Heroism comes in many forms. Ask patients or doctors, and they may tell you their nursing team comprises heroic members with varying levels of education, responsibility and skills. Nursing Associates, recent entrants to the healthcare services in England (UK), are integral members of nursing teams, deliv... Continue Reading
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Explore Career Heroism comes in many forms. Ask patients or doctors, and they may tell you their nursing team comprises heroic members with varying levels of education, responsibility and skills. Nursing Associates, recent entrants to the healthcare services in England (UK), are integral members of nursing teams, delivering holistic care in clinical and social settings to patients of all ages and affected by different conditions. They serve as the link between registered nurses and healthcare assistants, supporting them and working alongside them to enhance the quality of person-based patient care.
What are the typical responsibilities of a Nursing Associate?
A Nursing Associate would typically need to:
Nursing Associates typically work in the different departments of various healthcare facilities, such as clinics, hospitals, physicians’ offices and care homes. You may also be deployed in patients’ homes or the community as needed.
Some travel may be required to commute to your place of work and attend conferences and training sessions.
Nursing Associates typically wear a uniform. While healthcare facilities maintain hygienic and safe conditions, there is the risk of exposure to bodily fluids and other unpleasant situations while taking care of patients. Hence, you may also need to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), including gloves, masks and goggles.
Being a Nursing Associate requires considerable stamina and agility to attend to patients, transport them within the hospital if needed, deal with medical equipment and complete tasks in different hospital units. This career is physically demanding and emotionally, too, since you must handle stressful situations, empathise with patients and their families, and even deal with occasional aggression.
Intermediate IT skills are handy as you must maintain electronic records and perform other administrative work. While teamwork is the norm, you may have to work independently at times, acting within the scope of your role and taking necessary guidance, especially when assigned to work with patients in their homes.
The standard work week for Nursing Associates working full time is about 37.5 hours. Flexibility is essential to accommodate variable shift work that may require you to work late nights, early mornings, holidays and weekends. Your work schedule may also depend on the healthcare facility for which you work. You must also factor in staying on call and reporting to duty on short notice to attend to emergencies. Some employers offer flexitime work. You have bank holidays plus 27 days of annual leave, which increase with the length of service.
If you already work in healthcare, such as in a hospital, GP practice, or primary or social care network, ask your employer for opportunities to take up a higher apprenticeship program. Placements during your foundation degree and apprenticeship programs provide you with experience and a pathway to a permanent job with the same employer. You may also explore vacancies advertised by NHS Jobs or Find an Apprenticeship. Registering with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is critical to secure a permanent job as a Registered Nursing Associate.
Nursing Associates are generally employed by:
Healthcare associations, such as UNISON and the International Council of Nurses (ICN), provide unparalleled networking and educational opportunities. They offer all the certification courses members will need throughout their professional careers and worker protection. Affiliated Nursing Associates may attend conventions, seminars and dinners frequented by peers, mentors and other industry leaders. The events help them keep up with the latest breakthroughs and developments in the field.
If you are a healthcare assistant pursuing the necessary qualifications to become a Nursing Associate, you already possess some relevant experience in the healthcare sector.
Practical experience through work placements and training in diverse healthcare settings is integrated with academic learning in the Nursing Associate foundation degree and Nursing Associate apprenticeship programs. If you pursue a higher apprenticeship, you will study alongside working for an employer as a Trainee Nursing Associate (TNA) before becoming a qualified professional registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC). A Trainee Nurse Associate is a full-fledged team member and does not work on a supernumerary basis. In addition to your permanent work base area, you will also need to undertake placements in other facilities and settings, giving you broader perspectives and experience. Such experiences help you build the proficiencies that the NMC stipulates and the knowledge, skills, behavioural styles, attitude and time management you will need in a full-time job.
Nursing Associates will benefit from tasks outside the classroom that line up perfectly with lessons inside it. During an apprenticeship program, you will have opportunities to apply your theoretical learning to your work. You may also hear countless stories and obtain valuable hands-on experience from more experienced professionals who can turn seemingly routine incidents into unique learning moments. You also learn from hearing the experiences of the patients you care for during your apprenticeship or work placements and interacting with their caregivers.
Aspiring Nursing Associates may start preparing for their career while in high school or college. Summer internships, part-time work at an entry-level position, or short-term paid/voluntary assignments at your local care homes, clinics, hospitals, physicians' offices or the Red Cross provide you with the practical knowledge for future training and your career. Such exposure also gives you an understanding of the physical and emotional demands of a career in nursing, offers you a taste of the work, helps you develop basic skills and provides valuable insight into how a healthcare facility and the industry operate. You can also build useful contacts, improve your prospects of getting a permanent job, and receive favourable recommendation letters to present to prospective employers or nursing programs.
The experience may also help you determine whether the public, private, or voluntary sector is best suited to realise your ambitions. Your educational provider’s career service department can provide information about viable opportunities for work placements, internships and voluntary work in diverse sectors.
