Ian Peate - The Essential Guide to Becoming a Staff Nurse

To staff nurses, past, present and future

This edition first published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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Cover image: Getty images/466458497/by sturti

Ian Peate EN(G) RGN DipN (Lond) RNT BEd (Hons) MA (Lond) LLM

Ian began his nursing career in 1981 at Central Middlesex Hospital, becoming an enrolled nurse working in an intensive care unit. He later undertook 3 years of student nurse training at Central Middlesex and Northwick Park Hospitals, becoming a staff nurse and then a charge nurse. He has worked in nurse education since 1989. His key areas of interest are nursing practice and theory, men's health, sexual health and HIV. Ian has published widely; he is Professor of Nursing, Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Nursing and Head of School at the School of Health Studies, Gibraltar.

Editor in Chief British Journal of Nursing,
Head of School
School of Health Studies
Gibraltar

I would like to thank my partner Jussi Lahtinen for his ongoing support and encouragement, Mrs Frances Cohen for her continued help and assistance, Anthony Peate who contributed to the illustrations and the library staff at St Bernard's Hospital, Gibraltar.

Becoming a staff nurse brings with it a lot of mixed emotions, responsibilities and a salary. Three years of blood, sweat, tears and laughter have led to this position, but still your journey is not over as you become truly a lifelong learner.

The transition from student nurse to staff nurse takes place overnight, from being a student nurse and then a registered nurse with a personal identification number from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and then there is the change from being responsible to being accountable; for some this can be daunting. Some may suggest the transition takes 3 years, from the day you commenced your education. The text aims to facilitate the transitional process.

Contemporary nursing practice is constantly changing and evolving. Historically, nursing has been offered at certificate level and then diploma level and now entry to the professional register can only occur if the registrant has been educated to degree level. Since September 2013 all pre-registration nursing programmes leading to registration have been at a minimum undergraduate degree level. Throughout all the changes the length of the programmes has remained at 3 years.

The title Nurse is a title that is protected in law; no person is allowed to purport to be a nurse unless his or her name appears on the professional register and no person can practice nursing unless his or her name has been entered onto the professional register. Entry to the professional register can only occur when the standards that the NMC have set for education have been met. You have met those standards (exacting standards) and your name is on the professional register. You have made it, be proud and uphold the standards of the profession, congratulations!

There has been a massive reorganisation of health and social service provision and there have been a number of high-profile cases concerning nursing and nurses reported in the media. All of this has had an impact on the role and function of the newly registered nurse the staff nurse.

The world continues to change and in response to this the provision of nursing services has also needed to change. Nurses are now working in a variety of health and social care sectors that had hitherto been unheard of. This text takes into account the direction for nursing as detailed in policy and practice, identifying the changes necessary to the way nurses work and to their roles, responsibilities, educational and developmental requirements in order to deliver safe, competent and compassionate patient-centred nursing services. The text is suited to the community setting, primary and acute care with an emphasis upon the adult field of nursing; however, the broad principles can be applied across all fields.

Each chapter begins with an aim and a set of objectives helping the reader pre-plan for what is to come and to understand the rationale for the discrete yet intertwined chapters. Text layout has been given much thought, aiming to ensure that it is user friendly and engaging. There are 10 chapters. Inspiration is provided throughout the text at appropriate intervals offering the reader practical hints and tips, where you are asked to consider specific issues. You will be asked to carry out a variety of exercises along the way, where the author hands over to the staff nurse.