Ask A Band 6 RN!!!!

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Reply 120

ButterflyRN

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Reply 121

Zainab96

How many years experience do u need before u can become a senior sister?

Reply 122

ButterflyRN

Original post by Zainab96

How many years experience do u need before u can become a senior sister?

Nothing is set in stone but you need at least 3 years experience before you can became a band 6 sister (in my trust) and then another 3 years experience as a band 6 before it is advised you apply to become a band 7.

Reply 123

Paperflowersxx

Do you need a masters degree to be a band 6 or is that just for clinical nurse specialists?

Reply 124

ButterflyRN

Original post by Paperflowersxx

Do you need a masters degree to be a band 6 or is that just for clinical nurse specialists?

No you don't need a masters degree to become a band 6 nurse :smile:

Reply 125

Zainab96

Dumb question but who makes nurses rota, also im interested in what senior sisters actually do? Do they still get involved in the clinical stuff looking after patients?

Reply 126

Fruitforty

Original post by ButterflyRN

Hey guys,

I know many of you who are applying or are considering nursing as a career have many, many questions, especially regarding practice placements. Or are you a student nurse struggling on your placements and want some advice? Or are you a 3rd year student and would like some advice for your management placement and job preparation?? Feel free to ask me anything! I have almost 4 years post qualification experience and I am now a sign off mentor!

Look forward to answering your questions!

Hello I really dislike ward work but love the emergency side of things such a A and E do you think I should switch to a paramedic course as I feel paramedics have more medical involvement than nurses thanks :smile:

Reply 127

tinkerbelle2

Original post by ButterflyRN

That's great! My fiancé's mum was a mental health nurse for 20+ years and has worked in all kinds of settings. She has worked on an acute mental health ward, low/medium secure mental health units and she has worked at high security units such as Rampton and Broadmoor. Very, very intense stuff. She has now re-trained as an OT and has worked in prisons and she is now back to working in acute mental health units as an OT. She also has loads of additional qualifications to work in any direction she really wants to.

I have also received therapy myself and most of the therapists that work in my MH Trust were ex mental health nurses. If you are interested in mental health, there really are many different directions you can take.

Ah that's amazing! Sounds like she's done a lot of really interesting things that are right up my street. I have met some people that worked at Broadmoor -- it sounds intense! Very scary and sad at times I bet. My ward is locked but not 'secure' as such but it can be intense at times too! Yeah there are!

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Reply 128

Mango65

Hi do you know if you can do a masters straight from bachelors, I know it is recommended to work first but is it still a possibility? Also which area do you work in? Thanks.

Reply 129

moonkatt

Original post by Mango65

Hi do you know if you can do a masters straight from bachelors, I know it is recommended to work first but is it still a possibility? Also which area do you work in? Thanks.

You keep asking the same question over and over again, the answer will still be the same.

Yes you can do a masters straight away, universities are more than happy enough to take your money for them with promises of career development but as I said the last time you asked this question two weeks ago, it is much better to focus on becoming clinically competent and finding the area of practice you want to work in and then do further study related to that area, this will make you much more employable than an inxperienced nurse who has done a generic masters in nursing.

Here's my last reply in case you didn't see it http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showpost.php?p=67316758&postcount=4

Reply 130

lol123456789

How much of it is exam based&"academic"

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Reply 131

LIzzieWoo

Hi there, *

*I am 1 year qualified and doing my mentorship course! The assignment is super stressful but maybe I am just overthinking it, however I remember struggling through my assignments and spending ages looking up the right articles and trying really hard to critically appraise the literature as best as I could for my nursing degree. I spent so much time on all my essays because I am not being a last min person. I like independent learning. It's more scary this time round as the trust spent money on me for the course so I feel more pressure to pass. When you were doing the mentorship course did, they expect a beautiful essay at the end with lots of fantastic referencing.... can I get away with the bare minimum? I just find it hard to debate evidence. I'm just so stressed with the marking criteria. I wish there is more emphasis on your mentoring technique rather than how you construct an argument. Instead, testing us on some scenarios and asking us how we would manage a student with detailed explanations would be more useful.*

thanks!!*

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 132

ltaylor1987

I have my first ever staff nurse interview next week... Any tips on preparing and what might happen on the day?

Thanks

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Reply 133

ButterflyRN

I'm really sorry that I've neglected this thread! I have been in hospital since July so I haven't been able to get online much. I will catch up and reply when I can get on my laptop.

questions in comming

Original post by ButterflyRN

I'm really sorry that I've neglected this thread! I have been in hospital since July so I haven't been able to get online much. I will catch up and reply when I can get on my laptop.

Hi I will be qualified as a staff nurse soon. I was wondering am I able to request only short days (earlies and lates) when I start my job? I have a health reason for this but I'm not sure if they would take me on or that if it puts me at a disadvantage when I go to interviews if I'm not flexible.

Reply 136

ButterflyRN

Original post by Zainab96

Dumb question but who makes nurses rota, also im interested in what senior sisters actually do? Do they still get involved in the clinical stuff looking after patients?

It is normally the Ward Manager/Senior Sister who will do the bulk of the off duty but Band 6 Junior Sisters can help with it too if they so wish. I never played about with doing the off duty much myself. I did about one weeks worth and it gave me a headache. But I did do things on the e-roster such as assign overtime, request bank staff, record sickness etc. I have been the only Sister on the ward for a week a few times and trust me, fiddling about with the e-roster was mega stressful lol.

Senior Sisters are Ward Managers and tend to focus on the management side of running the ward. One of the biggest tasks is usually the off duty and ensuring that staffing is at a safe level. They also often do the audits for the ward, undertake root cause analysis', answer complaints, cascade information to staff, manage budgets etc. A lot of it is paperwork stuff and very stressful.

I think it depends on the area you work in and their personality as to whether the Senior Sisters help out with ward work. I tend to find that Senior Sisters who muck in from time to time have better morale in their times as people feel like they are all equal.

Reply 137

ButterflyRN

Original post by Fruitforty

Although it is possible to get a job in A&E when you qualify it depends on what the trust require. Some will take on newly qualified nurses and some will require at least 6 months post qualification experience. I'm sorry but there is a lot of ward work in nurse training, so if it isn't for you then it really limits your options when you qualify. If you are interested in emergency medicine though then training to be an ambulance technician or paramedic is a good shout but does require certain things such as a driving license, completing driving test to drive an ambulance etc.

Reply 138

ButterflyRN

Original post by tinkerbelle2

Yeah, it's quite an exciting area to work in and very interesting. I eventually at some point want to do my mental health top up but I shall not be working in such places because I am too much of a wuss lol!

Reply 139

ButterflyRN

Original post by Mango65

Hi do you know if you can do a masters straight from bachelors, I know it is recommended to work first but is it still a possibility? Also which area do you work in? Thanks.

Yes, you can. But if you are not funded by your trust then you will have to pay out of your own pocket which is very expensive and I very much doubt they will fund a NQ nurse to do their MSc anyway. At least not straight away anyway. I really would advise going to get some experience first because to be honest, most employers will look at your experience and skills you have over what degree you have. It makes very little difference when you first qualify. It will help once you have your experience and you want to move forward onto new things but it makes no difference upon qualifying.

I am a rare breed and I work in medicine for the elderly, by choice! Lol. I am not on the DME ward anymore but I am in a different Band 6 DME role now which is really exciting :smile: