CAREERS STUDENT LIFE
A force to be reckoned with Pursuing a career in the services could offer you top quality military and nursing training, says Frances Pickersgill RCN Defence Nursing Forum The RCN Defence Nursing Forum is open to nurses, students and healthcare assistants in all nursing specialties and the defence services. This year its conference will be held at RCN headquarters in London on March 20 and will discuss contingency operations, future military deployments, military ethics and the scope of military nursing. tinyurl.com/DNForumconf From left: students Samantha Eagle of the naval nursing service, Kate Jackson of the army nursing corps, and Georgia Welch in the RAF
NEIL O’CONNOR
Training as a nurse in one of the three defence services holds many attractions – a salary while training, academic support, the prospect of a varied career and deployment to the heart of political and military action. Military nursing students study at Birmingham City University (BCU), which holds the contract for training undergraduate nurses who will eventually serve in one of the forces. Lieutenant Colonel Jo Palmer, commanding officer at BCU’s Defence School of Healthcare Education, says nursing students are recruited by the army, navy or air force on the basis of their aptitude
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for military life, and by the university for their disposition for nursing. ‘Military nurses have two sets of responsibilities,’ she says. ‘As well as answering to the Nursing and Midwifery Council code of conduct, these nurses must also answer to military values and standards, and that is a big ask. ‘Students also undertake additional academic work and physical training, which is where they develop teamwork and leadership skills. They are also encouraged to do charity work, which all helps to build the military ethos.’ Like other military students, nurses are paid a salary during their training then contracted to work in the military for a period following qualification, typically between four and seven years. Many students have had careers before nursing or the military. BCU second-year adult nursing student Private Kate Jackson previously ran a swimming pool and worked in a holiday camp.
‘I was responsible for first aid and then found I enjoyed that more than the sport so decided to make a career in health care,’ she says. ‘I opted for nursing because of the career diversity. I knew I wanted to be a soldier and a nurse but did not know how to do both until a careers adviser suggested I could do my nurse training in the army. I have never looked back.’ Able Rating and second-year adult nursing student Samantha Eagle joined the Royal Navy and initially trained as a communications and IT specialist. ‘I had thought about nurse training before joining the navy,’ she says. ‘Then on my basic training I met some girls coming to BCU and thought I would do it. I wanted to stay in the navy, but I wanted to be a nurse more.’ Senior aircrafts person and second-year adult nursing student Georgia Welch had already studied for a degree in anatomy and physiology at the University of Liverpool where she joined the university air squadron. ‘I did one year of my nurse training in Lancaster and then got into the RAF and transferred here to BCU.’ All three students are clear about the interplay between their military and nurse training. ‘Patients remark on our general bearing, our smart uniforms and our overall behaviour. ‘We are being paid to learn how to be nurses and soldiers, and we will be told if our performance is unacceptable,’ says Ms Jackson. ‘On the other hand,’ adds Ms Welch, ‘students receive a lot of support from our military student support staff, most of whom are highly experienced nurses’ NS RESOURCES Birmingham City University tinyurl.com/BCUDSHCE Student Life online www.nursing-standard.co.uk/ students
NURSING STANDARD
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A force to be reckoned with Pursuing a career in the services could offer you top quality military and nursing training, says Frances Pickersgill RCN Defence Nursing Forum The RCN Defence Nursing Forum is open to nurses, students and healthcare assistants in all nursing specialties and the defence services. This year its conference will be held at RCN headquarters in London on March 20 and will discuss contingency operations, future military deployments, military ethics and the scope of military nursing. tinyurl.com/DNForumconf From left: students Samantha Eagle of the naval nursing service, Kate Jackson of the army nursing corps, and Georgia Welch in the RAF
NEIL O’CONNOR
Training as a nurse in one of the three defence services holds many attractions – a salary while training, academic support, the prospect of a varied career and deployment to the heart of political and military action. Military nursing students study at Birmingham City University (BCU), which holds the contract for training undergraduate nurses who will eventually serve in one of the forces. Lieutenant Colonel Jo Palmer, commanding officer at BCU’s Defence School of Healthcare Education, says nursing students are recruited by the army, navy or air force on the basis of their aptitude
74 february 19 :: vol 28 no 25 :: 2014
for military life, and by the university for their disposition for nursing. ‘Military nurses have two sets of responsibilities,’ she says. ‘As well as answering to the Nursing and Midwifery Council code of conduct, these nurses must also answer to military values and standards, and that is a big ask. ‘Students also undertake additional academic work and physical training, which is where they develop teamwork and leadership skills. They are also encouraged to do charity work, which all helps to build the military ethos.’ Like other military students, nurses are paid a salary during their training then contracted to work in the military for a period following qualification, typically between four and seven years. Many students have had careers before nursing or the military. BCU second-year adult nursing student Private Kate Jackson previously ran a swimming pool and worked in a holiday camp.
‘I was responsible for first aid and then found I enjoyed that more than the sport so decided to make a career in health care,’ she says. ‘I opted for nursing because of the career diversity. I knew I wanted to be a soldier and a nurse but did not know how to do both until a careers adviser suggested I could do my nurse training in the army. I have never looked back.’ Able Rating and second-year adult nursing student Samantha Eagle joined the Royal Navy and initially trained as a communications and IT specialist. ‘I had thought about nurse training before joining the navy,’ she says. ‘Then on my basic training I met some girls coming to BCU and thought I would do it. I wanted to stay in the navy, but I wanted to be a nurse more.’ Senior aircrafts person and second-year adult nursing student Georgia Welch had already studied for a degree in anatomy and physiology at the University of Liverpool where she joined the university air squadron. ‘I did one year of my nurse training in Lancaster and then got into the RAF and transferred here to BCU.’ All three students are clear about the interplay between their military and nurse training. ‘Patients remark on our general bearing, our smart uniforms and our overall behaviour. ‘We are being paid to learn how to be nurses and soldiers, and we will be told if our performance is unacceptable,’ says Ms Jackson. ‘On the other hand,’ adds Ms Welch, ‘students receive a lot of support from our military student support staff, most of whom are highly experienced nurses’ NS RESOURCES Birmingham City University tinyurl.com/BCUDSHCE Student Life online www.nursing-standard.co.uk/ students
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 22, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
