From staff nurse to nurse consultant: Survival Guide part 7: Surviving professional relationships

This series is about surviving your nursing career. If that sentiment comes as a surprise to you then I can only surmise that you are either new to nursing, or you are not a nurse and reading this column for general interest.

Most of my contact is with experienced clinical nurses and allied health professionals who are seeking to expand and develop their professional skills to become some form of advanced practitioner. While we do not talk specifically about surviving their career, I am aware that for most of the staff I engage with, there has often been some form of ‘event’ that has caused considerable stress. This often results in thinking that it is time they considered a change of nursing job or even a move out of nursing. The cause of the stress can be varied, and this series attempts to explore some of the more common events; some of these relate to clinical incidents, others to shift-work and family commitments, many times it is the nursing hierarchy within which we work or due to working in an environment that is made up of many other healthcare staff and professions.