As Nursing and Healthcare students up and down the country head back to continue with their University degrees this September, many will be looking for advice and knowledge from those with experience in the industry. We took the time to speak to Dean Healthcare's Clinical Director, Jane to find out her about her experience as a Nurse, and the responsibilities she has at Dean Healthcare as our Clinical Lead.

1. How did you qualify in Nursing?

When I started Nursing we didn’t do it in quite the same way as happens now, currently it is through University but at that time, you did it through a hospital and in a similar way that you did placements in various services in wards or community services and then you went into the learning environment within a hospital environment, so it was slightly different, but a similar outcome really.

2. Where did you work in before working for Dean Healthcare?

I supposed I worked in three main areas. One was the National Health service where I worked for 14/15 years, where I did training in learning disabilities and general nursing and worked in various different places. Rather unpleasant hospitals in some ways, all of which are closed. So, I worked in those for a lot of the time. There was a nursing system whereby you were a staff nurse or ward sister, I spent a lot of my twenties and thirties as a nursing officer and then I went to work for a couple of smaller services which were privately run. I then went to a major charity and I moved to the Bristol area, and now that charity is one that we now work with.

3. How do you help other Nurses in your current role at Dean Healthcare?

I try to be supportive of the nurses generally and be available to talk to them about issues they might be experiencing in the field, whether that’s services where we’ve sent them, or other things, so sometimes they might ring me up on the weekend or in the evenings to talk. I am often asked questions about how things are managed, particularly during the pandemic and during the heatwaves, I’ve been asked questions about how we store medication in high temperatures, those sorts of things. How do we manage thing like viruses and injections and vaccinations and so on. The other main area I deal with is revalidation for nurses. I support them through that, most people are becoming quite familiar with it now as I’ve not long since completed mine, and I’m seeing a lot of other people on their second, third or fourth time too. I support a couple of people every month with revalidation and getting everything together for it, which sometimes is difficult because people have been working quite differently throughout the Covid Pandemic, especially around some issues such as training because training’s been curtailed massively. But those are the main areas that I deal with.


4. What qualities do you think a good Nurse should have?

I think they need to be kind. I think they need to be empathetic, to try to put themselves in the shoes of the people they’re looking after or supporting and the families around them as well. This is particularly important if you’re in the area of caring for people with mental health needs and learning disabilities, where their conditions or needs can be long term rather than the short-term problems of the general fields.

5. What final advice would you give to someone looking for a career in Nursing?

Find out about it first and go and do what you think you might want to do for a while before you actually undertake the training. A lot of people come up that way, even now they do the six months, or a year or so as Support Worker or a Healthcare Assistant and it’s a really good way of finding out what it’s like and what it’s going to be like for you and seeing if it’s actually where you want to go with your career.

We hope you've found the words of our Clinical Director Jane to be insightful. If so, be sure to follow Dean Healthcare on all social platforms, where we showcase more tidbits of information and advice for new and more experienced Nurses. Just search for and follow @deanhealthcare on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.