What being an army nurse really like?

[Sarah22]

After receiving torents of abuse with my last two messages, i kinda get the guist that with this bait, torrents of abuse will passed my way again!.... so if any wants to PM thus avoiding the onslaught that would be great!

Anyway, the question.....

What is being an army nurse really like? I've been 'sold' the propaganda but obviously i must take that with a pinch of salt. If i give you my view, then people can put me right.

In my view the benefits of being an army nurse are getting to do things just not avaliable on civvy street... such as:

getting different jobs within different specialities every couple of years

getting any post graduate courses paid for (is it hard to get onto them though?)

having the opportunity to go on tour (is there a lot of opportunity)

work in a close support role (is this a difficult postion to achieve?)

being given more responsibility faster than in civvy street

opportunity to be posted overseas (or do most nurses just end up in the UK?)

can work in a non-nursing role (eg teaching)

opportunity to commission, after 2 years post reg experience (solider - officer does it really ever happen??)

Now have the recruiters just done a fantastic job in brainwashing me, or is this actually what it is like, if your willing to give 110% to your career development?

Cheers guys

Sarah

 

[dui-lai]

getting different jobs within different specialities every couple of years

No try geriatrics, thats what a general, non-specialised junior-ranker such as you will be, does

getting any post graduate courses paid for (is it hard to get onto them though?)

The term rocking horse shiit springs to mind

having the opportunity to go on tour (is there a lot of opportunity)

Oh yes, lots and lots of tours

work in a close support role (is this a difficult postion to achieve?)

More and more nurses are filling slots, thanks to Clinical Governance

being given more responsibility faster than in civvy street

Responsibility comes with rank in the Army, so not really

opportunity to be posted overseas (or do most nurses just end up in the UK?)

Some do exist....but don't hold your breath

can work in a non-nursing role (eg teaching)

Only with seniority and rank

opportunity to commission, after 2 years post reg experience (solider - officer does it really ever happen??)

it does happen but you need good CRs with reccomendations

Now have the recruiters just done a fantastic job in brainwashing me,

yes

 

[SKJOLD]

You must be Quick Always Ready Never Complaining



SK


p.sIve got me coat and left

 

[ViroBono]

getting different jobs within different specialities every couple of years

Same job on geris, different MDHU.

getting any post graduate courses paid for (is it hard to get onto them though?)

If you are available to do them when not covering for jack NHS staff or on ops.

having the opportunity to go on tour (is there a lot of opportunity)

As D-L's answer.

work in a close support role (is this a difficult postion to achieve?)

Not if you are posted to a CS unit....

being given more responsibility faster than in civvy street

Absolutely. You will be responsible for guarding the whole field hospital before you know it.

opportunity to be posted overseas (or do most nurses just end up in the UK?)

Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia....

can work in a non-nursing role

Litter collector, cleaner, security guard.... the list is endless.

opportunity to commission, after 2 years post reg experience (solider - officer does it really ever happen??)

Only if you have huge buttocks and a seriously unpleasant personality.

Now have the recruiters just done a fantastic job in brainwashing me

Yes


Quick And Ready And Never Caught, shurely?

 

[medman82]

You must be Quick Always Ready Never Complaining

Quid A Ride And No Change

Quite A rotund Arrse Normally Clinkered

Sorry folks but my old habits just won't leave me. Growing old is natural growing up is optional

 

[Filbert Fox]

You must be Quick Always Ready Never Complaining

never complaining!!! youve never met a QA have you?

 

[curtismayfield]

"..u wanna go war huh!, u wanna go to war! ok SAY HELLO TO MY LIL FRIEND.."

sorry guys just recalled a scene from scarface and thought i share it with you. good movie

 

[dui-lai]

"..u wanna go war huh!, u wanna go to war! ok SAY HELLO TO MY LIL FRIEND.."

sorry guys just recalled a scene from scarface and thought i share it with you. good movie

 

[JFKDorset]

Must be better than being a civi nurse. No care of the elderly for a start. A patient base which is essentially young (comparitively) fit (sometimes) and healthy (ish).

If one of your patients thumps you you can charge him in the NHS it goes with the job.
You will get paid more.

And of course you can lord it over the CMT's pretending that you know more than they do, which you probably do as a nurse but most of its useless, like:

Ethics of nursing (pretend you know as much as the doctors no one will know)

Legal Aspects of Nursing (when they find out you dont know as much as you said claim lack of supervision and the Doctor should have told you not to)

Psychology ("my earliest memory is seeing my mother naked on a train, I must have been six months old" S.Frued-like that helps patient care in the army)

I think the Army is probably a better proposition for nurses than that crap NHS we have. I just wish we didn't have nurses in CMT Jobs

 

[Sluice_dweller]

Must be better than being a civi nurse. No care of the elderly for a start. A patient base which is essentially young (comparitively) fit (sometimes) and healthy (ish).

