Not for the faint of heart, everyone knows that nursing and working as a healthcare professional is challenging but rewarding. From social care, mental health nursing to adult nursing and healthcare assistants, there are lots of different issues and satisfactions that come from working as a nurse.

Training to Work in Healthcare

The training is hands-on and often intensive. To become a nurse, you need to have a degree in pre-registration nursing, which are available in four different branches, including adult, children, learning disability and mental health. You need to decide which branch you want to work in before you apply for a programme.

Most degree programmes are split 50/50 theory and practice, between university and practical placements. You’ll learn how to effectively and safely deliver care through lectures, seminars, tutorials and practice on lifelike models.

The practical placements that you will experience will be related to the branch of nursing that you’re studying, though some aspects of the training are common to all branches of nursing.

If you’re looking to go into healthcare or social work, then you may not need a degree or indeed any prior training. Instead, you can apply for the job, and your employer will train you and give you the qualifications that you need. The training may well be different depending on the type of work that you’re tasked with and the employer that you’re working for. For instance, a healthcare assistant job at a GP surgery will be radically different to one at a residential home.

Finding a Job

Finding a job as a nurse or a healthcare professional can be easy, as they are always in demand all over the world. From hospitals to GP surgeries to care homes, hospices and prisons, there are a number of different circumstances where nurses and healthcare professionals are needed.

There are lots of different ways of finding a job, from RCN Bulletin boards, to NHS jobs, and temp work.

Working Life

Your working life will likely be varied – with shifts being flexible. You will find that the work is incredibly worthwhile, rewarding, but difficult and challenging at times – which makes it all the more rewarding when it comes to together well. However, there will be moments where you feel that you cannot do enough – whether that’s because of the limits of science, the bureaucracy of the system or even a mistake that has been made.