Nurses needing degrees

Loads of my school friends became SRNs. All grammar school girls. I also knew a lot of girls from Sec Mod and they went down the SEN route.

Having spent time in various hospitals having babies and minor ops I usually found SENs to be the ones who found time for a quick chat or a reassuring few words.

Many of my nursing friends have retired in the past few years and been patients themselves since. They are quite critical of the degree trained nurses of today.

Rula

Surely your husband was seen by doctors in that 5 days, SueDonim, bad form if not

Nope, he didn’t. When he first became unwell we were assured that the nursing staff could manage it, plus it transpired there were no specialist doctors on the unit, which we’d been unaware of. We might have chosen a different unit if we’d had that information.

Over the next five days, with repeated calls and visits to the specialist nurses, we were told that although they were puzzled by his symptoms, he was in good hands. As soon as the specialist saw his scan she knew exactly what the problem was but all the nursing staff had missed it until then. You don’t know what you don’t know, I guess.

Whitewavemark2

Our school back in the 50s offered a pre-nursing course to those interested. This included hands on experience and education of appropriate courses at A level including biology - can’t remember the others.

Quite forward thinking.

Our local FE College offered a pre-nursing course for very many years. It was a 2 year course, post GCSE later CSE level and a sound foundation for SRN training which began at 18.

Then Project 2000 was introduced which was not without critics as it was more academic than practical but students did receive bursaries which were not means-tested.

Degrees were introduced in the early 2000s I think and are a requirement now, some nurses going on to take Masters degrees and PhDs.

mum2three

I recently was seen by the nurse at my local surgery. I was surprised at the questions she was asking and I said, 'I've already discussed all this with the doctor, you're a nurse not a doctor'.

She was rather put out and made a mess of my arm when she took a blood sample. I still have the bruise a week later!

I know that doctors are very busy but I don't think nurses should be used as a substitute.

Despicable comment, disrespectful.

I bruise at every blood sample , every one, fault to my veins.

Nurses are trained, we should all give grace for little problems.

I trained in 1965 following three years of hard slog working on the wards whilst we trained, we certainly learnt on the job. I was taught to cannulae, give intravenous drugs and I could also intubate babies. No degree here!
However we were provided with a comfortable room and all meals. We were also paid a salary albeit minute. I definitely think we were more able to run a ward.

Most definitely out of date Rula !

Shelflife

Nurses are highly trained now and are involved in very complex work. My friends daughter is a highly skilled theatre sister and operates robot equipment. Nurses sometimes pick up on what a doctor has missed, and the doctors value their expertise. I have every faith in nurses.

Nurses do indeed pick up on things missed by doctors. And as my son (consultant) tells anyone and everyone, they're much more skilled at CPR

I think some opinions on here are possibly out of date.

Mum2three, I think you need to reconsider your views! No wonder the nurse was put out , as for you bruised arm .............??

Nurses are highly trained now and are involved in very complex work. My friends daughter is a highly skilled theatre sister and operates robot equipment. Nurses sometimes pick up on what a doctor has missed, and the doctors value their expertise. I have every faith in nurses.

regarding paying for training. My g.daughter trained as a Social Worker, degree course - 3 years at Uni During half of Year 2 she was on a placement, working alongside social workers in mental health, and during year 3 another work placement for nine months. These were full-time placements, and obviously she received no pay, still had to pay her uni fees from her student loans.

With regard to nurses, they do a great job, if I have a choice of a nurse or a doctor to do such things as blood tests, would always opt for the nurse.

The Respitory nurse at my GP practice, picked up the fact that i had quite bad asthma, after several years of this not being noticed by GP's although I kept reporting to them breathing problems.

Barleyfields

I do agree that nurses and social workers should not have to pay for their professional education and training. We need these people and they’re not paid a fortune.

Teachers too?

Surely your husband was seen by doctors in that 5 days, SueDonim, bad form if not

Barleyfields

I do agree that nurses and social workers should not have to pay for their professional education and training. We need these people and they’re not paid a fortune.

In which case, should teachers pay for their professional training? What about all the engineers that ensure we have the gas and electricity to keep us warm in winter, or all those who look after our infra structure. Where should the line be drawn and why?

