Ruth Underdown - Adult Nurse

Ruth has been sharing her experience and tips here on Nurses.co.uk for a long time.

Since qualifying in Adult Nursing in 2002 Ruth has worked as a specialist Nurse with the NHS, and in the private sector as a General Nurse and Sessional Nurse for a hospital-at-home team.

She has written helpful insights on everything from becoming a nurse to end of life care, safeguarding, working in care homes and much more!

How to change your career and become a nurse

Nurses.co.uk resident nurse and specialist writer, Ruth Underdown, explores why she became a nurse and how. If you're considering nursing as a job, read on to find out how to set about it - and why it's more than just a job.

Thinking about a different nursing pathway?

You may have gone through your nursing career believing that you belong to one role, and then realise a few years down the line that actually, this isn't what you want to do anymore. And that's okay. In nursing, there are so many different paths that you can go down - Ruth shares how you can follow these different paths, using her own experience as proof.

What does a Registered Nurse do?

In this article, Ruth breaks down nursing in its entirety to deliver you the key facts. Want to know about life as a RGN? Keep on reading!

How to return to professional nursing or midwifery practice after a career break

If you’ve had a career break from nursing or midwifery, you may decide you want to return to your profession. Here’s how to get back on the NMC register.

What does the impending winter crisis mean for nurses?

It's the most wonderful time of the year - well, for most anyway. The NHS is about to face the annual winter crisis - for nurses, festivities are put on hold. Ruth explains the effects of the winter crisis on the NHS.

Why switching your nursing career from the NHS to a nursing home is worth considering

Nursing home nursing is probably one of the most undervalued career paths in the nursing profession. NHS nurses are often unaware that nursing home work can yield job satisfaction and a good quality of life.

Learning from my own mistakes in nursing

We all make mistakes but sometimes, the hardest part is owning up to them. Ruth Underdown describes her experience of losing a handover sheet and what happened next.

A nurse's reflections on safeguarding

Sometimes it's hard to see when you should take action in terms of safeguarding with patients. Ruth reflects on her own experiences, talking about the self-doubt that people with a duty of care often have when it comes to looking out for others.

How to become a healthcare assistant with no formal care experience

Care Assistants exist in all specialisms of nursing and healthcare, and they can perform a wide range of tasks according to training and experience.

A day in the life of a care home nurse

Care home nursing is a varied and stimulating nursing job, which allows you the opportunity to work with people at any stage in their life from adults with complex physical needs to older adults with conditions such as dementia and frailty. In this article we explore what the day-to-day life of a nursing home nurse is like.

How to progress your career as a care home nurse

Being a care home nurse is a rewarding nursing career, it gives you the chance to provide continuous nursing care to people with whom you have established a relationship but what career opportunities are available for nurses looking at working in the sector? This article explains how your career can progress as a nursing home nurse.

Autumn Budget 2018 – What’s in it for nurses?

With the start of winter and the rapidly evolving staffing crisis in the NHS, did the budget have any gifts to give for the hard working front line staff? We look at what the Budget held for nurses and the NHS as a whole.

Medical dramas and why I can’t watch them

There was a time, a whole lifetime ago, when I loved a good medical drama. I was of the generation who grew up with Charlie and Megan in Casualty on the Beeb of a Saturday night and as a teenager, swooned at the likes of George Clooney and Noah Wyle in ER. But somewhere in the mists of time, following nursing studies and years of clinical practice, the watching of a medical drama outside of work is no longer something I want to do.

What you should expect from preceptorship as a newly qualified nurse

You’ve completed your training and now you’re about to embark into your nursing career. What should you expect from your first days on the job and your preceptorship?

What to know if you're a UK nurse looking to work in Australia

Ruth got in touch with Laura Young, a UK nurse who's made the move down under, to find out how nursing in Oz compares with the UK.

Revalidation makes us better nurses

Revalidation has been greeted with a degree of fear amongst nurses. We try to dispel the fears around it with the experience of one nurse who went through revalidation earlier this year.

The importance of self reflection in nursing

When we set out on our paths to become clinicians, we often have an idea of the nurse we hope to be.

Quick guide to becoming an RGN

In this piece, we look briefly at the route to becoming a Registered Nurse.

Nursing and a work life balance

Caring for other people is emotionally demanding and combined with the physical nature of the job, physically exhausting.

Christmas working for Nurses

For many of us Christmas is a well earned break. But for Nurses, the chaos continues whilst the festive period is put on hold.

What pressures will 2018 bring for the NHS?

Ruth explains the stresses both healthcare professionals and patients will be under in 2018.

What does Winter hold for Nurses in the NHS?

After a Summer of protests, are Nurses, and the NHS, about to endure a Winter of discontent?

Should Nurses have their flu vaccine?

With the threat of a flu epidemic, Ruth explains why it is important Nurses, and healthcare professionals, receive their vaccine.

Rachel Marshall - working as a Private Aesthetic Nurse

Ruth interviews Rachel Marshall, a Private Aesthetic Nurse, about her move from the NHS to building a business in the private sector.

Lorraine Gardiner - working as a Palliative Care Nurse Specialist

What is it like working with people who have life-limiting illnesses? Ruth interviews Lorraine Gardiner, a Palliative Care Nurse Specialist, for whom death has become part of her everyday life.

How can nurses manage death and the care of the dying?

It’s Death Awareness Week. As nurses we experience life and death as part of our everyday jobs. What can we be doing to learn and train for end of life care?

Admission prevention: a developing specialism in older peoples' care

With an ageing population that is set to double in the next 30 years, Ruth looks at the services being delivered to keep older people in better health and out of hospital.

Strike action: a road less travelled

After two weeks of demoralising news in the NHS, will nurses finally seriously consider strike action as the only viable option?

Managing death - a personal perspective as a nurse and daughter

Rio Ferdinand has brought the subject of loss to the fore this week. A nurse and daughter who lost her own mother at a young age gives her perspective on grief and death.