Only if your really lucky- most of the MDHU ward's are packed to the rafter's with crumbly old people who the other wards don't want blocking there beds.

S-D

 

[primroseandblue]

JFK,

You obviously have no idea about anything nursing wise outside of the operational enviornment (where we should spend most of our time). Your experience, I presume, is gained from your FTRS service as a CMT not your 24 years as a Bootneck.

Elderly care, difficult patients, crap hours are the norm at the MDHU's I assure you. Young fit squaddies are few and far between and it is somewhat of a relief to come accross them as patients.

As for ethics and legal aspects, I guarantee that these are the backbone of nursing and govern all that we do as registered practitioners. The law and ethics encroach upon everything we do in our work and they are there to protect the patient (not to annoy you). Indeed, the term "nurse" is protected by law and cannot be used by anyone who is not registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

QA baiting is a wonderful sport that oft produces amusing results on this site. The best at this are the best because they actually know what a nurse is and what they do (see DL and Foxy) and have been around the block a few times. You, quite obviously and despite you background, know very little and that is reflected in the quality of your post. Quite frankly, I would be embarassed to to put my name to the drivvel that you have produced.

No offense.

 

[Conrad_Cock]

Why no offence P&B it is not like you mate!
And you are right QA baiting is a wonderful sport which I feel should be recognised by the AMS. No go back to slaving for that ever popular NHS trust that you love to work for.

 

[JFKDorset]

True never worked in an MDHU, infact I hated nursing so much that I sacked it just a year after qualifying in 1998 (civvi not military). I found nursing as a profession to be all the things I said, backbiting and egocentric.

"Nurses dont wash patients, its benieth them, let the HCA's do it"
"sit behind the nurses station and do the paperwork, people will know how important you are then" It was endless and I hated it.

After watching my sister die partially because of the careless, idle attitudes of the nurses, many of whom I trained with I turned my back on it as a career and never looked back. Now much to my horror, nurses are everywhere, with the same "I am better than you are, cos I belong to a professional body and you dont" attitude as I found when I was training.

Very little of what I gained from being a nurse was or is relevant to working in a line unit of the army, TA or regular. QA's in the military environment, that is a med Regt or Hospital are fine I am just a bit sick and tired of them in RAP's and the civvi ones in Med Centres who treat the CMT's as if they are worthless know nothings.

Clinical Governence is an issue, encouraged by the nursing profession, which is damaging the careers of CMT's and to a lesser extent Naval MA's. (this doesn't really affect me as I am old'ish and coming toward the end of the line) True individual nurses are not to blame for this but as a professional body they are at least in part.

Offended? of course not, its so much more than that
James

BTW - I was in the Royal Navy not a Bootneck. I worked in RM units did the all arms course but then I also served on ships and at an Air Station in roughly equal measures. I have been a RAMC TA CMT since 1993.

 

[TomB]

.

" I found nursing as a profession to be all the things I said, backbiting and egocentric".
"Nurses dont wash patients, its benieth them, let the HCA's do it"
"sit behind the nurses station and do the paperwork, people will know how important you are then" It was endless and I hated it.

JFK

You get lazy egocentric self important lumps of lard in all walks of life & it seems a wee bit extreme to imply that all nurses fall into that pigeonhole.

I knew a CMT whose party trick when drunk was particularly disturbing but I've never implied that all CMT's are shi-ite scoffers.

Sounds as if you had a pretty negative experience during your time in the NHS. Unusual 'cos most mature nursing students (which I imagine you were) know exactly what they are getting into but you sound as if it all wasn't what you expected.

Personally for me in my 18 years as a nurse my qualification has opened heaps of doors & opportunities. Its not all about "care of the elderly" & I haven't wiped an arrse since 1994.

I dont remember in my 5 years as a CMT nurses in general giving me the "I'm better than you treatment" although I'm sure a couple of individuals probably did.

Thats my point really, its all about individuals & how they treat others & how others perceive they are being treated. I've never subscribed to tarring any group of people with the same brush. (Although I'd make an exception for traffic wardens!)

p.s. Yes, you got me, I admit Clinical Governance is all down to nurses............................. while I'm in confession mode can it also be taken into consideration that we also shot (the other) JFK, Shergar is in my shed & WW2 was started by a SRN who wanted a few pretty badges for her apron (& to show that she could slap on an a band-aid better than a MA).

p.p.s. Ref your previous "pretend you know as much as the doctors" point - there are actually many nurses who do actually know more about particular subjects than most doctors.

p.p.s. Enjoy the allotment!

 

[gibson097]

.
Unusual 'cos most mature nursing students (which I imagine you were) know exactly what they are getting into

OH NO THEY DONT !!!!!!!!

 

[TomB]

Well at their age they should!!

They've had plenty of time to research

 

[TomB]

Or should it be

OH YES THEY DO !!!!!!!!!!

HE'S BEHIND YOU!!!!!!!!