My dear readers,
Happy New Year to you! 2024 is here! FINALLY!
I hope you have had a good start so far.
Well, well, well... another year, new thoughts, new challenges, and the good old resolutions? Hang on a minute- what are those?
I have been out of the resolution department for years. In the past, I had made resolutions for the new year and broke them within the first 24 hours after the new year had started J! But I guess I am not the only woman on planet Earth who agrees with me.
What I have planned for this year is - there will be a change within my nursing career! And I will stick to it.
For 30 years now, I have been an RN in the acute nursing setting. Thirty years of amazing, wonderful, challenging, sad, funny, colourful, ground-breaking years for me.
Deep in my heart, I know now there is also another side of nursing in me. I know I am a 'proper' ward nurse, not an ICU nurse, not an ED nurse, not a theatre nurse, or a CCU nurse is in me. Ward work has always been my passion.
Last Friday, I started my change process. I did a shadowing shift in a mental health ward for one of the biggest psychiatric hospital trusts in the UK. I was working in a Substance Misuse and Recovery Ward. I worked with two Registered Mental Health Nurses (RMN), two healthcare assistants, a social support group worker and a social worker.
It was so interesting to see the work of the mental health nurses. Because it was a detox ward, I could follow a certain understanding - of the medical way of detox. Of course, mental health is a brand-new area for me, as I don't have this kind of expertise. But over the next months, I shall gain new knowledge J, which is super great – to dive into the work of my great psychiatric colleagues. Everybody was very kind and welcomed me in very warm manners. Of course, my general nurses’ eyes were switched on, but I had to remind myself - this is not a general medical ward.
So, I have decided to split my work between general nursing and mental health nursing. It will be my change, and my gut feeling says, yes, this is good and will enhance my world of thinking, working, and growing even further.
I can use both skills in two big areas of nursing, which is just a gift here J, don’t you think?
I stayed even longer on the ward than expected. Hey, if that is not a good sign, I don’t know. I felt uplifted when I walked home and happy with my decision. I did a shift where I did not get any payment (bless me!), and I felt epic. What more do I want J….
It shows what a great profession nursing is. Even with my 30 years of general nursing experience, I can change within my profession. I won't leave my ward work – I love it too much, but a change will take me even further.
It is never too late to try changes and re-evaluate yourself as a nurse. It all pays off at the end of the day!
Many thanks for your time, my dear readers.
Warm regards,
Sabine
