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The transition from nursing student to staff nurse
Staff nurse Paula Povey explains the transition from nursing student to nurse, and the changes she has implemented on the ward.
The transition from student to staff nurse happens virtually overnight. My personal responsibility and accountability seemed to increase a hundredfold in a matter of hours.
As a student, I could always fall back on 'I will just go and ask the nurse in charge of your care'. As a registered nurse, I am that nurse in charge. I need to know all about my patients and I am accountable for their care. Moreover, on a busy surgical ward, I have to look calm and organised so that patients and colleagues see me as approachable and capable.
Perhaps this is what is meant by the art of nursing. In the first few months of my preceptorship, I have realised that the pace of change in health care is relentless. There is a constant drive for improvement in the face of growing cost constraints.
I am aware of being part of a larger multidisciplinary team. Its sole objective is to ensure that the patient is cared for as sensitively as possible and it is constantly searching for new ways to achieve this. As a qualified nurse, I am no longer an observer of this process, but an integral part.
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The RCN Publishing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Nursing, the world's largest organisation for nurses. RCN Publishing produces one weekly, eight monthly and two quarterly nursing publications. Nursing Standard, the flagship journal, is the UK's biggest selling weekly for nursing. It is produced by RCN Publishing Company along with a suite of specialist nursing journals - Cancer Nursing Practice, Mental Health Practice, Learning Disability Practice, Nursing Children and Young People, Nursing Management, Emergency Nurse, Nursing Older People, Nurse Researcher and Primary Health Care. RCN Publishing Company also produce the RCN Bulletin, a major source of up-to-the-minute information for RCN members in all specialities, grades and working environments. With the latest nurse vacancies from trusts nationwide, it has become the most cost-effective nurse recruitment magazine available.