I am often asked by medical professionals and various friends who know my background as a nurse, why I don’t go back to nursing “because you would have been a good one Lou”. This is a lovely compliment however I think I have drawn the line with returning to the best profession in the world (don’t you love my biasedness) especially at the age of fifty along with having a hereditary weakness in my lower back.
I have a gripe with the current training system of the nursing profession that currently exists and in my opinion, dare I say, there is a not-so-professional attitude of current nursing standards compared to the ‘good ol’ days’ when rules were to be adhered to and respect was to be respected. Mind you I was trained at THE Catholic hospital which was known for its incredibly high standards of nursing and where you practically had to be related to the Pope to be accepted there to study. I know you are asking so why me? So am I.
I recall with delight and pride having taken care of an elderly single lady living alone in Ascot. I discovered that her background was nursing and that she trained at the Mater in Rockhampton. On advising her that I was a Brisbane Mater nurse, her response went something like this: Wow, so you’re a Brisbane Mater girl. Gosh. When we were doing our training, if there was ever a nurse who had trained at the Brisbane Mater in our surrounds, we were advised to watch and learn from them as they were the elite! To this day, I gloat at this memory.
I was one of the last intakes accepted at the Brisbane Mater Misericordiae Hospital prior to nursing becoming a tertiary degree. I graduated as being a State Registered Nurse and trained on site rather than the current day Diploma, Bachelor etc. achieved after some three years being based at a university. To this day, I have never been able to work out why the ‘powers that be’ ceased the hospital-based learning.
I spoke recently to a young lady who had commenced her university-based nursing training. I was told that her practical work during her studies equalled approximately three months. In comparison, my practical experience equated to more like two years and this is where I believe, nursing has really suffered. Sadly, this girl pulled out of her studies as she stated to me “Lou, there is not enough patient/practical contact and I am not enjoying it.” I was clearly saddened.
From memory, Queensland came after the other states when it came to the changes of the nursing degree and I was exposed to the differences in quality of nurses of these two different training types.
I was a third year nurse,1981, working in the male medical ward and I was pulled aside by our charge nurse and advised that there would be a new “sister on the block” coming from and trained in Sydney, was a tertiary degree graduate and hence a fully qualified nursing sister and who needed to be supervised as this was her first year out after her degree. You can understand how I sat there scratching my head wondering why a third year nurse who still had 12 months of her training to go, was having to supervise an already qualified nursing sister with a degree. Regardless, I was humbled to think that I was chosen to be the supervisor of her by my charge sister and naturally agreed with pride.
This graduate was a really lovely girl and we did get along really well, however her practical skills were HOPELESS. It was like being back in my first six months of training, watching her start from scratch. I realised that my workload, which was really busy anyway, was now doubled but then having an extra pair of hands to help me make my plethora of patient’s beds etc. was an advantage.
I had to give feedback to the charge nurse after each shift and yes I was brutally honest. Our charge agreed with me to which she told me that this type of training was possibly around the corner for Queensland nursing too. We both shook our heads simultaneously but how right she was.
I was not so long ago working for RSL and remember attending an elderly lady whose husband was a patient in one of the local hospitals. I was not working as a nurse but as a general helper for RSL. After chatting to her about various things, including her husband’s current care in the hospital, she said to me “Louise, you are a nurse aren’t you?” to which I admitted. I asked her how she knew. She advised me that she could “just tell” and she knew that I had trained in the “good old days” as she called them. I advised her that I had graduated in 1982 to which she nodded and smiled, “I thought so, and you know they don’t make them like you anymore.” I was flattered but saddened at the same time because I believe the same and my fellow nurses who trained with me agree with this lovely ladies statement. I am even advised by my gorgeous nursing girlfriends with whom I socialise, “don’t go back to nursing Lou, you’ll wish you hadn’t, it’s not the same anymore.”
So I guess I will heed my girlfriend's words of wisdom and keep away from hospitals and I know many of you reading this will disagree about the standards of nursing today and that is OK. May be one day we will return to the ‘good ol’ days,’ I am not sure. However one thing I do know is that I chose the best profession in the world and utilise my nursing knowledge every day as a mum and as a mum of a transplant recipient and I am so proud to be able to tell those I meet that I am a Mater girl.
No comments:
Post a Comment