Staff shortages, recruitment, retention, pay, conditions, long waits, the cost of living crisis, fuel and food poverty, the social care crisis, strikes… All these problems leave little to raise the spirits of staff working in the NHS. Nonetheless, every day I see glimmers of brilliance, little acts of kindness between colleagues, staff caring for patients with passion, commitment, empathy and enthusiasm.
This is not to detract from the reality of many staff feeling broken, those bearing the scars of moral injury and being supported by amazing colleagues from occupational health, safeguarding, psychology and wellbeing teams. Just before Christmas, I entered a draw and won a large wellbeing box. It was packed with goodies aimed at helping staff rest, reflect and take a moment for themselves. I gifted the box to my colleagues in the emergency department, and that act of giving in itself helped me.
There is no getting away from the fact that, whatever your role in the NHS right now, it is tough, perhaps one of the hardest winters I have experienced in a career that has spanned 34 years. It is hard to see why school leavers would want to take the chance on a career in the NHS. That said, the NHS and nursing as a career allows many avenues for both development and progression.
The nurses I speak to often feel thwarted when it comes to professional development. However, success is based on adopting a proactive approach. If you have a desire to be something and you can see it, you can be it. It all starts with belief, passion and determination.
There are so many opportunities advertised at the moment and I really do believe that there is something for everyone. If you find yourself lacking challenge, craving change, then it is important to take ownership of your career. You need to create your own opportunities – change doesn't happen on its own. I am not suggesting that this is an easy approach, especially if you feel you have little energy left in your tank.
‘If you find yourself lacking challenge, craving change, then it is important to take ownership of your career. You need to create your own opportunities – change doesn't happen on its own’
So how do you do it? First, you need to look for opportunities, do your research, take yourself out of your comfort zone, approach people, and ask for what you want.
If you get turned down or told no, never let it put you off. My granny was a strong believer in the ‘school of hard knocks’. She soon introduced me to the phrase ‘what doesn't kill you makes you stronger’, stolen with pride from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Today such a philosophy is perhaps synonymous with the word resilience, a skill I see in buckets in colleagues across the services in which I work.
I see personal resilience as something to be worked on like other skills. We all have bad days, we all bring our whole self to work, people are entitled to have a life beyond the workplace. Sometimes it gets too much and that is OK. Reach out to your support network until you feel strong enough again, but never let rejection put you off! We can all learn from it and seek and act on feedback.
You could try shadowing other services, not necessarily those in your organisation. Looking elsewhere gives you experience of other services, helps you make contacts and forge relationships and may in itself open up opportunities for you. Arrange informal visits. If the feedback is that you lack a particular qualification, access your continuing professional development fund. Use your one-to-one and appraisal system to your advantage. Speak to your manager to see if they will support you to attain the qualifications you need, while continuing to network and do more research.
Journals are a brilliant way to keep abreast of contemporary issues in nursing. In this issue alone, there are articles that cover closed incision negative pressure wound therapy for caesarean section wounds and using a chitosan dressing in hard-to-heal wounds. Enjoy taking the time out to read and grow and select the good bits that you can easily adopt in practice – be that glimmer of brilliance I see every day.
Remember that if you take that leap of faith and start something new and it turns out that it's not for you, it's OK to stop, reflect and change direction again. That's the beauty of nursing – it's a group of skills and knowledge that is as diverse as our workforce. Good luck!