I'm a nurse. Ask me anything about nursing

[Alex3567]

@Philipkee many thanks for the tips!

[Hellobelle]

@Alex3567 

On 4/17/2021 at 5:39 PM, Alex3567 said:

Hi PhilipKee,

1. (i) Do you have any advice on how student nurses can better prepare for the transition from nursing school to professional practices I.e. theory-practice gap?

(ii) Could you please provide (in your opinion) the top three attributes/ qualities/ advice in the areas of professional, personal and organizational transition practice?

 

2. Any tips for newly graduated SNs (who are only a few months on their new job) on gaining acceptance within their work group and minimizing burnout?

 

Many thanks in advance.

Hi there, this is an interesting topic that I like to discuss about and saw some of the replies. Just sharing some of my personal opinion here. 

Tips on gaining acceptance

- Have a plan and goals on your TTP/PRCP posting, first 6 months of work. Have a weekly S.M.A.R.T goal. Discuss with your preceptor what you will do to attain these goals and how the preceptor can help you to attain them. 

- Learning goes both ways. Find out the common diagnosis, procedures, workflow in the place you are in. So that you know what you are doing. 

- Ask when you are really unsure. (But don't every small little things also question la, will piss them off.) 

- Generally be nice to your colleagues and offer help. After all, if you help people, people will also be willing to help you.

- Respect the seniors but don't be scared of them. If you know what you are doing is the correct thing to do, there is no need to be afraid. (Some seniors will know that you are scared and use fear to scare you, but be firm if you know you are right.) 

*My experience 

- As a PRCP/TTP student, don't expect to gain acceptance from other staffs. Just do your work, and make sure you can work along your preceptor. You are at the stage whereby you are just trying to get a hang of what's going on and balancing how to be a staff nurse. Being able to work with other staff is a bonus. Aim is get your job done, don't make super major mistakes, pass your posting to be a staff nurse. 

- As a probation staff (6 months). Know your patients, know the common diagnosis, learn to work with your colleagues, help your colleagues. If unfamiliar ask the staff whether they are able to teach you, ask your preceptor. Bring up issues early if you know you are struggling. Just to share, I offended one of my colleague when I was still on probation and till date, that colleague still seem unable to move on and is not very willing to talk to me 😅

- As a full fledged staff (coming to 1 year). There will still be certain things that you are unclear, you can check with your other colleagues. Learn to be able to manage both EN and SN work. Don't be someone that can only do SN job but not junior work. 

- >1 year and beyond. Know that not everybody is going to like you and that is really okay. Just be professional and do what you need to do. By now you would be quite familiar with a lot of things and should be quite smooth. 

Minimising burnout 

- Find a hobby to do during your off days. 

- Don't think about work during your 'after work hours' (mute the whatsapp chat, put 'do not disturb' on Tigertext). 

- Set boundaries

• go for break : you will need it 
• aim to end work on time : you will be more efficient in your work
• don't come so early to check patient, if not handover for what right? (15 to 30mins is reasonable for me) 

 

 

[Philipkee]

10 hours ago, Hellobelle said:

 

- As a probation staff (6 months). 

 

- Set boundaries

• go for break : you will need it 
• aim to end work on time : you will be more efficient in your work
• don't come so early to check patient, if not handover for what right? (15 to 30mins is reasonable for me) 

Agree with what you say but I quote the parts that i dont fully agree or need to add on.

Probation - it's actually three months if you look at it closely.  Cos your official probation for a new nurse is 6 months but by the third month, the manager already know if you can make it or not.  So the first three months is for the new nurse to get used to routine and work, second three months is for learning how to work efficiently.  If a new nurse is still struggling to learn the routine at three months, dont think you still have three months to learn.  Its risky.  

Go for break - yes.  I agree.  Let's not talk about travelling.  Let's talk about just breaks at work. I had nurses who work through their breaks at work.  Sometimes it cannot be helped but sometimes they end up with gastric pain and then another nurse has to cover her while she goes to see the doctor mid shift.  And some, anecdotally, develop kidney stones because they did not pass urine on time.

