Welcome to eBooks by Luv-2-learn

The Knowledge hub for people who are nurses and carers who want to learn to care for themselves.

You've decided to become a fully qualified nurse, aiming to excel in your profession. The idea of nursing has been on your mind for some time. It's also possible that you're already in the field, seeking to advance in your career. Your training has shown you that nursing is a dynamic and energetic pursuit. However, you might wonder how the desire to pursue this path took root in your mind. If you were to reflect on it, pinpointing the exact moment or reason for this motivation might be unclear. In today's world, nursing is certainly not a career for the faint-hearted.

The inspiration might have struck while watching a documentary about the National Health Service (NHS), during a hospital visit to a relative, or as a sudden revelation when contemplating your life's next steps. You relocated from your homeland as a qualified nurse, choosing to pursue your vocation by dedicating your skills and expertise to patients in need. Working as a nurse or carer, whether in a hospital or a care home, may have seemed like a fulfilling career choice.

As your children grow older and reach an age where a second income becomes beneficial for your family due to the rising cost of living, you may find yourself contemplating various career paths. During the final stages of your education, you swiftly realized the need to make a choice: become the manager at your local Asda, pursue a nursing diploma or degree, or obtain a teaching degree. In my case, nursing was the most attractive option, despite the many similarities between the professions.

Experiencing your nurse training at university and the knowledge gained via clinical placements you have decided nursing is for you. 

So, you have qualified and then straight into the first year of your nursing career you quickly realise that it has took over your life.  Being a qualified nurse and being a carer, your working days are many long learning hours. It can also feel like a thankless task, and it often felt that there was and still is a lack of recognition for your hard work. For many nurses and carers who work in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, out in the community or in other specialized care facilities the tasks are endless. 

However, if you are ambitious there is a glass ceiling which develops its own array of tangible, visible and audible traits which maintains as an unequal opportunity for advancements. 

Becoming aware of this aspect of nursing can often cause a lot of internal stress, a crisis of confidence and a lowering of your self-esteem.  Happiness through self-care is a vital tool to have in your survival kit for nursing.  Therefore, working in the care industry can leave one feeling unfulfilled career-wise.  There is often a limited amount of support for the development of a quality work-life balance especially because of the intensity of night and day shift patterns.  Nursing has more than its fair share of frustrations and let downs. There are, however, things that you can do to learn to change how you feel about ensuring longevity of your career in the hopes of staving off disillusionment and burnout.  The physical status of your body as you age and the psychological management of the mental status of your mind is what allows you to control your life 24/7.  Learn how to overcome anxiety.

How would you like to develop bullet proof motivation and learn to think seriously about taking better control of your life and career?  Also, learn techniques that can help you take care of your own positivity and your physical well-being which may help you to tolerate your working environment which can be deemed as quite toxic in today's nursing world.   In days gone by nursing was said to be a vocation.  A calling, a bit like been a nun.  But what is a vocation and why is nursing no longer seen in this manner?

There are many professional nursing organizations and online communities and educational institutions that cater for black nurses such as The Black Nurses Association UK.   Websites on the internet. They tend to give an air of diversity and inclusion which are in direct alinement with nursing commitments, UpToDate training opportunities, education on procedures and information about new research and new medications. 

Nursing is heavily influenced by people who are not nurses like the laymen, the public, politicians, the mainstream media, government department policy makers and lawyers' legal standings and stake holders.  All this information is available for you to Perouse on the world wide web.  It is often deemed straight forward giving you knowledge about how they expect you to keep yourself revalidated up to date with any government policies and procedures that will affect your pay grade, education, accountabilities, and ability to do your job.  All that information is vital of course but may add to your anxiety about certain aspects of your nursing career that you have no control over.