The Essential Guide to Becoming a Staff Nurse

Professor Ian Peate, OBE, Ian Peate

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781118812297
• eBook ISBN: 9781118812280
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Nursing Skills

Written specifically for graduating students and newly registered nurses, this essential handbook will help you navigate the transition from student to registered practitioner. Providing you with the key knowledge to help consolidate your degree course, The Essential Guide to Becoming a Staff Nurse will enable you to become an autonomous and accountable practitioner.

Covering everything the newly registered nurse needs to know, this handy book explores:

• How to get the job you want
• The role and function of the staff nurse
• Accountability and delegation
• Working with patients and their families
• Becoming a manager
• Continuing professional and personal development

With activities, practical hints and tips throughout, this accessible aide-memoire will provide indispensable support for newly registered nurses in all fields. 

Chapter 1
Getting the job you want

---

Aim

The aim of this chapter is to help you get the job you want.

---

---

Objectives

By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

1. 1. Give some consideration to your future career prospects
2. 2. Have further understanding of your role as a staff nurse
3. 3. Read a job description critically
4. 4. Put together your curriculum vitae (CV)
5. 5. Understand how to complete an application for a job
6. 6. Prepare for interview

---

Introduction

CONGRATULATIONS STAFF NURSE! Well done, you did it! Three years of hard labour, blood, sweat and for sure plenty of tears, and your name now appears on the professional register. OK, enough of the celebrations; it is time to get that job you really want.

In some areas jobs are hard to find and the competition can be stiff. You have to stand out above the crowd but you will need more than your good looks, wit and humour. The way to get the job that you want is to prepare, prepare and prepare; oh, and did I say prepare?

This opening chapter will consider the role of the staff nurse and some of the issues that can impact on the nurse's role and function. It is essential that you give serious consideration to where you want to be in 5 years' time (a common question used at interviews); so you must have an understanding of the various career options available to you. This chapter cannot do this for you; you have to do this but, be bold, think wide and far. Your registration is in effect your passport to the rest of the word – the world really is your oyster.

Application by curriculum vitae (CV) is becoming more popular; the chapter provides pointers on CVs. You must not forget however that the completion of a standard application form (electronic or hand written) is still very much used, particularly in the NHS.

There are sections in the chapter that help you read and understand a job description, encouraging you to look at it in a critical light. When you have considered your career trajectory, you have critically analysed the job description, tailored your CV to reflect the person specification and completed the application and have been invited for interview; at this point you really do have to talk the talk and walk the walk. There are hints and tips towards the end of the chapter that will help you prepare for interview.

The role of the staff nurse

Over the years the role of the staff nurse (the registered nurse) has changed and will continue to change and evolve. The changes are often the result of professional, statutory requirements as well as the demands made by the public on nurses and health services. Nurses are members of the multidisciplinary team, often acting as a pivot, the coordinator of care, particularly in the health care setting. The team will have common goals but each with their own different roles to perform. The Royal College of Nursing, RCN (2013) has defined various roles within what it calls the nursing family (see table 1.1).

Table 1.1 The nursing team – roles

Registered nurses	Assistant practitioners	Health care assistants
Use their specific knowledge to make clinical judgements in order to assess the needs of the people they care for Prescribe, appropriately delegate and supervise nursing care Are accountable practitioners as well as being accountable for the care that they have delegated to others	Support the work of a variety of registered professionals, crossing professional boundaries Makes judgements using a comparative approach Plan their own work in line with accepted protocols and standard operating procedures Can undertake the routine supervision of others	Have nursing tasks delegated to them by the registered nurse and are supervised when providing care to people Work within and are guided by protocols that have been set Undertake the performance of tasks that are commensurate with their level of assessed competence Have responsibility to inform the person delegating tasks if they do not have the competence to undertake it

Source: Adapted from Royal College of Nursing (2003, 2013) and Skills for Health (2010).

The multidisciplinary/inter-relational working arrangements of the various members of the nursing team can be found in figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 The inter-relational aspects of the various members of the nursing team.

Source: Adapted from Royal College of Nursing (2013).

The Health and Social Care Act 2012

This Act has introduced changes for the delivery of health and social care and has been hailed at the biggest changes to the NHS since the system was set up in 1948. A summary of some aspects of the Act is detailed in table 1.2. The Health and Social Care Act (the Act) is divided into 12 parts and is only relevant to England.

Table 1.2 A summary of some aspects of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act

The health service in England incorporating duties of the Secretary of State for Health and new commissioning measures Further provisions about public health as well as direction on the cooperation of bodies with functions relating to public health Regulation of health and adult social care services (particularly Monitor), competition issues, licensing, pricing, health special administration and financial assistance in special administration cases NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts Public involvement and local government concerning HealthWatch at national (England) and local levels Primary care services Regulation of health and social care workers The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), including a slight name change from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Information concerning health and adult social care services Abolition of some public bodies, such as, the Appointments Commission, the National Patient Safety Agency and the Alcohol Education and Research Council Miscellaneous, including information relating to births and deaths, duties to cooperate and supervised community treatment under the Mental Health Act 1983 Final provisions, comprising financial provisions and commencement of a consultation with Scottish Ministers

When the Act was introduced, primary care trusts and strategic health authorities were abolished as part of the radical restructuring of the health service; new health and well-being boards have been established with the aim of improving integration b...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• About the Author
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Getting the job you want
• Chapter 2: Crossing the threshold: the role and function of the staff nurse
• Chapter 3: Support systems and preceptorship
• Chapter 4: Accountability and delegation
• Chapter 5: Using the evidence
• Chapter 6: Working with patients and their families
• Chapter 7: New ways of working: advancing nursing practice
• Chapter 8: Becoming a manager
• Chapter 9: Continuing professional and personal development
• Chapter 10: Teaching, learning and assessing
• Index
• End User License Agreement