Why be a nurse if you're not up to it?

As far as I can see Nursing has gone the same way as schools it is all about getting the statistics for the goverment right ,people do not matter and let us face it the people who pass all these bills can all afford private health care they will not have to suffer there parents dying from C dif because of the discusting state of the hospitals, they take the cheapest tenders for cleaning and then spend millions paying out for claims, it is time cleaners took exams and a recognised one not a day cource with a certificate and then when our cleamers were recognised as professionals the stigma to what is probably one of the most important jobs in the hospital would be recognised and professionally trained cleaners would do a good job and if this combined with nurses and doctors putting on clean uniforms when they get to work that have been hygeincally cleaned and not worn to and from work picking up all sorts of germs on the way we could probably have a safer system of health care.

T.James
I am seriously worried about you bedside manner you don't appear to have one..

I reentered nursing after many years away. I see a huge difference between the nursing of then and now. I do not think it is the education so much as the hospitals making money more important than the patient care. In every occupation there have always been employees who will sit and do little work, while others never stop. I think the idea of the work ethic is very different today than it used to be too. At any rate, nurses need to support each other as opposed to beating each other up-- definitely a female thing.

Oh god another nurse who hates students. Oh we love those friendly nurses. You do something well and on your own- they hate you for being stuck up, you ask them something - they hate you for being ignorant. You do your placement, keep your head down and vow never to work there when you qualify.

I am a qualified nurse for 3 years now, quiet often I am the only trained for 22 patients on the ward (the same for the other qualified nurses on the ward), this could be me alone with 3 HCA's so with all the medication,phones, doctors,dressings etc that I have to deal with already I do 8+ dependent patients with an HCA I feel guilty if I do not do any basic patient care.It is the patients that suffer at the end of the day,but matron or ward manager who sit on their backsides everyday doing nothing come down and look through all the assessments and give out saying they are not updated and record keeping is crap,so im finding it difficult to know whats more important patient care or documentation,the choices seem to be neglect patients and catch up on paperwork or give proper patient care and risk losing your pin number because you had not got time to document properly. It is a no win situation or it means staying an extra 2 hours catching up with paperwork that you do not get paid for.I think matron should come down and work on the ward help out if he/she knows the ward is short staffed.More staff on the wards would solve alot of issues and more doctors,nurses would be alot happier and less stressed then : )

Oh shut up you are the one doing the moaning you idiot

Florence Nightingale may well be turning in her grave because of the state of NHS hospitals, and some patients are going to theirs for the same reason! The root cause is the same as with other public services that have deteriorated - politicians, who rarely need those services, meddling themselves or letting accountants dictate to the service professionals.

I am a nursing student and I am dropping out due to the pressure of the theory part of it. My university has adopted a new course which I am not afraid to admit I struggle with. I joined nursing knowing that I had the correct attitude and the perfect personality for it, it's what I've always wanted to do. Lecturers, teachers, friends, family and colleagues all say I am very mature and steady for my age - I am 18. The physical side of nursing I can cope with and enjoy very very much. Caring for people is my nature, and I love the experience of caring for different people with different problems, seeing the difference you can make to their lives and improving their quality of life in any way possible. This is what appealed to me in nursing. A long winded theoretic view which is "required" now for all new nurses is what I cannot deal with. The stress and pressure I have been under to present essays of common sense in the highest academical level possible, (which isn't possible at times and often sounds silly) has been extreme. I have became a nervous wreck of an 18 year old who instead of enjoying the career shes always wanted to do, struggles because of the theory part which nurses half qualified without for years. I hope I'm not the only one on my course who feels like this. I am totally gutted about dropping out but that kind of pressure is far too much for me to deal with when the patient requires care not an advanced explanation of every single little detail. This is why the hospitals are in the state they are in, because the NHS is now becoming more theory based when all it has ever been is hands on. Back to the old matrons and sisters, the hands on being the main focus, then I'll be the nurse I always wanted to be. Afterall, if we wanted to be the more knowledgeable, then we would be doctors or scientists.

Some of these comments are utterly unbelievable! Looks like a hell of a lot of nurses want to go back to a system where we are thought of as nothing more than a doctor's handmaid, well I for one certainly don't think so...I am also one of these university trained 'lazy, good for nothing' nurses that so many of you speak of. I did a degree, not a diploma at university and I did NOT get a bursary. I worked 3 evenings a week in a bar and every day of my holidays in a nursing home, just to make ends meet. I have been qualified thee years and as I work in neuro I do every aspect of patient care as we rarely have auxillary nurses (who are unsung heroes in my opinion!) there are a lot of young uni nurses on my ward and we are the ones who work hard - the older generation of nurses sit at the desk and slag off the uni students who I feel for. I was far more stressed as a student than I am now - coming to work as well as having the pressures of maybe 2 or 3 assignments, exams and most likely a second or even third job is something a lot of the older nurses have no clue about. I don't understand why we can't all just work together as surely we are in the job for the same reasons; providing excellent patient care and making a difference?!

Sick of hearing about the nurses pay and conditions, the pay is excellent and the conditions are the same for all who work in the NHS. Many nurses work hard and deserve the pay, but there are also those who are happy to take the pay but do not want to work for it or feel that nursing assistants are there to help the poor nurses who just cannot cope with the work they chose to do. If its so bad, leave and do something else but for heavens sake stop complaining all the damn time, its soooo very boring to hear.

Jonny's anger is miss placed at nurses. It should be turned on to the bean counters who got in to health care in the 90's after getting laid off from there jobs. Most nurses I believe are there because they want to do the right thing. It is this business model that has gotten us into trouble. I am sorry if I can must pick what is a priority as an RN it is to make sure my patients get there meds, treatments, followed by the mountain of charting, and family interactions, and Dr. orders. Forgive me if I do not get to laundry and linens. I believe that is why nursing assistants are hired. To assist the nurse. Please get a clue. Florence lived in a different time. Go back there if you want to.

Yes a lot of student nurses do struggle to make ends meet, however the bursary is higher than any other course, so it attracts the wrong type of people into the NHS who have had a braincell then it would be dangerous, get rid of the managers I say as it is them who are bringing the NHS down, one I saw recently got a 100K pay-off, of OUR money which could have been used for much needed resources.