Transitioning Into A New Job Role

In this video, Sophie shares a range of useful advice for transitioning into a new job role, using her varied background of Band 6 nursing to an Advanced Nurse Practitioner for reference.

Hi guys. I wanted to do a video on transitioning into a new job role within nursing.

I've had quite a few different positions during my career, and I've been qualified for eight or nine years now. If you haven't watched my other videos, here is a little bit of background information for you.

My Background

I started out in a surgical ward in a small hospital and then after a few years I went to a university hospital to expand my skill base and my knowledge. I hoped that I could be a Band 6 nurse, and that was in my five-year plan at the time. And I did become a Band 6 there on the surgical ward at the university hospital, and I was there for a few years.

After that I started working as a Substance Misuse Nurse in a prison, and there I developed my skills in prescribing. I became a prescribing nurse, as well as working in sexual health, long-term conditions, acute care, emergency care, and hepatology. Which led me onto my current role as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in hepatology, at another university hospital.

Analyze Where You Are In Your Career

So for me, my role changes have been about going up the career ladder, but it's good to think about and analyze where you are in your career:

• Are you happy in your current role?

• Could you be doing more?

• Is it the right environment for you?

I always take time to reflect and see whether I am in the right environment, and whether I could be developing my skills more to benefit my patients.

Use SWOT Analysis

One of the tools that I use is the SWOT analysis, which is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

For example, in my first role, there wasn't many opportunities for me to develop. There was only one ward in the hospital and the other areas were outpatients, and I knew I didn't want to go into those areas because I needed to develop my skills.

So that became a threat. So that's when I decided to move on into a bigger hospital where there was more opportunities for me.

There are so many different areas of nursing, and so many opportunities out there…

Apply This To New Roles As Well

It's good to do the SWOT analysis when you've started a new role as well, to identify your weaknesses and your strengths, so that you can work on your weaknesses, and they can become your strengths in the end.

For example, one of my weaknesses in my new job role is I haven't been in a hospital setting for about four and a half years. So, everything's changed, I've forgotten a lot of things, and a lot of things are different coming from a prison setting. I've worked on that by identifying this to my managers and my team, and they have supported me and helped me progress in that area.

I've also analyzed what opportunities there are and devised a five-year plan, which will also help transfer me into other career aspects.

Find Something You Are Passionate About

Another good thing to think about when you are transferring into a new job is whether you have a passion or not. There’s no point doing a job that we're not passionate about.

We are nurses, so obviously we are passionate about giving great patient care and a good patient experience, but ultimately, we need to be interested in the actual role that we're doing.

And there are so many different areas of nursing, and so many opportunities out there. It doesn't have to be a ward; it doesn't have to be the community. It could be nursing anywhere, and it could be anywhere in the world.

But it is just reflecting and analyzing to understand what it is that you want, because if you are passionate about what you do, then our patients can see that, and it's reflected in our day-to-day nursing.

So, I hope that's been helpful for you. Thank you for watching and I hope to see you again soon. Thanks.

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