Help I don't know what to do about Nursing

Hi, I was wondering if anyone can help.
I am currently in my first year of nursing and I really dislike placement on the wards, I don't find it intellectually stimulating. Eventually I'd like to be an emergency care practitioner and debated for a long time between becoming a paramedic and studying that at university or studying nursing. Everyone said nursing had more options and there are a lot of different routes I wouldn't mind going down, however working on a ward seems to involve no science at all and I find it quite boring, I dread going onto placement and I'm worried that once I qualify I'll be stuck on the ward as a staff nurse for so long, hating it all the time I'm there. Could someone give me some advice? I don't necessarily think I've chosen the wrong career (although I do wish there was more anatomy and physiology involved but wouldn't enjoy a course that led to working in a lab) but I'd just like to know if working on a ward is what I'm going to have to do?

Reply 1

Swagio

There's other stuff like community nursing etc, the army and a&e (although I'm guessing you'd have needed to work as a qualified nurse for x amount of time).
My last course was all elderly based with elderly placements, but I had no interest in that area and in fact wanted to work with children and young people.
But I needed said course to work with children and young people in health care! But there was all based on older adults.
Didn't enjoy placement if I'm honest and dreaded it some days, as I just wasn't that good in that area and found end of life care pretty tough.
But it was what I needed so I grinned and bearded it, which sounds bad but it just wasn't for me.
But I got my qualifications and now work with children and young people and have the qualifications I need for uni.
I think it really depends on if you really want the degree and if it's the right path.
But placement wise I think you can find something good when you look; for me it was the service users and making an impact and building those relationships.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

wbnurse

How can you decide so quick after what....2 placements? Every ward is completely different. I used to work on surgical....now if you want stimulating that's the place to go! Maybe have a word with your placement team and just say can I request a certain placement for year 2 as I've found the others haven't done me any favours. With placement you have to experience abit of everything. There will be ones you don't like but it's about you see all expects of nursing and how it works. If anything Itl show you where not to go later. I'm dreading getting a rubbish placement but il just bare it. It's only 2 months

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 3

WeirdLittleO

Original post by Mango65

What placements have you had? It's important to remember that every ward and speciality is different. Maybe that particular ward just isn't very interesting to you.
If you're after 'science' maybe you would enjoy the high dependency units, intensive care unit, theatres etc. HDU and ITU are very complex and you'd be doing things like blood gases, close monitoring, oxygen ventilation etc and will probably see cardiac arrests. Theatres is obviously a lot of anatomy and airway management.
If you're interested in emergency care then in a lot of trusts, you can work in the ED as a newly qualified.
Do you get an elective placement? If so it might be worth choosing ED or critical care to see if you enjoy those.
When you're applying for your job you will be able to choose where you want to work for the most part so it would be worth putting up with some placements you don't particularly enjoy, but I also think you will be surprised how much you have learned. You might not have learned about the stuff you want to learn but you've learned about nursing. Nursing can be taken into loads of different avenues, you could even go into the army as a nurse.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 4

Charlotte's Web

Original post by Swagio

There's other stuff like community nursing etc, the army and a&e (although I'm guessing you'd have needed to work as a qualified nurse for x amount of time).
Posted from TSR Mobile

Original post by Mango65

You need to bear in mind that you are still in 1st year and you won't be involved in some of the more sciencey parts of nursing just yet. Most people see 1st year as the time to gain basic care skills and it is only really in 2nd and 3rd year that you become more involved in procedures and take a bigger role in medicines management. Make sure that you are asking to go with patients to see procedures being done and that you are spending days with specialists wherever possible as this is how you build up your knowledge base. Try to start to find out why things are done a certain way and why decisions are made (e.g. dressing choices), as this helps you to develop your own decision-making skills. You can quite easily just attend placement but it's much more intellectually stimulating if you learn about the drugs and diseases and treatment options. By 3rd year you will be doing much more with drugs and using your A&P knowledge to explain things to patients.

You certainly don't have to work in wards, but many wards are completely different, and some are actually much more specialised which I feel you would probably enjoy more as everyone there has a particular interest in that area and there is a wealth of knowledge. I personally find that I enjoy these wards more, and it would include areas such as diabetes wards, brain injury units and so on, which are much more science-based and you can build up an expertise. If you want something more fast-paced there is always A&E, acute assessment etc. and again these are open to newly qualified nurses. Depending on the size of your trust and their recruitment policy you might need to go further afield but these jobs are definitely an option.

Reply 5

Mango65

Original post by wbnurse

Thanks for your reply :smile:

, my ward is a busy surgical ward, theres lots of things to do just nothing that requires much thought, i've previously started a biochem degree but thought it didn't have much involvement with people so decided to change, but I prefer learning science and being challenged but my placement; it's mainly make the beds, clean the patients, admissions etc. I think i'd be better suited to A&E or something similar. It's really tiring being on a busy ward but so far the things I've done I don't feel like a degree is needed. But yeah, i'll try to suck it up and its always good to hear other's experiences.

Reply 6

Mango65

Original post by WeirdLittleO

Hi, thanks for your reply :smile:

and help. I do think I'd probably more suited to those types of wards and thank you I didn't know you could work there as a newly qualified. Unfortunately, we don't get to choose any of are placements or have any preferences, I agree it does open a lot of doors, I'm just hoping I'll enjoy the rest of my course too and hopefully enjoy it when I'm qualified.

Reply 7

Mango65

Original post by Charlotte49

Nope, you can go straight into any of these posts as a newly qualified nurse. There are more options than ever open to newly qualified nurses so OP please don't be of the mindset that it is essential to have 2 years experience in a care of the elderly ward (or similar) before you can specialise. Many older nurses and lecturers will lead you to believe this is the case but it is definitely not.

You need to bear in mind that you are still in 1st year and you won't be involved in some of the more sciencey parts of nursing just yet. Most people see 1st year as the time to gain basic care skills and it is only really in 2nd and 3rd year that you become more involved in procedures and take a bigger role in medicines management. Make sure that you are asking to go with patients to see procedures being done and that you are spending days with specialists wherever possible as this is how you build up your knowledge base. Try to start to find out why things are done a certain way and why decisions are made (e.g. dressing choices), as this helps you to develop your own decision-making skills. You can quite easily just attend placement but it's much more intellectually stimulating if you learn about the drugs and diseases and treatment options. By 3rd year you will be doing much more with drugs and using your A&P knowledge to explain things to patients.

You certainly don't have to work in wards, but many wards are completely different, and some are actually much more specialised which I feel you would probably enjoy more as everyone there has a particular interest in that area and there is a wealth of knowledge. I personally find that I enjoy these wards more, and it would include areas such as diabetes wards, brain injury units and so on, which are much more science-based and you can build up an expertise. If you want something more fast-paced there is always A&E, acute assessment etc. and again these are open to newly qualified nurses. Depending on the size of your trust and their recruitment policy you might need to go further afield but these jobs are definitely an option.

Thank you for your help :smile:

I wasn't aware of the choices that were available once being qualified, I do think nurses on wards, lecturers and other students seem to have a tunnel vision of only working on a ward when you've finished your degree so it's nice to hear that there are different options available. I'm pleased there will be more science based work as I used to do BioChem but dropped out due to not wanting to work in a lab, I like not knowing whats going to come through the door and patient interaction. However, I do sometimes miss the amount of science so I'm glad there will be more :smile: