Oct 1 2007
As the University of Hertfordshire welcomed its new cohort of just under 300 nursing students, an academic at the School of Nursing and Midwifery deems that nursing is the best job in the world.
Ian Peate, Associate Head of the School, who worked as a nurse for 26 years and is author of Becoming a Nurse in the 21st Century, believes that nurses are highly skilled health professionals applying the fundamentals of care.
“It’s a smashing job where every day is different,” he said. “Patients tell nurses things they don’t even tell their spiritual advisor.”
According to Mr Peate, the University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, one of the largest in the UK, offers a wide choice of pre- and post-qualification education and training, backed by world-class facilities so that nurses can be prepared for a career which is both physically and mentally challenging.
The changing role of health professionals within the NHS also means that nurses of the future will have a continuing major and increasing role in the community, caring for and nursing people in their own homes. Hertfordshire nurses will be trained to meet these new challenges in the Hertfordshire Intensive Care and Emergency Simulation Centre (HICESC), the UK’s largest medical simulation facility housed within the recently-opened Health Research Building.
“We are moving towards a scenario whereby people won’t always have to go into hospital when they are ill,” he said. “They may well be operated on in their GP’s surgery and then nursed at home. We prepare our nurses for these new roles.”
A photo of some of the new recruits is available.
New simulator prepares nursing students for pediatric critical care