helps me through the smelly bits. As for your age, I am nearly 37 and started back in education at 33. We have students in our cohort who are late 40's and early 50's, so you should be OK. :chuckle Good luck with whatever you decide. Jox

It has been really sad reading what you three have experienced. Considering we are taught to provide 'holistic and autonomous care', it dosn't seem like staff get the same respect.

Hi Dotcotton Sorry to hear of your occi health problem. I had a similar problem when I started uni. I had been prescribed anti-depressents once by my GP a few years ago to ??stop me being anxious about medical problems I have that were (and still are) poorly managed. I told occi health and it went against me. I never took the medication and have kept the box for proof, but it did not make any difference. Thankfully our occi health changed hands and I was lost in the system and no-one has ever got beck to me. I would quote the disability discrimination act if I were you. Go to your student union they will be able to advise you where to put your complaint. At the end of the day what do you have to loose. Young people go through a lot of changes when growing up and this should not be counted against you if you have recovered from any mental health problems. I am at uni with some-one who had a complete breakdown at 18, she is fine now and doing a degree. I know the NHS needs to be safe but it can be OTT with things like this. Don't give up if it's what you really want to do. Good luck. Jox

i know, i feel very sad for you people. i thought the tories were bad years ago. i feel gutted for the nurses that have a family to support. they have made a rod for their own back with me. i enjoy studying and i love nursing so, i will go on the dole until they send me for more nurse training. which, they will do to cut down the unemployment figures, eventually. i gave up a good job to become a nurse and have spent nearly four years getting here. i will just be the best qualified inexperienced nurse around. i can put my skills to good use in the voluntary sector, there are lots of neglected people out there who need help. i have got used to having no money already, so there will be no change there.

Our Trust, BH&R have stated that there will be 650 job cuts. They have also said that they can not confirm that there will be no more. That probably means that there will be more than this. The taxpayer has paid a minimum of £57,000 (uni fees and bursary) to train each of us. We are the smallest cohort of 92, that's a total of £5,244,000.00 spent on us alone, what a waste of money.

I was on the terrace too with some other students, three longs hours we were there, I'm knackered. It did go really well. We're famous, hahahaha. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4758435.stm http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1221298,00.html I was told that so many students are being taken on to cover for the shortfall in fully trained nursing staff and it is also to manipulate unemployment figures. I guessed this was the case. They are also raising a few other issues with Ms Hewitt, our Trust and Mr Blair on our behalf. I will let you know when I get a reply. It's a shame News 24 felt that planned job losses in the car industry are more important than our actual job losses. It was so nice to see that so many members of the public were supporting us all. Lots of people came up to us on the way there and back. We popped into a pub for a quick one and straight away a fella came over, wished us luck and told the bar staff that we were not to pay for any drinks. :yelclap: Lets hope some-one listens.

Good Luck!!!!:beer:

Cheers for those links they have a lot of stuff that I can include. It's hard to know what the markers are looking for, our lecuturer was really good but we had only one lesson, months ago. I'm giving it a rest for a few days as it has burnt me out. Thankyou both for all your help. :flowersfo :icon_hug: Jox

Thanks fonenurse for all your help. I hadn't seen those sites, I will go through them to see if I can find anything regarding dementia pt's. If I don't end up finding a case like the one I mentioned then I will quote Bolams Test. My brain is hanging out right now so, I will start to look again tomorrow. Think I need a large glass of wine now. Thanks again for all your help, Jox

Thanks Fonenurse, I have looked at this already. Ive been searching for days now and it's driving me mad. I have even e-mailed an NHS lawyer. The senario that I have is that of a 70 year old man with dementia who was told by his Doctor that he should never have a bath. A newly qualified Nurse was told by a Sister to give him a bath. He informed the Nurse of the above but then let her bathe him, she did not read his notes! He had an epileptic fit in the bath while she was getting some towels. I know that he gave consent, but it was not informed consent. Also she should have read the notes. I need to find a case of this nature that has been to court. I need to cite the and give my reasoning. I can quote NMC consent, logic and reasonable care expected but I just can't find a case that has really happened. I have found loads of web-sites but I need to be a registered Doctor to access various pages. I'm pulling my hair out. I know it must be there somewhere. Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. Jox

I am doing an exam in three weeks on 'Law and Ethics'. I have all the relevant information from the NMC. I am doing my BSc Hons and I need to site case law on consent, and statute laws. I have been to various websites and I just can't find anywhere that tells me of cases involving consent. ie. Bolum Test Case Law I would really appreciate any advice.

I have nursed pt's that pull out IV's and high risk of falls. If there are no cot sides then I pulled the chairs and cabinets to the side of the bed along side the chest area (pillows on the arms of chairs to prevent injury). Then if they do fall that these would either break the fall or stop them half way. I also tucked the sheets in under the mattress around the middle of the body and left the feet free, so if they do fall then perhaps that few seconds would enable them to get their feet down first. As for IV lines, I had a really confused young person with learning difficulties having chemo who pulled out his lines several times during each treatment. I tried to not let allow this person to see the line by covering it up with a pillow and magazine. A light sedative was also given. Distraction therapy is all you can really do, and have eyes in the back of your head. I feel very sad for these people, they must be so scared.

