Warning to UK bound nurses

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 10, 2007

wow, I am sorry you are having these problems but I can honestly say I did not spend all my time making beds and fending off abusive patients. Bullied should not be tolerated and I would certainly take it up with higher management

Fonenurse · Mar 11, 2007

Like Silverdragon I am amazed to read this - yes, things can be tough in places, but please do not tolerate bullying, because believe me, we do not tolerate it here - join a union and challenge it...

There are some excellent places to care for patients, where not only will you not be de-skilled, but you may find your career taking off after gaining new skills!

I'm sorry JK7777 that you have had these negative experiences, but please don't think that all of the UK is like this, because it's not... perhaps you could PM me and I can offer some support to turning your experience around...

RGN1 · Mar 11, 2007

this paints a ridiculously negative picture of your fellow nurses in another country. I'm the 1st to admit that the NHS is not in a good state right now but in all my years of nursing I have never spent my entire shift making beds, fending off patients or being bullied. I have a lot of good nursing skills which I use on a daily basis.

I'm sorry you have had such a bad experience but I don't think it's fair to tar us all with the same brush.

It is true that you can't get a work permit here at the moment and it is true that the nursing here is different, we have to care for all our patient needs which does include making their beds but we also have to carry out all the other skilled nursing care as well. I'll also add that the pay is absolutely dreadful too.

However, please don't make us all out to be a bunch of unskilled yobs because we are most definitely not! Neither are all our patients out to get us - I've been nursing for 11 years & have never been threatened by a patient or a relative!

allnurses Guide · Mar 11, 2007

just to echo what has already been said I think that a recent thread that compared UK to US nursing demonstrates that nursing within the 2 countries is very different. I have worked in the NHS since the 80's and have had the pleasure of working with the most professional and skilled people. Yes we make beds but there is far more to UK nursing than just that. No we don't routinely start IV's or take bloods because many UK nurses feel that with scarce resources it takes them away from the patients bedside. We assess, plan and implement nursing care to a very high standard in very difficult conditions which I think actually improves nurses skills and makes us more adaptable.

It is a shame that you have had such difficulties but Nursing in the UK may be different but in no way less skilled than anywhere else in the world and to suggest anything else is downright insulting.

cariad · Mar 12, 2007

please tell me what the "nightingale style" is?

[color=#2f4f4f]because if you had any idea then you wouldnt compare nursing in the uk to it. unless you are talking about 20-30 years ago when we were all working in 20-30 bedded wards which consisted of 2 rows of beds down either side of the walls with strange uniforms and strange ideas of how we had to be treated by senior staff.

[color=#2f4f4f]dont know what sort of agency work you are doing, but its certainly not where i worked in the uk with lots of skills. including assessment, planning and caring for patients, which included venapuncture and cannulation.

[color=#2f4f4f]nursing in each country is different, and sometimes i could post things on here that i see in the us, which i personally think is wrong, but then who am i to judge others.

[color=#2f4f4f]

suzanne4, RN · Mar 12, 2007

I have visited the UK too many times to count and for too many years and have never seen what was posted above. Things are quite similar to what is done in the US. No it is not the same, but it is not even the same between Canada and the US.

There are facilities in the US where the nurse can feel bullied as well, but only as much as a nurse will let it be done.

But definitely not what was written here.

---------------

But at the moment, it is almost impossible to get a visa to work in the UK, even if you are American. Most jobs are on hold to those not from the UK or the EU at the moment.

JK7777 · Mar 12, 2007

Thank you all for your comments. It seems that my experienc was really in the tail of the curve. And I appreciate knowing this.. honestly. I am now withdrawing the thread (if I can figure out how!) and I will no longer comment. I did not mean to imply (although it cam across that way) that UK nurses are any less qualified, or any less caring than in other countries. I again apologize deeply for giving that impression. I was very hurt by my experience and feel very sad about it. I only worked in one trust and had just the one experience. I'm sorry to offended - truly.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 12, 2007

Thank you all for your comments. It seems that my experienc was really in the tail of the curve. And I appreciate knowing this.. honestly. I am now withdrawing the thread (if I can figure out how!) and I will no longer comment. I did not mean to imply (although it cam across that way) that UK nurses are any less qualified, or any less caring than in other countries. I again apologize deeply for giving that impression. I was very hurt by my experience and feel very sad about it. I only worked in one trust and had just the one experience. I'm sorry to offended - truly.

Again I am sorry that you have had a rough time and it is very good of you to come back and apologise. It may be worth sending a pm to one of the mods and see if they will close this thread for you if that is what you are wishing

RGN1 · Mar 12, 2007

I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling very sorry you had that experience you did. The fact you felt the way you did is a very sad reflection on where you worked.

I hope the responses you've had go some way to showing you that it need not be like the way it has been for you & I really hope you find yourself in a much better place work wise than you have done up to now.

You know it is OK to vent on this forum, goodness knows others have done will continue to do. I've let of steam here on many an occasion but it becomes a problem to others when the vent is general & not specific. Personally I would love to know where it was you had your terrible experience, I think they deserve to be named & shamed but I'm not sure how that stands with the TOS?

I hope any future experiences you have are better than those you've had so far - well by the sounds of it they couldn't be much worse!!!

cariad · Mar 12, 2007

no-one on here wishes any other person to be bullied or to suffer from bad experiences, and that goes for anywhere in the world.

[color=#483d8b]as i stated i dont post some things, because they would be too controversial or upsetting to other nurses, who just wouldnt believe that what i say is true.

[color=#483d8b]i have had good and bad experiences in the nhs and over here, hopefully you will find yourself in a good place to work, nothing i like better to feel accepted and liked by my fellow colleagues.

ZippyGBR, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2007

This is a caution to any American nurses thinking about UK nursing. I was admitted to the registry in the UK 3 years ago and hated every minute of it. You will be deskilled beyond belief,

depends on your employer...

certainly as a UK trained RN i've never had problems transferring extended role between employers as long as there is some documentary proof of competence... firends who work for other trusts have sometimes had to undertake assessments of cometence in extended roles but it's ever been a big issue

bullied, and abused. Nurses here are trained in the Nightengale style - you will spend most of your time making beds,

too posh to wash ? too posh to assist your patients with physical care?

yes we do make beds, yes we do assist patients with personal care - that said helping a dependent patient to wash and dress is a brilliant and none threatening way of assessing all sorts of things

-skin integrity

- ability to self care,

- restrictions and limitations to movement

it als gives you time to talk to your patient and gain an understanding of their current subjective state - their symptoms ( and the effectiveness ofsymptom control ), their state of mind and mood ...

fending off the physical aggressions of patients,

as opposed to the gratuitous use of physical and chemical restraint...

in terms of genuinely agressive patients - hospital security are there to provide assistance as well as Site Nurse Managers as are the police ...

and trying to practice what you paid dearly to achieve.

seems to be a focus perhaps on interventiosn rather than total patient care ... from the tone of your posting ?

The NHS is greatly strapped right now and will not give anyone who is "overseas trained" a work permit.

given there are significant numbers of newly registered staff without jobs as well the ability for EU citizens with valid registration and EU approved registration to move between member states, is it perhaps not suprising that UK government is not issuing new work permits for those without highly specialised skills - there is a relative surplus of of none specialist nurses in the Uk at present.