Choosing a specialty

							Choosing A Speciality – a practical
guide

Mark Foulkes
Nurse Consultant In Cancer Care/Trust Lead Cancer Nurse
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Content
 Why choose at all?
 Factors to consider when thinking about specialities
 Education and where to get it
 Where is nursing going….getting ahead of the game




                                                Quality - Mark Foulkes July 2009   2
Factors involved with choosing a speciality
 What do you want out of your nursing life (career v job, stability v
  flexibility, work/life balance)?
 How flexible are you in where you can work geographically?
 Which areas do you enjoy working in? Take the time to find out what
  you might enjoy (not as easy as you might think)
 What roles exist within the speciality and is there a level at which you
  want to aim?
 How competitive is the speciality and might this effect your progress?



                                                   Quality - Mark Foulkes July 2009   3
Why actively choose at all?
 Difficult not to…more and more emphasis on specialisation, continuing
  a trend over the last 60 years
 Way to focus your education, although need to achieve a balance
  between focussed courses and those you will need for any post
 Allows nurses to exert a degree of control over their working lives and
  their future
 Need to distinguish between specialising within nursing and being a
  specialist nurse




                                                 Quality - Mark Foulkes July 2009   4
The Importance of Education




                              Quality - Mark Foulkes July 2009   5
Education and specialist practice




                                    Quality - Mark Foulkes July 2009   6
Education…and where to get it
 Development is a two way street (employer and nurse)
 When taking on a post…always be clear about what the education
  opportunities are within it and the attitude of the organisation to
  education
 Learn about where the organisations get their education from
 Learn to be flexible with education. You will have to mix study with
  working. Take on courses with in-built flexibility. (modular programmes
  which can be picked off in bursts)
 Educate yourself to fill cross cutting roles ..this will improve your
  flexibility and choice (education and management)


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Where is nursing going….getting ahead of the game
-Informatics…we will need nurses
   who can use and develop
   computing. Increased emphasis on
   ‘metrics’
Crossing Boundaries…there will no
  longer be such a gulf between Trust
  and community
Crossing Roles..willingness to take
  on untraditional roles, prescribing,
  examination, autonomy
Training and development…nursing
  will have to develop ways to support
  other staff groups involved in patient
  care
                                           Quality - Mark Foulkes July 2009   8
Questions????




                Quality - Mark Foulkes July 2009   9
A Career Pathway to Nurse Consultant
 Ward Surgical Nursing (2 years)….clinical education course
 Ward Cancer Nursing (5 years)……specialist cancer nursing course
 Practice Educator (1.5 years)…management course
 CNS cancer and palliative care (6 months)
 CNS Head and Neck Cancer and Brain Tumours (3 years)
 Modern Matron (3 years)
 Cancer Manager (1 year..mat leave cover)..started masters course
 Operations Manager (1.5 year)
 Nurse Consultant (2.5 years)….completed masters

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