Work experience demonstrates your interest and dedication to the profession. It allows you to understand what it is like to work around and collaborate with other healthcare professionals. Interning or working with a diverse range of patients helps you understand different behaviours, situations and medical issues you may encounter during your career as a Nursing Associate, which is especially important because Nursing Associates care for their patients medically, emotionally, and mentally.
You may also acquire useful medical knowledge, experience and skills in critical thinking and problem-solving in stressful situations through first aid and basic life support (BLS) training courses and certifications.
Work experience in sectors other than healthcare is also helpful in fostering transferable skills, such as leadership, communication, time management and prioritisation.
Read about the profession, perform community service, undertake relevant research, and interview or job shadow Nursing Associates to prove your commitment to course providers and prospective employers. It helps document such experiences on letters of recommendation submitted with nursing school applications.
Aspiring Nursing Associates must complete the requisite FdSc (Foundation Degree in Science) Nursing Associate program and practical training at Level 5 through a university course or apprenticeship program to qualify for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Candidates from any background may apply to the FdSc program, including healthcare support workers wishing to progress towards a regulated career as a Nurse Associate.
To qualify for the program, you must have at least two GCSE grades from 9 to 4 (A* to C), including English and mathematics, or level 2 functional skills in both subjects. However, some universities or employers of apprentices may mandate level 3 qualifications, such as A levels.
The various modules of the program prepare candidates to deliver care to adults, children, and patients with mental health issues or learning disabilities. The program also allows you to progress to a shortened nursing degree or nursing degree apprenticeship program that leads you to become a registered nurse (RN).
One pathway for aspiring Nursing Associates is to pursue a two-year full-time FdSc program at university. The course provider must be approved by the NMC, a nationwide professional and regulatory body that provides you with registration when you fulfil its criteria. Applicants apply directly through UCAS and self-fund the program. Through a combination of academics, simulated practice, and work-based learning in statutory, private and voluntary healthcare services, FdSc programs equip you with the theoretical knowledge coupled with clinical and interpersonal skills to provide care to patients and service users across all age groups, with different conditions, and in diverse health and social care settings.
Another pathway, particularly applicable to current or prospective healthcare support workers and assistants, is to enrol in a two-year full-time Nursing Associate Foundation Degree Apprenticeship program and learn while they earn. This pathway may be a preferred choice by the government and candidates as it averts the need for candidates to take loans to fund their education. Healthcare facilities may accept only an internal intake of candidates for apprenticeship programs or open the program to external candidates as well. If you are already employed as a healthcare support worker with a hospital, GP practice, primary care network or in a community setting, you may apply in-house for a vacancy or look up NHS Jobs or other relevant websites for advertised vacancies as external applicants must do. Once an employer hires you as a TNA (Training Nurse Associate), you will receive information on how to apply to a relevant university for admission into the FdSc Nursing Associate course.
Also called higher apprenticeship, this approach follows the pattern of work-based learning with your employing healthcare facility or host organisation, which may be an acute or community hospital, mental healthcare centre, hospice or care home. Also integrated into the program are “off-the-job” learning through study days at university and additional training in alternative placements, which vary in number and length based on available opportunities. Your academic learning may follow the block approach, offering you a week of study each month, or the integrated method with one day of academic learning per week. You must manage your time and priorities well while tackling your work responsibilities, shifts, placements, academics and commuting to different venues. The foundation degree at the end of the program must be awarded by an NMC-approved institution and leads to registration by the NMC as a Nursing Associate.
Remember that completing a particular academic course does not guarantee your entry into the profession. Be that as it may, your professional qualifications and transferable skills gained may open up more than one door.
Do your homework and look into all available options for education and employment before enrolling in a specific programme. Reliable sources that help you make an educated decision include associations and employers in your field.
Aspiring Nursing Associates would do well to take high school courses in English, mathematics, biology, chemistry, psychology and sociology.
Certification demonstrates a Nursing Associate’s competence in a skill set, typically through work experience, training and passing an examination. When acquired from an objective and reputed organisation, it can help you stand out in a competitive job market, carry a significant salary premium of up to 18 per cent, increase your chances of advancement and become an independent consultant. Successful certification programs protect public welfare by incorporating a Code of Ethics.
Certification in first aid and basic life support (BLS), which includes using CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED (automated external defibrillator), helps ensure that Nursing Associates deliver optimal, comprehensive, patient-focused, safe and effective nursing care.
Since 2019, the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) has been registering and regulating Nursing Associates in England, where the title of Nursing Associate is protected. In other words, qualification and registration are mandatory for employment to ensure applicants possess the requisite knowledge and skills to deliver reliable, consistent and top-notch patient care. You can apply to become a member of the NMC, given that you meet their standards of qualification and competencies. NMC requires revalidation of your credentials every three years of practice and charges a fee for it, which your employer typically covers.
