Now Ye're Talking - to a mature student nurse

Water John wrote: »

Best of luck OP, I have 2 in the family and many more in the extended family. On the plus side, it's a passport to the world.

Thank you very much!

Canyon86 wrote: »

Hi
Really respect the work ye do 
Would you see yourself moving abroad to further your career after graduation?
Would you recommend private health insurance?

Would love to move abroad but I'm too settled here to be honest. I know the majority of my class is going as soon as they can and tbh I don't blame them. I just hope to get a permanent position here and try to further my career here.

As for private health insurance, I personally would get it. I remember a patient was awaiting a scan for something urgent. Soonest available appointment was 5 weeks on the public system. My preceptor(nurse who I work with), actually said to go to the nearest private hospital and pay for the scan because they would be seen that day if not within the week.

Agent Smith wrote: »

Do you have a bedside locker?
Whats in your bedside locker?


Whats the funniest thing you've seen in your training?

No bedside locker, I have my floor though:D
I usually have my phone and the latest book I'm reading.

As for funny things in training, on my first placement I was lead to believe I had to take blood pressure using a manual machine(think of the ones you have to pump by hand in a gps office), so when a nurse asked me to use an electronic monitor I told her it was outside of my "scope of practice". She looked at me oddly and left me alone. It was only at lunchtime when I was talking to the rest of my classmates that I found out that I was meant to do them. I was mortified.

(That doesn't sound funny, but it's all I got :P )

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Best of luck from a retired nurse . Its hard work , tough on the body but so rewarding and satisfying . My top tip , always wear good supportive shoes !

Thank you very much!

Nokia6230i wrote: »

Have you noticed different bedside manners with nurses?

Was getting my bloods done and because I donate platelets I've no fear of needles into my arm; it's only an initial prick and after that it's all over; they can drive the needle up or down once the skin's broken.
The Nurse in my GP Surgery would've been aware of this but nonetheless we got onto discussing a footballer who plays golf in south-east too and our experiences (all good) of him in different scenarios.
All the while doing this, all of maybe 5 minutes, she'd 3 Vials of blood taken from me.

It was only afterwards I thought about it, of how nonchalantly it was done and that had I had any anxiety the distraction technique of a common cause or topic would've dealt with this.

Mind you I was in WRH/UHW (unsure what correct title is but the name probably depends on if you knew Marathon as Snickers or vice versa) getting some eye-work done and no amount of the nurses holding the hand, trying to discuss anything from issues in common to us, where we're all from etc. to Kilkenny/Waterford political border wranglings could make me comfortable about getting a needle into my fricking eye lid (one slip and it was into the eye-ball!; such that instead of getting second one done on same day, in same sitting I bailed on 'em.

Yes I have noticed different bedside manners. Some nurses I've worked with are the stereotypical "battle axes"(but are really softies underneath), some who are so nice that they'd give you the shirt off your back and others who imo shouldn't be allowed to work with the public. I've also noticed that the manner changes patient to patient, depending on their age, job, stage of illness etc. For example, one time my preceptor was looking after a nurse and she was very blunt, clinical and straightforward but then had a completely different manner when she was dealing with another patient afterwards. I've even noticed my manner changes depending on the patient I'm with. I find that that distraction technique does work wonders though, even just something as basic as chatting about the weather helps a lot.

To be fair if I had to get a needle in my eye, I'd have been bricking it myself. Even the thought of it makes me shudder.

Nokia6230i wrote: »

And, on top of this, much like with Drs., Jnr. or otherwise like Consultants (the holy grail?), should the INMO be pushing to reduce hours from 12 hour shifts to 10 or 8 etc.

The thought of getting treatment from a medic on their feet, often going without food or toilet breaks or a sit down due to being understaffed/overworked and being asked to do all this for a minimum of 12 hours is scary.

We hear far too often of Drs. & Nurses doing ridiculous shifts of twice and three times this which, for them alone is scary when you consider they've to drive home in some cases much less treat patients; once fatigue kicks in it's not safe but if you put your hand up you're putting your livelihood in danger potentially?

I'd go with GP or Dr. Surgery rather than a hospital if I was a Nurse if at all possible; guaranteed hours and no overtime demands and you get to know your patients.

