03.04.13
Nurse training
Source: Susan Speirs
What is wrong with the old system of training?
As a student nurse in 1980, we trained for three years. This involved a rota of two weeks in school followed by eight weeks on a ward. We learnt the basics from the beginning. Also included in our ward placements were four assessments, and we had to pass each one if we wanted to continue. A drug round, a sterile dressing, total care of one patient for one day and then one whole day as the Ward Manager.
I have worked over the years with good and bad students, one of whom told me that they were “not on the ward to empty bedpans or take patients to the toilet”. They may have the brains but they do not seem to have common sense.
Something has to change, but I do not think what is being proposed is the correct way to do it.
Re: Nurses must learn basic care first – Hunt responds to Francis