Re Validation shall I Bother

[defender110]

Not sure what to do!I am 63, I qualified as an RGN back in the mid 70s. Before I had children, I was a senior ward sister. I have always maintained my registration. Back in the 70s when I qualified I paid a fee of £10 and was promised that was it. Once a nurse always a nurse so to speak. My how the world changes!

In more recent years I have worked as a self employed childminder. I specialise in children who have special or exceptional needs, be they educational, behavioural, medical, or what have you.The NMC have always accepted this as using my nursing skills when it came to renewing registration, and there was never any problem renewing.

Re validation however is going to make this a lot more difficult.I no longer work with nurses, or in a commonly accepted nursing environment. I could put together 5 essays on children I have cared for over the last 3 years or so. How long does one of these essays have to be? Can I have a discussion over the phone with my confirmer (if I can find one)? I would be quite happy to act as confirmer for somebody else (if that is allowed)?I think I could probably scrape 35 hours of training together.

My big question is: Is it worth all the effort? Has re validation been introduced to rid nursing of dinosaurs like me? Just would like to hear what others think and maybe hear a bit of encouragement for once!

Many thanks and thanks for reading.