Any nurses/nursing students on here?

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Geeky_Vegan
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Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Geeky_Vegan »

Can a dyspraxic be a nurse? I've considered it a few times but think my dyspraxia will hold me back. My memory is quite bad, poor attention to detail, hand eye co-ordination, maths etc. I worry university will be too much and then I wouldn't be competent enough to do the job anyway. I'm currently a care Assistant in a dementia care home and I'm not sure what to do with my career.
Please help.
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Geeky_Vegan
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Geeky_Vegan »

Any help?
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Ram
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Ram »

I'm not a nurse, so I'm afraid I can't offer you any help.

It is possible that your post not been answered because there are already quite a lot of fairly recent threads on this topic. I think someone started a similar thread last week.
Tom fod
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Tom fod »

I believe there are people here who can offer some insight into this but it may be they have not yet had the opportunity to compose a response.

You're not the first person to ask the question so it is worth searching for keywords like nurse or nursing.

Sorry that a response has not yet been forthcoming. Dyspraxia need not necessarily be a barrier.
Tom
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Jim
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Jim »

I would mention two things..

1) Learning difficulty need not be a barrier to a career in nursing. I personally know some excellent nurses with dyspraxia, dyslexia etc. Many of them in senior roles.

So it's possible definitely.

2) Healthcare is a very responsible role. If someone is not confident about doing it or lacks the competency ilregardless of any personal learning difficulty then in my view they should not go into it. The reason being that you have the well being of others in your hands.

It's something you can't really do it half hearted. It's all or nothing.
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cpr02
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by cpr02 »

I'm a nurse and I have dyspraxia so I would say yes you can absolutely be a nurse and have this condition

On saying that it wasn't easy but I never regret my decision to apply for nursing and have been doing the job for nine years now I would advise you to consider the following though

1. Whether you want to disclose the fact you have dyspraxia on application forms at placement areas etc - I chose not to initially but later decided it was something I wanted to disclose to mentors in my placements so they could offer me a bit more support

2. As for having a bad memory mine is not the best but there are methods you could use to support you through this - allow yourself extra time to revise and study if you have assignments start using calendars and diary's regularly write everything down you already work as a care assistant so in that role there will already be tasks and skills you need to use your memory for in nursing it will just help develop that a bit further

3. Consider what type of nursing you want to apply for if you decide to apply for me adult nursing involved too many physical tasks I believe I could have done it but it didn't fully interest me therefore I chose learning disability nursing which I love


4. Poor attention to Detail - This is probably something that could get better with practice make sure you shadow other people, look at the things they focus on write down things that you need to pay attention to etc

I guess its only something that you can try regardless of a diagnosis of dyspraxia no one knows whether they will be capable of managing university, placements etc until they try many people who don't have dyspraxia would try it and decide its not for them

What do your colleagues think ? if you are close enough to them can you ask them or your manager at work ? whether they feel you would be able to undertake the course ?

Sorry my reply is so late feel free to ask any questions if I can help at all

Good Luck !
flat_ted
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by flat_ted »

I'm a student dietitian on my final placement and struggling mostly with linking information together to gain an overall picture-if that makes sense? I don't seem to be able to do this "higher level of thinking" and its really affecting my progress on this placement. Does any have any advice with this? I feel like I'm running in circles :-k
Tom fod
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Tom fod »

Hi and welcome

What system if any do you have to draw all bits of info together. Do you have to look at multiple recording and reference systems and is this causing your brain to overload?

I'm not a dietician myself but I do have to analyse info and make the correct recommendations/decisions and progress accordingly. I find making short notes on a pad or in a wordprocessing doc helps me but am aware others like mindmaps (aka spider diagrams) to organise/visualuse info

Have you asked for help/guidance or are you feeling afraid to, because of what they might think? I'm assuming this isn't your only source of stress and I'm going to also say please try not to be over hard on yourself.

Hope this is helpful in at least a small way?

flat_ted wrote:I'm a student dietitian on my final placement and struggling mostly with linking information together to gain an overall picture-if that makes sense? I don't seem to be able to do this "higher level of thinking" and its really affecting my progress on this placement. Does any have any advice with this? I feel like I'm running in circles :-k
Tom
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flat_ted
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by flat_ted »

Thanks for your reply,

I gather all the information I need to make an assessment from several different sources. I record all of this information in dietetic notes using a set structure which I have to use i.e. Anthropometry, biochemistry, clinical, dietary, environment/energy requirements... I struggle to determine appropriate recommendations when pieces of information I would like to use are not available, for example when there is no record of what the patient has been eating, and the nursing staff are unsure and the patient is too unwell to tell me. I'm taking far too long to come up with a plan for the patient because I am incredibly indecisive, especially when there are several paths I can go down. I think the underlying problem with this is that I like things to be black or white, right or wrong, and this thinking doesn't seem compatible with what I need to be doing. I have found a flow chart very useful for determining when certain treatments are appropriate, this is the kind of thing that really complements the way I think.
If I'm giving a case study on paper, I can do it no problem.
My supervisors are aware of my issues, they're trying to support me best they can, but I think we're running low on ideas of how to move forward.
I will try as you've suggested, presenting the information to myself in a different way-hopefully this will give me some good results
Thanks for your help! :)
Tom fod
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Tom fod »

I think a lot of us want to at least try to be precise but life, other people and being dyspraxic are not always so logical. I find I have days where uncertainty really gets to me and everything seems to be shades of grey rather than black/white.

Hopefully the process will become easier as you gain in experience of employing it. To what extent am I correct in assuming that there is likely some degree of trial and error? Please don't forget to be patient with yourself. Do your more experienced colleagues get it perfectly right first time every time?

All the best
Last edited by Tom fod on Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: removal of extraneous full stop that, as a frustrated perfectionist, was annoying me intensely
Tom
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With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
flat_ted
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by flat_ted »

Yes, there's lots of trial and error with this role, and two dietitians assessing the same patient may well come up with two very different plans, but both would be right, so long as they justified their plans. I need to get my head around this way of thinking, I guess confidence has a lot to do with it too
JessicaHopkins
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by JessicaHopkins »

I’m a registered nurse myself, and as far as I know, there are nurses with disabilities or dyspraxia in particular. However, I’m not quite sure if prestigious hospitals or even recruitment agencies easily considers healthcare professionals with such disabilities. Because as far as I remember, when I worked with this recruitment agency for nurse jobs Shrewsbury before, they haven’t mentioned that they’re accepting healthcare professionals with disabilities. Same goes with the hospital I’m currently working now. But I’m not saying that applies to all. Anyway, as for your main concern, I think it’s all up to you. If you have the determination to be a professional nurse, then I don’t think your disability would be that big of a problem. But since you got issues with memory and coordination, you will have to work harder than other nursing students without such problems. But you know what? If that’s your dream, why hesitate, right?
Asaded
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Asaded »

I would like to support the previous commentators. I believe if you successfully deal with your problem in everyday life, you can do it at work. You may need a little more practice than others. But that could be good. The longer you repeat the same action, the calmer you will feel. My sister has dyspraxia and she is taking phlebotomist courses here, you can [url removed as against Forum rules.]. She understood how difficult it would be. But she decided she had to try. After all, if you refuse to work without a single attempt to complete it, there may be no other chance.
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Darlene
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Re: Any nurses/nursing students on here?

Post by Darlene »

I’m in Canada, so my terms may not be the same. Take the rpn course which is half the time. If you are enjoying it, you can always upgrade. If you dislike it, it’s only two instead of four years.
The math is all a formula. You may only need it to pass a test, depending on where you end up working
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