Aim to end work on time - might seem calculative. Depends.  In OT, yes it can happen.  In wards?  Not so. What happens during your shift should end during your shift.  Having said that, work never ends so know what you should handover and what should be done by you even if you need to stay back.

Don't come so early- no comments. We used to do that but after JCI we stopped because we have no business checking on patient when we have not taken over.  But yes, we can have a "quick look".  And it's always good to be early for work.

[Alex3567]

@Philipkee Could you please advise where can I find the list of accredited nursing school (that provides BA in nursing) in Australia?

[Philipkee]

On 6/4/2021 at 6:21 PM, Alex3567 said:

@Philipkee Could you please advise where can I find the list of accredited nursing school (that provides BA in nursing) in Australia?

For unknown reason, the MOH link is down. So I cannot tell you which university is accredited.  I can only give you the locally accredited ones but obviously you are not looking for them.

I know the popular ones are curtin university in perth and university of sydney.  You have to enquire at the universities themselves.  Also enquire at the hospital HR to be safe.  Normally we do distance learning so obviously when I say we enquire at the university, I meant the local office.

This is assuming you want to further your studies.  If you are planning to study full time to become a registered nurse but you want to do it overseas, think carefully because the cost is a lot and training conducted overseas is very different from Singapore.  Even doing a top up degree overseas can be stressful and expensive.

Hope this helps.

 

[Alex3567]

@Philipkee I couldnt find a sponsor in the acute settings for my nursing study in sg. That left me with the self-financing mode. I'm not sure whether to pursue nursing locally or abroad since I'm paying out of my pocket.

Would you advise taking up a sponsorship from the long-term care setting?

[Philipkee]

6 minutes ago, Alex3567 said:

@Philipkee I couldnt find a sponsor in the acute settings for my nursing study in sg. That left me with the self-financing mode. I'm not sure whether to pursue nursing locally or abroad since I'm paying out of my pocket.

Would you advise taking up a sponsorship from the long-term care setting?

My bad.  The link is in snb website.

https://www.healthprofessionals.gov.sg/snb/accreditation-of-nursing-education-programmes/accredited-nursing-programmes/post-registration-programmes

I would recommend taking up a sponsorship if you are planning to work locally.

If you are studying locally, you can work and study part time so your costs are lower.  Overseas, it's different.  My friends told me it costs AUD50K a year for school fees plus accommodations, books,living expenses....

[Alex3567]

@Philipkee What are the career prospects of starting out in the ILTC as a fresh graduate staff nurse? Is it possible to return to the acute hospital settings? Or the career path will forever be locked in the community setting, doing home based nursing?

Edited June 20, 2021 by Alex3567
Hyperlink name intended for the person to reply not captured

[Philipkee]

@Alex3567 

No issues.

The only places where I think there will be issues when returning to acute hospitals to work as a nurse are

1) mental health - a bit hard to go back to acute hospitals cos the skill sets are totally different

2)  forensic nursing - you deal with dead bodies

3)  midwifery

Otherwise no issues.  But like specialties, choose carefully.  Not that easy to adjust from paeds to adult nursing, for example.

[Alex3567]

@Philipkee 

17 hours ago, Philipkee said:

@Alex3567 

No issues.

The only places where I think there will be issues when returning to acute hospitals to work as a nurse are

1) mental health - a bit hard to go back to acute hospitals cos the skill sets are totally different

2)  forensic nursing - you deal with dead bodies

3)  midwifery

Otherwise no issues.  But like specialties, choose carefully.  Not that easy to adjust from paeds to adult nursing, for example.

@Philipkee You're one of the few nurses that shared this view. Not everyone is fortunate to have the opportunity to choose the acute hospital as their first choice for their nursing career. We can only choose what we are offered for.

 

Have you come across any counterparts who successfully crossover from ILTC to acute hospitals?

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by Alex3567

[Philipkee]

10 hours ago, Alex3567 said:

 

Have you come across any counterparts who successfully crossover from ILTC to acute hospitals?

