advice for an AIB deferred qualified nurse please!

I attended the AIB recently for Nursing Officer but was asked to come back in a two years following more experience as I showed potential. I was offered the chance to join up as a Naval Nurse Rating.
I have my nursing degree and I'm currently in a nursing post in the NHS. Could anyone give me any advice on what to do next?
Should I gain my experience as a Naval Nurse then aim for my commission from there?
Thanks!

 

A two year knock-back is a significant issue and is sometimes used as a deterrent. That said, there was always the case that recently qualified graduate nurses required two years "hands on" nursing experience before eligible to join as a direct entry officer anyway.


If you want to get paid more than an NHS nurse, gain service leadership training and service experience, go for it. In any case nursing officers don't always nurse, they manage nurses.

If you prefer the hands-on, join as a rating. If you are good at it, you can progress through the "ranks" as a rating and still become an officer later in your career.

 

N_S isn't wholly correct - many of the staff in the role 2 facilities are RN, Officers and are very much hands-on; although in the spirit of N_S post, as you progress, if you really want to hit the higher ranks you will very much leave the clinical side behind. But thats the same on the NHS as it is in the service.

Once we really get back to a contingency footing I'm unsure what the plans are for DMS, but then again, will we ever really get back to a contingency footing.

 

Happy to stand corrected on the "hands on" role of regular service nursing officers, my response was based on what the distinction used previously by the tri service medical specialist recruiters. At the time they also stated that it was less common for service nurses to be clinically involved in geriatric & pediatric nursing but again, this may well have changed.

The advice with regard wages, leadership training & experience remains the same.

 

If you want to be an Officer, wait and be an Officer from the start. 2 years post-qualification will fly by, and it'll help get you on the path to Grade 6 and AIB.

 

I'm not a medic but a good friend is, so all of my input comes really from him (an SO2 trauma nurse); he has friends who are Ratings and waiting to be selected for a Commission but its a small branch which means the demand is small and hence a wait can be lengthy with a lot of competition.

 

Yup - the UY/SUY route is even more roulette like for a small branch like the QARNNS......

 

Two years is a long time to wait only to fail AIB a second time, but ultimately, it's the OP's choice.

 

As a matter of interest, we are talking about regular service nurses, not about reservists aren't we?

 

Possibly, but for a newly qualified nurse, trust me she (he) will be incredibly busy - stuff will need to be signed off, they'll be qualifying for drug issuing, mentorship, etc etc.

 

Whereas, as a Naval Nurse rating, before the nurse is given the keys to the drugs & charge of the ward, we give them professional leadership training so they are confident & competent. The NHS? There are reservations voiced by new graduates.

 

And I have no doubt the RCN would love for that to happen for every nurse; shall we scrap the QE class to make it happen?

 

It happens for Naval Nurse (Rating) anyway, of which there are very few recruited annually. I was unaware the RCN was seeking funding from the MOD to match the RN standard for all civilian NHS nurses.

I imagine your intel on the subject comes from your missus, an RNR Nursing Officer, if I remember correctly?

Angry, is she?

 

Really, do tell more!

 

Persec, lofty. Persec.

 

Aimed at ATG via another channel - He'll blab..

 

I maybe mistaken on that one. Old age and all that. Could be a brain surgeon or chiropodist, equally.

The weird thing about recruiting is we've all experienced it, so know a bit about it, but on average there are about 40 policy changes a year. It's difficult to keep track even if it's your full time job. The subject matter experts aren't always those in the branch unless they are the ones involved in recruiting or training or future policy, or all three. Quite often those doing the job may not be aware of changes at the input end.

The fact remains that a two year knock back at AIB is significant. The lead medical specialist recruiter, who will have briefed the OP, post AIB (one of "my" former students at Oxford URNU many moons ago) will have suggested the option of the rating entry route for good reason.

 

The phrase would be

Not waving, but drowning....

 

Can't disagree with this but as ATG and I have tried to add, you have to factor in the reality that the recruiters don't often add - in the two years or more as a Rating, you have to develop your own career as others are doing. Other factors pop in and all of a sudden you're in a competitive situation which in many ways can be worse than AIB and you're at the mercy of your Divisional chain, which can have its positive and negative implications. All of which I think its important to get across.

The hardest thing in all of this is that the only person who can make the decision is the OP - so he/she needs to have a broad view of how things will play out in 2+ years. Perhaps joining the RNR for example and getting additional Naval exposure and Character & Leadership training would help, maybe some form of NHS CPD for C&L is available? Then a two year wait could be usefully filled up.

 

Fair points. As oft stated, the only reasonably assured way to become an Officer is by joining as one.

The risk is holding-out for something that may not realistically be there, whichever route is taken. The job of the professional careers adviser is all about managing realistic expectations.