Nursing (give feedback please)

Hello, I wish to become a Mental Health Nurse, but progress up the ranking scales quicker per usual to a Practitioner/Specialist or an even higher position.
What I had planned was to do my mental health training for 3 years, then do my masters straight away afterwards.
But would this notion be better? I do the General Nursing course for 3 years, then progress onto Mental Health Nursing which will take one year, then continue to my masters.
What do you think will that heighten or speed my chances of moving up the career rankings quicker, which Idea is better?, or have you got an even better Idea than any of the above?

Thanks guys :smile:

Reply 1

moonkatt

19

There's no such course as a general nursing course in the UK at present. If you mean adult nursing, why would training in an unrelated branch of nursing help you in becoming a specialist practitioner in the one you wish to work in?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

Thoth's World

OP

19

Original post by moonkatt

There's no such course as a general nursing course in the UK at present. If you mean adult nursing, why would training in an unrelated branch of nursing help you in becoming a specialist practitioner in the one you wish to work in?

But would it give me an advantage because Mental Health nurses cannot treat physical wounds, if I were both I'd be more diverse?, or do you think it is better to do Mental Health Nursing and specialize within it, then continue to psycho therapy to improve my knowledge and maybe progress onwards or psycho therapy then continue to independent pharmacy so I can prescribe drugs to my patients?

Reply 3

moonkatt

19

Original post by Troytheboy

But would it give me an advantage because Mental Health nurses cannot treat physical wounds, if I were both I'd be more diverse?, or do you think it is better to do Mental Health Nursing and specialize within it, then continue to psycho therapy to improve my knowledge and maybe progress onwards or psycho therapy then continue to independent pharmacy so I can prescribe drugs to my patients?

I'm on nights at the moment, it's a bit difficult to give a detailed rey from my phone, I'll reply properly tomorrow :smile:

Reply 4

Thoth's World

OP

19

Original post by moonkatt

I'm on nights at the moment, it's a bit difficult to give a detailed rey from my phone, I'll reply properly tomorrow :smile:

Okay thank you

Reply 5

moonkatt

19

Original post by Troytheboy

But would it give me an advantage because Mental Health nurses cannot treat physical wounds, if I were both I'd be more diverse?, or do you think it is better to do Mental Health Nursing and specialize within it, then continue to psycho therapy to improve my knowledge and maybe progress onwards or psycho therapy then continue to independent pharmacy so I can prescribe drugs to my patients?

Nurse practitioners tend to be quite specialist in their various areas, it's not just a generic thing for nurses with more qualifications. So you may have someone who is a nurse practitioner who has a specific interest in one condition. Their specialist knowledge is quite narrow. Having a breadth of knowledge like you're suggesting here wouldn't really give you an edge in going for a role like this in mental health, because in the end they're asked to come and see patients from their specialist perspective leaning on a lot of clinical experience working with those specific patients, not to spot other unrelated things along with it all. This is also quite true in nurse prescribing too, it's very role specific again, for example, diabetes nurse specialists would probably only ever prescribe insulins and other related drugs such as metformin, they wouldn't be expected to prescribe a range of drugs for other conditions because their knowledge and expertise wouldn't equip them to be able to prescribe those drugs in a safe manner as it would be unfamiliar to them.

Have you had the opportunity to speak with anyone who works as a nurse practitioner at all? They may be able to give you a better insight into the role and how they've got there. While it's great that you want to do a masters, I'd suggest qualifying as a nurse first, spending time post qualification gaining experience and finding an area of your branch of nursing that you like working in and see what sort of things you could do for a masters in that area of practice. That would be much more valuable for you in going for more advanced roles than just a generic masters in nursing that you've done with little clinical experience.

I hope this gives you some food for thought :smile:

Nursing (give feedback please)

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