Let’s shout about the complexity of nursing
The Nobody
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Comments (120)
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Comment on: Exclusive: HCA pilot for potential nursing students could be set up by autumn
redpaddys12 | 7-Apr-2013 4:39 am No, I don't know what's best for nurses, far from it. None of my posts have ever suggested that. I am part of a working group that is looking at piloting this, not leading it. It's being led by our director of nursing. Yes I regularly work as a HCA and no it's not a PR stunt because I rarely do shifts in my own trust. I am sure an HCA could do my job but they may need a little more time than a month, in the same way they would if they wanted to work as a specialist nurse. It takes time. Yes I'm sure I'll be flamed for daring to suggest that management is more than spreadsheets and meetings, but it is. It's not intuitive, nor is putting in a central line. Nothing I do is life threatening/ saving but we cannot measure our value solely by our hands on patient contact. Yes, clinicians in leadership positions are essential, but you still need managers for a multi billion £ organisation, whether it's estates or procurement or finance or whatever. As I'm regularly on call for our trust, I'd argue that it doesn't work that well at weekends and public holidays etc because of staffing shortages, lack of access to diagnostic equipment, medical cover and a host of other reasons. Apologies if my band and role offend you, I am genuinely trying to do the right thing. If I was less squeamish when I was younger, I would have trained as a nurse, but ended up doing science and working in a path lab. I'm not the MBA type high flier. To the person who posted from Scotland, Bevan's run was 160 miles and a little more than a jog: http://tinyurl.com/dxv7y9z And I didn't just sign a petition, I went on marches and rallies to Westminster too, taking most of my annual leave for that year. And as a union rep. Effective protest is not easy whatever job you do because the Government are determined not to listen. Scotland have a far better system because there's no internal market, I envy you. Our Bill has gone so far it's only if Labour get in again that we can change it because it's now English law. Tink and Mike, it all depends on the contract. If the CCG puts it in, yes, if not, no. That's what's so worrying.
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Comment on: Should nurses treat abusive patients?
What wonderful posts, so insightful we are doin a study in our trust to see if our sickness rates and high Bradford scores correlate with high intensity environments (they do) and working with clinical psychologists to design a more supportive Occy Health service. We have security in ED and other measures, but conflict management courses have been inadequate and we know we need to support staff. So we're trying to find ways to do so and pick up warning signs like someone posted (feeling sick, shaky, physically threatened and emotionally abused) and do something before it gets worse. Not an easy problem to fix. Yes there are illnesses that make people behave in a particular way or who have substance misuse problems but we also have a large number of near misses to nursing staff (when on site police have intervened just in time) that make it a serious problem we need to address urgently. Like NZ, I wish we could blacklist vexatious abusers unless they have a life threatening illness. I did a night shift as an HCA on ED and it b***dy terrified me. God help the genuinely ill or elderly.
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Comment on: 'Put nurses at the bedside, then work out how many are needed'
Anonymous | 5-Apr-2013 10:20 pm Sorry, I should have said, they will be supernumerary. Re the other comment about 13h shifts, we would also like to pilot shorter ones for 5 or 6 hours for very intense ward areas to see what impact it has on stress and Bradford scores, working with Occy Health.
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Comment on: Evidence supporting intentional rounding only 'flimsy', claims academic
Thank you Mags. Do you mind me asking another question please?! I agree with them leading the ward and no silly initiatives. But we are looking at giving some wards complete responsibility which includes budgets. Is it too much? Should we just let them run clinical care? To me it feels like staffing (and money for it) is too important not to let them have, like saying here's lots of responsibility but no authority. We genuinely want to do the right thing.
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Comment on: Should directors of nursing have a clinical role?
Anonymous | 6-Apr-2013 9:21 am I would have been proud to march to your drumbeat! Exactly the way in should be, clinicians in front. People like me behind you, supporting. I hope you enjoy your retirement. The NHS is a very difficult place to work in but I wouldn't want to work anywhere else.
