Hi Fiona! It's me again. I was thinking while I did my last comment and decided to give you a quick run down on what I know about nursing. I did nursing as part of the Work Experience program my school runs. Do they have Work Experience where you are? I don't know, but here it's usually done in Year 10 and you go to work and learn about a position or a range of positions. I worked as a nurse in the Rehabilitation Unit, Medical Ward and Children's Ward.
This is an excellent thing - I might browse through too. I soon have to choose year 11 and 12 electives which will contribute to my career - scary!
What your job title is, and what that means
I was working with Enrolled Nurses (ENs) mainly. They are only qualified to do some nursing things - they can administer drugs but cannot prescribe/distribute them, they do more of the cleaning/housekeeping side and do more of the "dirty work", so to speak. The next step up is the RN (Registered Nurse) which has more to do with the medical side of things.
A description of a typical day
Nurses work shifts on a roster and don't have a specific work time. There are 3 different shifts - morning (from around 6am-3pm), afternoon (from about 2pm-11pm) and the night shift (I'm not sure about those hours - sorry). I did morning shifts for a week. I had to get up very early, eat breakfast (VERY IMPORTANT) and head to the hospital. Once there I did a changeover thing, where the previous shift told the oncoming shift about what had happened and each patients conditions. The morning was spent getting patients up, showered, dressed and fed (in the rehabilitation unit I also had to get patients to physiotherapy). We also had to change all the beds and take "Obs" (Observations) on the patients, which included taking blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and temperature. At lunch was had to help the patients with lunch and in the afternoon we mainly took notes about each patient. Then there was changeover again. During the whole day we had to do things like change dressings, help patients with various things and change IV needles.
What you need in the way of training/education/experience to do this job
To actually do the job you have to complete school and then do a course, which includes practical. It also helps if you do a First Aid course.
Why you like it and (if you dare)
Medicine is very interesting to me and the people were all wonderful. The patients, the staff, the visitors. Everyone was very friendly and informative.
Why you dislike it
There were some icky bits and the hours are quite awful. It was also sad to see the sick kids.
What sorts of things can go wrong at your job?
Emergencies with the patients. We had to transfer one to ICU (Intensive Care) and one had to have emergency tests done.
Me again ^_^
This is an excellent thing - I might browse through too. I soon have to choose year 11 and 12 electives which will contribute to my career - scary!
What your job title is, and what that means
I was working with Enrolled Nurses (ENs) mainly. They are only qualified to do some nursing things - they can administer drugs but cannot prescribe/distribute them, they do more of the cleaning/housekeeping side and do more of the "dirty work", so to speak. The next step up is the RN (Registered Nurse) which has more to do with the medical side of things.
A description of a typical day
Nurses work shifts on a roster and don't have a specific work time. There are 3 different shifts - morning (from around 6am-3pm), afternoon (from about 2pm-11pm) and the night shift (I'm not sure about those hours - sorry). I did morning shifts for a week. I had to get up very early, eat breakfast (VERY IMPORTANT) and head to the hospital. Once there I did a changeover thing, where the previous shift told the oncoming shift about what had happened and each patients conditions. The morning was spent getting patients up, showered, dressed and fed (in the rehabilitation unit I also had to get patients to physiotherapy). We also had to change all the beds and take "Obs" (Observations) on the patients, which included taking blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and temperature. At lunch was had to help the patients with lunch and in the afternoon we mainly took notes about each patient. Then there was changeover again. During the whole day we had to do things like change dressings, help patients with various things and change IV needles.
What you need in the way of training/education/experience to do this job
To actually do the job you have to complete school and then do a course, which includes practical. It also helps if you do a First Aid course.
Why you like it and (if you dare)
Medicine is very interesting to me and the people were all wonderful. The patients, the staff, the visitors. Everyone was very friendly and informative.
Why you dislike it
There were some icky bits and the hours are quite awful. It was also sad to see the sick kids.
What sorts of things can go wrong at your job?
Emergencies with the patients. We had to transfer one to ICU (Intensive Care) and one had to have emergency tests done.
What kind of person thrives in your job
"People people".