Choosing A Speciality a practical guide

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Choosing A Speciality a practical guide

• Mark Foulkes
• Nurse Consultant In Cancer Care/Trust Lead Cancer
  Nurse
• Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

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Content

• Why choose at all?
• Factors to consider when thinking about
  specialities
• Education and where to get it
• Where is nursing going.getting ahead of the game

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Factors involved with choosing a speciality

• What do you want out of your nursing life (career
  v job, stability v flexibility, work/life
  balance)?
• How flexible are you in where you can work
  geographically?
• Which areas do you enjoy working in? Take the
  time to find out what you might enjoy (not as
  easy as you might think)
• What roles exist within the speciality and is
  there a level at which you want to aim?
• How competitive is the speciality and might this
  effect your progress?

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Why actively choose at all?

• Difficult not tomore and more emphasis on
  specialisation, continuing a trend over the last
  60 years
• Way to focus your education, although need to
  achieve a balance between focussed courses and
  those you will need for any post
• Allows nurses to exert a degree of control over
  their working lives and their future
• Need to distinguish between specialising within
  nursing and being a specialist nurse

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The Importance of Education
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Education and specialist practice
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Educationand where to get it

• Development is a two way street (employer and
  nurse)
• When taking on a postalways be clear about what
  the education opportunities are within it and the
  attitude of the organisation to education
• Learn about where the organisations get their
  education from
• Learn to be flexible with education. You will
  have to mix study with working. Take on courses
  with in-built flexibility. (modular programmes
  which can be picked off in bursts)
• Educate yourself to fill cross cutting roles
  ..this will improve your flexibility and choice
  (education and management)

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Where is nursing going.getting ahead of the game

• -Informaticswe will need nurses who can use and
  develop computing. Increased emphasis on
  metrics
• Crossing Boundariesthere will no longer be such
  a gulf between Trust and community
• Crossing Roles..willingness to take on
  untraditional roles, prescribing, examination,
  autonomy
• Training and developmentnursing will have to
  develop ways to support other staff groups
  involved in patient care

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Questions????
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A Career Pathway to Nurse Consultant

• Ward Surgical Nursing (2 years).clinical
  education course
• Ward Cancer Nursing (5 years)specialist cancer
  nursing course
• Practice Educator (1.5 years)management course
• CNS cancer and palliative care (6 months)
• CNS Head and Neck Cancer and Brain Tumours (3
  years)
• Modern Matron (3 years)
• Cancer Manager (1 year..mat leave cover)..started
  masters course
• Operations Manager (1.5 year)
• Nurse Consultant (2.5 years).completed masters