Nurse loves the buzz after 10-year break
Denice’s advice to would-be returnees: Believe in yourself
I still get a buzz out of the day when you know that you’ve looked after someone that wasn’t so well
Denice Stock had a wide experience as a nurse, but that was a decade ago. Could she make it as a nurse again?
Denice’s nursing journey began at Manawatu¯ Polytech, then for about 15 years wound its way around the Manawatu¯-Wanganui, including a spell overseas. Denice was an experienced professional who did everything from district nursing to theatre nursing. When family came along, Denice made the call to let nursing go. However, nursing had ways of calling her back. One family holiday, when they came upon a road accident with a medical emergency, Denice’s husband “volunteered” her to take charge. She did such a superb job that one of the onlookers, a nursing tutor, said that she should go back nursing. Denice enrolled in UCOL’s Certificate in Competency Assessment for Registered Nurses, and when she got the call to say that there was a placement for her, it all got very real. After 10 years’ absence, during which medicine had changed dramatically, Denice wondered if she was still capable. She admitted, “It was nerve-racking going in, like any new job, going into the unfamiliar. But, you know, it was great. Once I was in there and I got back into it, I was fine.”
Denice found she had not forgotten the basics, and that much of the course refreshed and updated what she had known before, such as codes of ethics, drug calculations, and so on.
But her biggest surprise was the support.
“I had an amazing preceptor nurse when I did my return-to-nursing placement at the rest home, and I had a fantastic preceptor nurse at City Doctors, but I’ve also had a great bunch of staff that I work with. They’ve been amazing in terms of encouragement, and I guess I’ve been lucky.”
Support like that began to rebuild Denice’s confidence in the quality of her work and in herself as a nurse. She completed her studies then gained a position as an accident and medical nurse in a local clinic.
“It’s a great feeling being able to feel worthwhile again, being employed. I still get a buzz out of the day when you know that you’ve looked after someone that wasn’t so well or okay, and you’ve sent them home in a better state of mind or physical ability.”
For people considering a return to nursing, Denice’s advice is, “Probably the biggest thing is to have a bit of confidence in yourself. It is really just, ‘You can do it.’ You can change dramatically if you want to. Have confidence in yourself to get back in there.”
The Ministry of Health has launched a support fund to help New Zealand-based nurses who are not currently practising to return to a nursing role, in order to help grow the workforce to meet increased demand, support safe staffing, and improve access to care.