General Practice Nurse Q&A

Debbie goes through questions she’s commonly asked as a Practice Nurse, from the most difficult part of nursing to what makes a successful nurse.

Hello, my name is Debbie, and I'm a Practice Nurse in London.

Today, I am going to be doing something different, which is a Q&A. I get a lot of questions concerning my role, concerning nursing in general, and I just wanted to address some of the questions that I generally get asked.

So, I have a piece of paper here, so if I look down it's because I'm looking at the paper.

What Is My Favourite Part About Nursing?

I think for me, because I'm in practice nursing, I do enjoy the variety of things that I see. I feel like it really helps to broaden my knowledge and help me to just have a different aspect of every part of nursing.

So, like being able to see children as well as being able to see like babies, you know, new-borns, eight-weeks check. The variety of things that they can present with at such a young age.

And then, you know, to the other extreme being able to see elderly patients and a variety of things that happen at that age as well. So yeah, I just love the variety. That's, for me, that's key. It doesn't feel mundane. It doesn't feel like I'm doing the same thing every single day.

How Did I Become A GP Nurse?

Just apply. There's nothing, you know, extraordinary, you know, in GP nursing. Of course, it is quite different to, you know, nursing on a ward or anywhere else. But I think with the right practice willing to train you up or doing a course with universities, you know, you can get into the role.

As long as you're willing to show passion about primary care and GP nursing, then just apply.

What Is The Most Difficult Part Of Nursing?

So as much as variety is great, having that many different skills and being able to attend to so many different things can be very challenging, especially in practice nursing. You know, one day you would have, I don't know, a wound that, you know, you're like, okay, you feel confident, you've done wounds before, and then the next day is like it's something completely different. And just being able to keep up to date with the changes in how to care for someone, that can be quite challenging, I think.

Yeah, and sometimes you just don't know how to help that person. And I think in practice nursing, especially, escalating isn't always as easy as in the hospital, which I think I've discussed before in previous videos.

Whereby, you know, a select view of doctors that, you know, like for example, you can see I'm in a room on my own, so if something was to happen, being able to escalate has to be very succinct. Has to be very timely because, I mean, there's no one else here. So that can be quite challenging.

In nursing in general, I think what can be quite difficult is how much is expected of you to deliver. Even though you are still learning, and you will always be learning no matter what stage in your career you're in, but I think that can be quite challenging.

How To Deal With Difficult Patients?

I think for me, one thing that I always have in the back of my mind is not to take anything personally. When you're not well, I mean, I can always speak for myself as well, when I'm not well, I'm not always the most rational. I'm, you know, my tolerance is low, my patience is low. Everything is just not what it would normally be.

So, you can imagine, you know, a patient has come in for one thing or the other, and when it comes to your health, everything is heightened within you. You know, you want the best care. You want to make sure you live.

So, you know, if a patient is being difficult or, you know, there's a problem, I just try not to take it personally and just try and put myself in their shoes. A majority of the time it works. You know, I just apologize. Just say, "Do you know what, I understand." You know, feeling heard and listened to is always important.

Why Nursing?

So, for me, as I've probably mentioned in previous videos, I studied biomedical science and that is very lab based. It's not very patient focused. I always wanted to go into medicine and be a GP. So, you know, I had the choice between doing the physician associate course or nursing.

At that time of my life, I only knew much about nursing, I didn't really know too much about the PA course, and so I decided to just do nursing as a master’s, and I loved it. I loved how hands-on it is. I love how, you know, how skilled it is. I just loved everything about it. And so, yeah, that's why nursing.

And I also love how you can just take this degree, these skills, anywhere in the world. And that, for me, was important. I don’t know where I'll find myself in the next few years, but to know that I have a degree that can help me be comfortable anywhere in the world, that was very important to me as well.

What Makes A Successful Nurse?

I think, to me, I would say a successful nurse is someone who's passionate about their job and their role. Because I think if you're passionate about what you're doing, you will do the research on, you know, your role, on the diseases that you face. You would really put your all into it. And because of your knowledge and everything, you know, you're able to give your patients 100% because you're passionate, you love what you do, you want to make sure you're doing it well.

And I think another thing which I think trumps all things is being able to listen. You know, you can have all the skills, you can have all the knowledge, but if you don't actually listen to what, you know, your patient's telling you about how they're feeling, you know, about why they have come to you today, everything is null and void.

So, I think being able to listen can make you very successful because when you listen, you learn. You're able to learn more about what that patient is facing, you know, the condition that they have. Something that you may not have read in textbooks. Not everybody presents to you with textbook symptoms. So just being able to, you know, listen, I think is very key.

What Are The Biggest Challenges That Nurses Are Facing At The Moment?

I think it's pretty much the elephant in the room with all the strikes that are going on, pay, staffing. You know, not feeling safe, not feeling valued. All these things can be very challenging.

As I mentioned before, one of the things that made me go into nursing is because I think it's a very high-skilled role. To have a high skill should equate to being able to be paid, you know, equivalently. To be able to do what we do, you should be able to have a patient-focused care.

And to have patient-focused care, you have to feel that, you know, you're in a safe environment to do that. If, you know, I am one nurse trying to care for, you know, for example, let's say on a ward trying to care for eight patients and there's just one me, that can put my patients in danger, that can put myself in danger.

And so, I think various things like that can be just very stressful for nurses. And I think a lot of nurses are either leaving to change careers completely, or they're just leaving the hospital setting, or they're just going to agency where they feel like they're more valued pay-wise and just staffing-wise.

So yeah, I think that's a big issue at the moment with nursing.

“… I would say a successful nurse is someone who's passionate about their job and their role…if you're passionate about what you're doing, you will do the research on your role, on the diseases that you face. You would really put your all into it. And because of your knowledge, you're able to give your patients 100% because you're passionate and you love what you do”.

What Do You Do When You Don't Know What To Do?

I just ask, literally I just ask. I ask. There is nothing more detrimental than doing something you're not competent to do. So, I ask the doctors, I ask my mentor. And if none of them are available or can't, you know, they just can't attend at the moment, I tell them, "Do you know what? It's better you come back or book another appointment." It is better that than just getting it wrong really.

So, I hope you enjoyed that little Q&A session. If you have any questions, feel free to put it in the comments.

But again, I think nursing is amazing. With everything that's going on at the moment with strikes and, you know, pay and staffing, if you are someone that wants to get into nursing, please do not be deterred, don't be afraid.

If you generally have a passion for it, you'll navigate through all the trials that are, you know, going on at the moment.

And if you feel like nursing is for you, then go for it.