 

 

 

I know of nursing students who worked in ILTC in other capacity. When they became RN, they went back to nursing homes. Few went to acute settings.

Some do join acute hospitals after a few years in nursing homes. It's a culture shock. Many quit (but generally a lot quit so it's hard to say if there were more likely to quit than other nurses).  Some stayed on.

One thing about public acute hospitals is that if you survive long enough, you will survive.  It's the first few months that make or break you.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Philipkee

[Alex3567]

Many thanks @Philipkee for your candid sharing.

[zacharyswift836]

Actually i have a lot question in my mind if you don't mind asking.

1. What are your thoughts on the future of nursing and what degree do you typically recommend to new students? 2. What was the hardest part about getting or graduating from a nursing school?  3. How can we attract more people into the profession? 4. Do you recommend having an RN as well as a general education if someone is interested in being a nurse practitioner and has not yet graduated high school?
5. When looking for associate colleges, what do you suggest that potential students should consider before enrolling in one that offers their desired degree program? and who offers the best nursing degree program in Chicago. I have done some research and found https://ama.edu/ but need help in deciding. Thanks

[Philipkee]

7 hours ago, zacharyswift836 said:

Actually i have a lot question in my mind if you don't mind asking.

1. What are your thoughts on the future of nursing and what degree do you typically recommend to new students? 2. What was the hardest part about getting or graduating from a nursing school?  3. How can we attract more people into the profession? 4. Do you recommend having an RN as well as a general education if someone is interested in being a nurse practitioner and has not yet graduated high school?
5. When looking for associate colleges, what do you suggest that potential students should consider before enrolling in one that offers their desired degree program? and who offers the best nursing degree program in Chicago. I have done some research and found https://ama.edu/ but need help in deciding. Thanks

Wow. Lots of questions.

1) nursing is a stable job.  Get a degree in nursing THEN an advanced diploma.  Advanced diploma means your speciality.  I heard that eventually, a Masters will be a basic requirement needed for promotion in nursing.

 

2) hardest part is independence and responsibility.  As a student, you always refer to the nurse before doing anything. On graduation, you ARE the nurse.

 

3)  higher pay, better job scopes.  Respect from public and other professions and not respect only because you need us.

4) Not sure your question.  Nurse practitioner is a  nursing speciality (or rank) though not in singapore. In Singapore they are called advanced practice nurse. Not all aspire to be that.  But I am not sure why you ask for RN and general education together in this question.

5) For me, basically depends in whether the degree is recognised in singapore or where i intend to work.  The "prestige" of graduating from a "better" school does not come into play cos the pay increment is the same.

[Lynmei]

Just wondering is there anyone going through the CCP(PCP) interview now for ITE level?

Had just finish YR 1 in ITE and kind of a bit of struggle at the last term but manage to bite through.

Moving on to yr 2 very soon and plan to enjoy my term break real hard before coming back to fight for the high GPA for poly placing.

So far summery is......is not that difficult to pass the class test, exams and clinical attachment but the crunch starts when u plan to push your GPA to secure a placing in poly.

It is a higher ball game when u change your goal.

 

[Philipkee]

On 12/2/2021 at 11:35 AM, Lynmei said:

Just wondering is there anyone going through the CCP(PCP) interview now for ITE level?

Had just finish YR 1 in ITE and kind of a bit of struggle at the last term but manage to bite through.

Moving on to yr 2 very soon and plan to enjoy my term break real hard before coming back to fight for the high GPA for poly placing.

So far summery is......is not that difficult to pass the class test, exams and clinical attachment but the crunch starts when u plan to push your GPA to secure a placing in poly.

It is a higher ball game when u change your goal.

 

If you cannot get poly placing, after working in a hospital for a year or so, if your conduct is good, you can ask the hospital for sponsorship for the nursing course.

[Picnic06-Biante15]

You replied to the person more than a year ago..... 

Maybe she already a Grab driver or Grab delivery..... 

You at Vietnam very busy har ? ....... 

[humayun]

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