Spartagates

Congrats and well done! Could you PM me some details of how you went about this (which Uni, contact details etc) as I would like to get started on making my hours up. Many thanks, John

three hard years of scrimping and doing without. There is no way to make this up? Surely someone has encountered this problem and overcome it....

I must be missing something. I have checked the threads before asking and see no answer. If you do see it; apologies! A link would be humbly accepted

Hi, I'm now qualified, but will fall foul of the required hours needed to move to the US as a nurse. I've searched the forums and understand that this is a problem, but I am unable to find a solution to make the deficit up. I understand this may be costly, e.g. traveling to the US and attending courses at my own cost. But, I have not seen any real life solutions to do this. Is there a way bar doing each separate branch (18 months each!!) in the UK? I have support from my wife and family and the money to fund this, but can't find a route to do it. Any help? John

It does sound interesting, though I'm pretty sure the docs will resist giving all this power away at all costs (you'll see what I mean soon enough). But, I'm interested in knowing how you will gain the extra hours needed to gain a visa to the US in the first place? (peads, mental etc)

Hi Tina, Keep us informed; I'm in my third year now and starting to wonder if it is possible to top up our training as I havn't been able to find out any way; even had lobng conversations with ogp, but they don't seem to have a stratergy; which is interesting as they seem not to realise that this problem is only gonna get bigger for them untill they are squeezed out of the UK market.... John

Totally agreed. U highlight the failings of the old system; ie you do it because we have done it that way for so long (brown paper bags and vinegar anyone?). My point, however, is that the current teaching technique is good in theory; lets all learn from well researched evidence base; but the teaching bodies (colleges/uni's) are not checking this teaching out. I attend college now 1.5 days a week at most, yet the college signs me off as full time. They are getting paid for full time teaching. THIS IS A CON. They are raking in cash from taxpayers for fulltime delivery of education but not delivering it. Worse still, they are delivering questionably trained nurses into the health system. So, how you all feel about accepting a needle from a newly qualified nurse now? John

Think I need to clarify a couple of things. In my original post I said "enquiry based learning". Thats what it is called at my place of study. Please don't confuse it with Evidence. A good evidence based practice is what we all should work from, my remarks are based on a teaching technique only; namely the way students are sent away to look into subjects themselves to learn their proffession. The problem which honestly gives me sleepless nights is that this self taught learning is very loosly checked. I personally take care with my sources of information (good texts, journels, DOH websites) but I shudder at the thought of what some students will google to get themselves through. I am now approaching the end of my second year and I honestly believe that of all that I have been taught in theory time; 85% has not be tested/vetted. There seems to be an "its on your honour system" at work and patients will die because of it imho. Human nature will always seek the quickest route to achieve a goal. John

Thought I would throw a loose one into the fray.... I would love to be proven wrong on any count.... I honestly believe "enquiry based learning" (EBL) is a con. They basically say "go off and learn about X and present your findings to your group"... That takes a couple of hours of their time; but they bill the nhs for giving you FULL-time training, kerching! The part, however, that really worries me is the quality of the material that these future practitioners are learning and so going to base life or death decisions on in a very short time. The learning is un-checked as is the true competency of the student. Overall, the students are being let down severly and their future patients are frankly in danger of recieving some very dodgy care based on unsupervised learning. Lives are at risk imho. John