My dh has recently been very ill in hospital. All the nurses were absolutely lovely, they couldn’t do enough for us, even me as just the spouse, and not the patient.

Nonetheless, not one of the nurses realised for five days that what my dh was suffering from was neither an allergy or an infection but a very rare and serious side effect of some medication he’d been given. Thus, he’d been pumped full of drugs he didn’t need whilst not receiving the drug he did need.

Like the situation with PA’s, sometimes staff don’t know when they’re working beyond their limitations.

I do agree that nurses and social workers should not have to pay for their professional education and training. We need these people and they’re not paid a fortune.

midgey

I do think it is wrong that student nurses should have to pay as if they were studying in the same way as other students. A new student may just be another pair of hands but soon they are an important part of the team. There must be another way.

Nurses shouldn’t have to pay to train. Neither should social workers.

Sometimes nurses see things that doctors miss.
Thirty odd years ago I was rather ill. Temperature, headaches , lethargy. 2 GPs told me I had Yuppy Flu. Which was being bandied around at the time.

I'd been sent for blood work, the nurse took one look at me and called an ambulance.

I ended up, quite poorly with pneumonia, in hospital for 2 weeks.

mum2three

I recently was seen by the nurse at my local surgery. I was surprised at the questions she was asking and I said, 'I've already discussed all this with the doctor, you're a nurse not a doctor'.

She was rather put out and made a mess of my arm when she took a blood sample. I still have the bruise a week later!

I know that doctors are very busy but I don't think nurses should be used as a substitute.

I find that a bit disrespectful, to be honest. Nurses are NOT a substitute for a doctor, but they are highly trained professionals in their own right, and deserve credit for that. Nowadays, with specialist nursing degrees, many nurses might actually know more than certain doctors.

Our school back in the 50s offered a pre-nursing course to those interested. This included hands on experience and education of appropriate courses at A level including biology - can’t remember the others.

Quite forward thinking.

Barleyfields

I’m not surprised the nurse was ‘rather put out’, mum2three. They are well qualified professionals and deserve respect. I have had excellent care from nurses at my GP surgery. No complaints at all.

It was a heart specialist nurse, who discovered that medication was making me so unwell, when a number of cardiologists couldn't get to the bottom of it.
Also, I have nothing but respect for my specialist RA nurses, they are so knowledgeable and supportive.

I found your treatment of the nurse, quitee disrespectful. mum2three.

My granddaughter is a nurse and when she graduated she worked in a hospital and had to study further because she was specialising in intensive care. There are so many things they have to learn and keep up to date with as well as keeping hands on work. Very different now, things change all the time. I also have a grandson who is a doctor and he studied for 8 years and so it continues because he is specialising. Horrendous debts owed to the University but he loves his work.
I would trust a doctor for advice first and a nurse to see the advice carried out. They both deserve our recognition for different skills.

Anyone in the medical world, from consultants down, are well aware that nurses are incredibly experienced and knowledgeable.

Give me a nurse any day

I’m not surprised the nurse was ‘rather put out’, mum2three. They are well qualified professionals and deserve respect. I have had excellent care from nurses at my GP surgery. No complaints at all.

Nursing is no longer just about caring. It is now a highly technical job. It is nurses operating and monitoring all those many machines and therapies that can be literally a matter of life and death for so many people.

I want to know that the people operating all those machines, administering those highly toxic drugs, know exactly what they are doing and these days the training they receive is at degree level so they should get the degree that goes with that high level of nursing.

Doctors are called 'doctors' because their training gives them the equivalent of a first degree and a doctorate. It follows that nurses - and paramedics should have a first degree.

From personal experience recently. I have far more confidence in the first degree trained nurses and paramedics than I do in the doctors.

I recently was seen by the nurse at my local surgery. I was surprised at the questions she was asking and I said, 'I've already discussed all this with the doctor, you're a nurse not a doctor'.

She was rather put out and made a mess of my arm when she took a blood sample. I still have the bruise a week later!

I know that doctors are very busy but I don't think nurses should be used as a substitute.