I think the 12 hour shifts would be more bearable if we had full staffing(now I am a student not a FT nurse so take my opinion with a heaping tbsp of salt). What I've seen on the wards in relation to ridiculous shifts is all down to a lack of staffing, there is simply not enough manpower to go around, even with agency nurses. In the handful times I have done a 12 hour shift as a student nurse(most of my days are just under 10 hours - that will change in 4th year!), I've seen understaffing be the bigger problem as opposed to the shifts themselves. Anytime I did those hours, I tried to help the nurses out as much as possible to the point where I felt more like I was a healthcare assistant than a student nurse(in the sense that I didn't really learn any nursing stuff) purely to ease their burden. It's so frustrating because when we are even 1 nurse short or 1 healthcare assistant short you can feel it in the ward, especially when it comes to the drug round and paperwork.

TG1 wrote: »

Just popped in to say best of luck. I had to spend a few weeks on a ward a couple of years ago, and the students nurses kept me sane, they were the best craic, made me laugh for three weeks through a broken pelvis which was sone achievement!!

I was on a ward with a couple of old battle axes who were downright rude to them though, and was always astonished at how they remained professional and polite at all times with them. Is that something you learn, or do you think you just have to have it in you?

Thank you very much. I think student nurses are lucky in some regards, we don't have as much paperwork and other things so we actually have the time to chat and have the craic with patients.

We kinda learn a bit about it in college before our 1st placement in the sense that if someone is rude, we don't know if they are frightened, in pain, upset or if that's just their nature and as such we should be polite and professional at all times. However I do think you have to be able to bite your lip and say nothing so you don't explode at them. In first year I was very easily hurt and upset but I have toughened up I feel. You have to in this job.

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Have you done your night shifts yet, and was it a full moon?

Do you feel your preceptors give you enough support, and have many people on your course failed placement?

Good luck going forward!

No night shifts as a nursing student yet but have done some as a HCA. I thought the full moon being chaos in a hospital was a myth but boy was I proven wrong! Any shift that occured on a full moon was chaos, guaranteed to have people on trollies in corridors and it always kicked off.

Preceptors vary in quality and I think its due to the fact that once you are given a contract with the HSE and completed training you have to be one. So you get those who are into it, and those who are not. I remember having a fantastic preceptor who I maintain was the gold standard of being a preceptor. I learned so much from her and I'd do anything to work with her again. Conversely I worked with a preceptor, who as soon as she saw us students threw her hands up in the air and was like "I don't do students!". Needless to say I learned very little from her. I've also been put with preceptors, who due to the staffing shortages, are too busy acting as nurse in charge(informal ward manager) on top of their regular duties so I end up with agency nurses(who are fantastic!) and learn a lot but they can't sign off paperwork and are technically not supposed to be taking us on.

I don't think anyone has failed placement. The majority of us have to repeat placements due to missing time or illness. I do know that a few have dropped out, the majority being the ex-leaving cert students as opposed to the fetac/mature students. I get it though, the course is difficult and there is a tendancy to go in thinking about what nursing, conditions etc. should be like but the reality is completely different.It's also hard to balance a 2nd job, the course and a social life.

Mike Hoch wrote: »

I hear a lot of people complain about the conditions, and this causes a high rate of nurse emigration.

How much would you expect to earn before tax in an average year, newly qualified?

Sorry I didn't see this until now:
28,768 according to the HSE payscales

eeloe wrote: »

I know it's more about being fulfilled and content in your work, but that kind of money would really put anyone off being a nurse, the things you have to see and do, the hours, the cut off from your family during busy times....

Doesn't really seem worth it to me.

I wish it paid better in all honesty, I know the pay increases with each year but still. That's why nurses leave and it feels like noone is listening, be it the minister for health or in the HSE.

Radio5 wrote: »

Are student nurses told to assume that everyone over 50 is deaf?

My mum's just spent 5 days in public hospital. She is 72, luckily her hearing is fine. Yet every nurse that dealt with her felt the need to shout at her, most of the time while standing at the foot of her bed NOW MARY I'M GOING TO CHECK YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE etc! She mentioned to some of them that she had no trouble hearing but there was no improvement. HCA's were better and did not assume deafness.

Nurses of all ages seemed to just look at the colour of her hair and think Grey Hair=old lady=deaf as a post= must shout from distance.

No we're not. That's mad, if anything that behaviour is the complete opposite of what we are taught, especially with your mum saying that her hearing was fine. I'm so sorry that she had that experience. I guess that maybe one nurse assumed she had hearing difficulties and said it during morning report/handover which led to the rest of the nurses assuming incorrectly(that's just me speculating though). That doesn't excuse the fact that they ignored the fact that she clarified that she could hear. I'm shocked tbh

dellas1979 wrote: »

I had a spinal block done today. In a private clinic. The nurses were shamazing.

