ProNurse

Hi everyone as the title says, I've just left college a few months ago and I just about scraped enough work to attain a certificate the equivalent of two A levels at the grade of E. I never enjoyed my work at college and I was frankly uninspired and lazy.

Since then I've been really confused as to what I wanted to do career wise and so to help get some work experience and just genrally get out the house, I decided to volunteer at my local Oxfam charity shop. Since then my world has gone topsy turvy and my entire view of my life with me grinning like a maniac at every waking moment I'm working. I've only been volunteering a three or four weeks now but because I've been working the hardest I ever have before and with such enthusiasm, the manager gets me to open and close the shop as well as cash up the till at the end of the day. I love working with both my colleagues and my customers and because I know exactly where all my hard work is going, I have had incredible levels of job satisfaction and that feeling I want to take with me in all my future careers.

Now you maybe thinking what on earth does this have do with me becoming a nurse? Well I've decided that I want a job that at the end of the day makes me feel incredibly satisified with what work I HAVE done through the well being of others.

Now that you've heard my silly little tale, that's probably grammatically incorrect I was wondering in no particular order:

• How do I know that nursing is for me? While I'm not kidding myself that it's going to be a glamorous position, dealing with difficult patients and family members, long tiring shifts with other day to day responsibilities to boot.


• What kind of responsibilities would I have as nurse?


• I've just turned eigthteen with no money, poor grades and very little work experience but I'm brewing with confidence and enthusiasm for my future, will I be able to train as a nurse still?

I'm sorry for the wall of text, the grammatical errors and the inconsistencies if there is any, but I really don't know where to turn to for advice. I'd really appreaciate if anyone could give me some help as everythings a bit confusing at the moment. :)

Hi,

I love your enthusiasm, and if I was an employer in the NHS, I would certainly give you a job!   Anyway, as Croatoan says, it is best to get some experience as an HCA.  By actually working with patients in a hands on environment will you know whether nursing is for you.  You may see the RNs sitting in the office doing mountains of paperwork; this may not be very appealing, but don't despair.

Obviously if you train as a nurse you will earn more than an HCA once qualified, but you could always consider becoming an Assistant Practitioner....I won't go into details as I am a bit rushed for time at present, but there is a thread about APs on here, and there is also a website.

By working in a hospital, you will be in contact with people doing various other jobs, apart from nursing, for example, X-Ray technicians, Occupational Therapy Assistants, phsio assistants, etc.

You are very young; time is on your side, so find out all you can.

kc