There are different areas of nursing you can specialise in for example, Children, Adult, Community, Mental Health and Learning & Disabilities.
Nursing Associates
A nursing associate is a member of the nursing team that helps bridge the gap between health and care assistants and registered nurses. Nursing associates work with people of all ages, in a variety of settings in health and social care. The role contributes to the core work of nursing, freeing up registered nurses to focus on more complex clinical care. The nursing associate is a stand alone role that also provides a progression route into graduate level nursing This short animation highlights the nursing associate role in: Acute – surgical ward, Community & Mental Health, Primary care and learning disability, Social care https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMYT1aIugXI
General Practice Nursing
A General Practice Nurse is a registered nurse who works autonomously within a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) within General Practice (GP) surgeries as part of a Primary Healthcare Team and is usually employed by the General Practitioners.
They assess, screen and treat people of all ages, including babies, children and adults in addition to providing traditional aspects of nursing care such as wound care, immunisations, vaccinations, Cervical cytology sampling and hold clinics for patients with Long Term Conditions such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes.
A key role of the General Practice Nurse (GPN) is to offer health promotion advice in areas such as contraception, weight loss and smoking cessation in addition to emphasis on promoting Women’s and Men’s health.
A day in the life of a general practice nurse
Below is a Nursing example of career progression pathways:
One of our Care Assistants, Rita, shares information about her role as part of Health Care Support Worker day:
It is possible to enter at any level with the appropriate employment, qualifications, skills &/or experience.
The above illustrations are generic and not exhaustive, details on other careers can be found in the Health Careers Website and Healthcare Apprenticeship Website link(s) listed below.
Useful links:
HEE Health Careers: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/nursing/roles-nursing
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/nursing-careers/real-life-stories/real-life-stories
Healthcare Apprenticeship Standards Online: https://haso.skillsforhealth.org.uk/pathways/?type=1#cat=1041
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/nursing-associates
https://nursing-associates.hee.nhs.uk/
Nursing & Midwifery Council: https://www.nmc.org.uk/
Videos:
We are nurses. We are the NHS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vprc6KeexhA/
A Day in the life of a Nursing Assistant/Healthcare Support Worker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia531GTbOSw