It’s time to start looking after nurses to boost care
Ellen Watters
Edinburgh
I qualified as an enrolled nurse in the 80s and worked in orthopaedics, care of the elderly and in trauma theatre in Edinburgh. I did the conversion course in 96 and worked for 4 years in respiratory medicine. I completed a diploma in cancer and palliative care in 2000.
I left the NHS in 2003 and have worked as an information nurse specialist for a cancer charity ever since. It is very rewarding and varied but I do sometimes miss patient contact and working with other nurses. I have worked with some amazing and inspirational nurses in my time.
I have completed further studies in CBT and in Social Sciences
Recent activity
Comments (39)
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Comment on: Genes that cause short-sightedness discovered
A newspaper headline is optomistic (read sensationalist) really?
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Comment on: The nurse’s role in hospital ward rounds
I remember spending a lot of time after a ward round going back to the patients to translate what the doctor had said and reassuring them.
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Comment on: 'Can you manage nurses if you don't actually nurse?'
Nurses diversify in many ways throughout their career. And it may be that until you have been a nurse for quite some time (years) that you don't know which area you would like to specialise in or what your particular skills and strengths are, be it management, oncology, or other related area, some nurse leave to become paramedics or lecturers for instance. I think that managing nurses is quite a unique skill to have and you need to have some insight into what they do on a day to day basis in a wide range of areas and circumstances.
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Comment on: 'Pseudogene' may play cancer role
I wonder if other areas of the non protein making 'junk' will also be found to be linked to disease.. Interesting..
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Comment on: What should you tell care home residents when a fellow resident dies?
This is a tricky one and really depends on the individual circumstances. I remember working on a florence nightingale style ward and pulling all the screens so that the porters could pick up a body to take to the morgue. The other patients knewwhat was going on but rarely asked. If it was a ward where the patient may be there for some time, or were out and in on a regular basis i.e a respiratory ward, they may get to know each other and bonds develop. Then, if asked what happened to so and so.. do you lie?