Cheers Fonenurse We are from LSBU (london southbank university) I have just found out today that we are allowed time off to attend. Hopefully there will be all 14 of us Bsc students attending. I have not been able to get in touch with the diploma students as most are on holiday. I will try and get a meeting with our MP, but it's a bit short notice. I've had bit of a struggle arranging the time-off. Got all our stickers and stuff through today. Hope to meet you there. Jox

I have been liasing with our uni and it looks like they will give us special leave to attend (providing they can allocate our missed lectures to another date). I have contacted the RCN to request leaflets etc but none have arrived. The lady I spoke to on the phone from the RCN was in wales and didn't know what I was talking about. Do you know if we need to let anyone know that we will be attending? I don't want to turn up with other students if we are not expected. Thanks jox

Hi Degeneratemoo I can't really help you with either question but, I am a mature student (36), in my third year. At my uni there are people that are a lot older, some in their 50's. As for our interview (LSBU), I think they were mainly after people skills. They got us to work in a group and built up a sort of debate. I played devils advocate to get things going again when it all got a bit boreing. I think most people who went for the interview got accepted. As for the recent job losses, well you can get that in pretty much any area, if nursing is what you really want then don't let the job market stop you. Good luck, Jo

The only reason this nurse was in an isolated and dangerous part of the Hospital grounds was to hide while smoking, not for any other reason. We all fear losing our jobs if caught, she lost her life as a result of trying not to get caught smoking. This is a sad waste of a young life. I only smoke during my half hour lunch break, never at any other time (I now go to my car). In the hospital where I work, the staff used to be able to go into non-public areas like the staff car park and smoke without fear of losing their jobs. These smoking rules have been filtered down from our government, who still have smoking rooms inside buildings at their place of work. They are also able to buy duty free cigarettes and alcohol there. I am not spouting off about this because I am a smoker, I am saying it because I care about the safety of the people I work with as well as patients.

I have voted and hope to attend. If our uni know that some of us students want to attend, perhaps we may be given a study day.

I don't know if you are talking about statins. There was some media attention on studies in ths range of drugs. It was said that as well as lowering cholesterol in large doses they found that it reduces the build-up of blockages in the arteries. I thought the studies came from america though, or am I remembering wrong?

Thanks for your kind words of sympathy, It is a really difficult time for me. I was at a Q & A meeting last year and there are plans to implement changes in our uni on how much time students are spending on placement. It is going to be increased without a doubt. This would be a good idea because I really don't think the training is long enough for a lot of people. Some people qualify and are really not safe for practice. However, with the state of the NHS and the rising debts, I think this will be a bad move. As students, most of us perform illegal proceedures on a daily basis. This is being encouraged with the inadequate levels of staff. People like my dad are dying everyday because of silly mistakes. Our trust has a massive debt yet, our uni who supply our trust with students are taking on more student nurses than ever. We are sent out on placement usually about 8 weeks into the course. There are no jobs available when we qualify. I can only assume that this very large numbers are to counter balance the staff who are being made redundant. I can't think of any other reason for taking on such large numbers of students. I have on two occasions (one being on my first placement, on a renal medical ward with no experience) been left with one other student running a ward. With the terrible things I saw happen to my father it has made me decide to push this matter further and I will make it public if need be. I will not rest until I know that patients are not going to be left in the care of unsupervised students or HCA's. At the end of the day we have all paid our taxes and we should expect to be cared for by fully trained staff. Students are there to learn and this is just not happening. I check everything I do and because of my strong will I refuse to do things that I don't understand, but sadly this is not the case with a lot students. Jox

I have just been reading this thread and my stomach is turning. I agree with you fully about the untrained staff. I have seen many students working unsupervised and it really scares me, some ain't got a clue. I am a 3rd year student and I worry about not knowing enough when I qualify. Just over two weeks ago I got the shock of my life. Our local hospital rang my husband to inform us that my dad had an MI. He was said to be 'stable', in resus!! I know you don't get stable MI's so I rushed to the hospital. I won't go into lots of detail but my father needed to urinate. A student Nurse(unsupervised) got him a bottle and then helped him out of bed to use it! The additional strain put on his heart was fatal. My family and I are now paying the price for her not knowing what she was doing, and for her not being supervised. I will always have the memory of watching all what happened just because of inadequate knowledge.:angryfire

I am working in the same trust as the Nurse that was killed this week. She is very much in our thoughts. She was killed at the back of the Hospital building, having a smoke during her break. This Hospital is one of the first in our trust to enforce a total smoking ban anywhere in the grounds of the hospital (including our own cars). The smokers amoungst us go to unsafe parts of the Hospital (usually the back of buildings) to smoke in our breaks. We do this because we can be sacked if caught and we have an addiction. This is still happening despite a young lady being killed as a result of having to hide her habit.