I had to get a procedure done in a public hospital a few weeks ago, and the personal care wasnt there. I assume its because of over worked staff etc.

Actually wrote to the office of Simon Harris to complain about lack of staffing. I was told that the government doesnt run the HSE and have no authority over staffing.

Would there be a big difference in salary and working conditions in a private run hospital?

Do you think private insurance and more private hospitals are the way to go-although of course some people due to means do need to go through public. Would it take pressure off hse run hospitals? Cause looks like they couldnt run a piss up in a brewery (they = hse and government).

I told office of SH that I would never vote for FG again. I wouldnt vote FF anyways. Sorry to get political. Just dont understand who runs these services, and why they just dont sort the feckin thing out. And why they cant run more efficiently.

I'm not certain on salary but from what I've heard private hospitals are pretty decent conditions wise over public. I know a person training to be a dr, who is a qualified nurse and does shifts in a private hospital, they refuse to work as agency in the HSE hospitals as the prefer the conditions of the private hospital. As for more privatisation, I'm not certain how effective it would be but I would say to anyone, if you can stretch your budget to get private health cover do.

What I'd love is a rebalancing of the HSE, prioritise frontline staff, dr's and consultants alongside an effective primary care service and to allow screenings, tests etc. to be done all week rather than mon-fri. Same thing with surgeries - work to clear the backlog and prevent it reoccurring. Also speeding up the Fair Deal scheme and if it hasn't already, extend it to homecare packages as well as I've seen a fair few patients who were medically fine but were waiting for a fair deal package to come through and as a result of the delay in getting the scheme were left in hospital for at least 2 weeks. Theres more I could say but I'd be here all night

The day any of that happens however is the day I'll eat my hat.

Nokia6230i wrote: »

If you were to remain on as an RGN for a bit would you consider doing a stint with K-Doc, D Doc, Caredoc etc.?

Are they mostly agency staff appointed on a temporary/casual basis from a roster or are they contracted for specific periods by HSE (sorry if that question is a bit clumsily asked!)?

Obviously you're dealing then with all the anti-social shifts, the Friday evenings 6pm to Monday mornings 8 or 9am & Bank Holidays, Easter Weekend, Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/St. Stephens Day & NYE/NYD as well as St. Patks. Day.; wonder is the pay worth the inconvenience or is the pay off worth it?

Honestly? I don't know. Tried googling their salary details(especially for community nurses) but I couldn't find anything. It's not an area I'd normally consider but if the salary is right? I could change my mind

From what I googled it seems to be a case of(again I don't know 100%) nurses on part-time or full-time contracts, with the ability to choose their own hours(I'd imagine its a case of you have to work x hours a week, choose what shifts you need to make up those hours).

As for whether its worth it all depends on differing factors, if you're doing gp style nursing with no travel then already its more appealing however if there's travel involved then no thanks(unless the pay is good).

Sorry for the very roundabout answer, I wish there was more details available so I could answer fully.

QueenRizla wrote: »

You mention a lot of your class are planning to leave the country once qualified. It seems like encouraging opportunities for mature students to take up nursing is a better long term plan for the HSE, they are more likely to stick around?
You seem very engaged and dedicated, do you think enough is done to encourage nursing as a career for mature students? What percentage of the classes would be mature?

I think it would be a better option yes as the majority of matures in my class are more settled, have kids or feel that when compleleted the degree that they will need to be established here(buy a house etc.). The frustrating thing is that the odds are against mature students getting into nursing, some colleges have as many as 6 places for matures while others might only have 1 or 2. On top of that we have our own points race in the form of an aptitude test(which I completely agree with) which is quite difficult and like the cao, the points of that determine whether you're in or not. So rather than funding a few more places(they control the course numbers via funding AFAIK), instead the HSE is like, "let all the young wans get experience overseas and then throw a small bit of cash at them to entice them home, despite not improving conditions, standards etc." which is why so few nurses come back on that scheme, whereas matures are there, ready and willing to work in the hospitals and not just use them as experience builders(not that there's anything wrong with that).

In my honest opinion, it feels like little is done to encourage matures. From the way it comes across it very much feels like we are last in line - we have less places in college, have more hoops to jump through and are not as valued as trying to recruit nurses who emigrated. If all the HSE did was increase funding for extra mature places, it would be a massive step, I think, in the right direction.

As for percentages, I think about 10% are matures(give or take)