Aspiring Nursing Associates must also undergo the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks before they begin their course.
Performance, experience, further training, the acquisition of professional qualifications and specialisation drive career progression and specialisation from a student or trainee nurse to the Director of Nursing. You will find it a well-defined career path to advance from a healthcare support worker to a Nursing Associate and onward to a Registered Nurse (RN).
Once you gain some experience as a Nursing Associate, you can continue working in the same role and take personal development and skill-related courses to expand your capabilities. Given the broad-based nature of your training, you can move between acute, social, community and primary care.
However, once you have worked for at least a year in the role of a qualified and registered Nursing Associate, you can further your career by training as a Registered Nurse (RN) via the route of an 18-month conversion program, which is shorter than the regular nursing program due to your FdSc qualification, to obtain a nursing degree or a nursing degree apprenticeship. Since nursing is a diversified occupation, you may find employment across a range of healthcare services and settings.
As a registered nurse, you may also pursue a master’s degree and specialised or further training to qualify and work as a Midwife, Neonatal Nurse, Paediatric Nurse, Critical Care Nurse, Orthopaedic Nurse, Theatre Nurse, Geriatric Nurse, Respiratory Nurse or Cardiology Nurse. With adequate experience, you may be promoted to Charge or Head Nurse, with greater responsibilities for patient care.
With higher educational qualifications, such as a master’s degree or PhD, you could become an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and even enter the field of nursing education with the requisite teaching qualifications.
Since the foundation degree program equips you as a generic professional rather than field-specific, you may also diversify into related healthcare areas, such as physiotherapy, using your transferable skills and undertaking further studies and training.
Candidates who complete their foundation degree education and training or apprenticeship and register with the Nursing & Midwifery Council to demonstrate that they possess the necessary skills, experience and education have the best job prospects.
Nursing Associates often receive training on the job for a few weeks or months to familiarise themselves with their employing health facility’s procedures, policies and protocols.
Subsequently, the NMC requires Nursing Associates to undergo a revalidation process after every three years of practice to ensure adherence to good healthcare practices and boost public confidence. Your employer typically covers the fee required for revalidation. Nursing Associates must undertake continuing professional development (CPD) throughout their career, which helps them stay competitive, ensures career progression and safeguards public well-being at all times. Professional development options related to healthcare and diverse forms of therapy expand your knowledge and skill set in the nursing field and keep you current with the latest tools and techniques so that you can deliver optimal patient care.
CPD also embraces several new learning objectives, educational methodologies and novel technological developments, especially in education, management and IT. A nursing career requires mental and physical resilience, teamwork, interpersonal, leadership and communication skills. Hence, it is useful to undertake CPD courses, training, workshops and conferences focusing on administrative skills, leadership strategies, financial management and relevant legislation, particularly to progress to managerial roles.
Reflective learning, interaction with peer groups, comprehensive inclusion and professional publications also educate, influence, support and foster lifelong enlightenment in all career-grade Nursing Associates. Building a network of contacts with nurses and other healthcare professionals allows you to ask questions, express concerns, learn new skills and exchange ideas.
After a minimum of one year working as a Nursing Associate, pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing or a nursing degree apprenticeship leads you to become a registered nurse or take up other roles in the nursing field. Your foundation degree qualifications will shorten the duration of your bachelor’s degree program, typically via the route of a conversion program.
Why and How the Role of Nursing Associate Emerged
In his report, “The Shape of Caring: Raising the Bar (Health Education England (HEE) 2015), Lord Willis recommended a new nursing role to bridge the gap between registered nurses and health and social care assistants. The study aimed to ensure that all aspirants and incumbents in these roles receive the best education and training to deliver optimal patient care.
After the Department of Health announced the role of Nursing Associate in 2016 to meet the needs of the workforce in England in the health and care sector, Health Education England (HEE) spearheaded its development, leading to the start of training at test sites in January 2017. The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) began regulating the role of Nursing Associate at the same time, putting in place the requisite standards of professional conduct, proficiency and education. It opened the register for Nursing Associates in 2019 for the first batch of qualified Nursing Associates.
The role of Nursing Associates aims at augmenting workforce capacity in health and social care in England (UK), enhancing the delivery of personalised patient care and bridging the distance between unregulated healthcare support workers and registered nurses (RNs). Support workers can aspire to become Nursing Associates, who, in turn, can use their training and experience as a stepping stone to qualify for a career as a registered nurse.
Nursing Associates work alongside and under the supervision of (RNs), collaborating with healthcare support workers. By providing generalised and greater skills than healthcare assistants, they can take on some of the duties of RNs, enabling them and other healthcare staff to focus on assessments and clinical tasks of greater complexity that require a higher level of training, skills and qualifications.
A Generic Role
In their generic role, Nursing Associates are trained to provide holistic care across age groups and settings and for diverse needs. They cater to patients with mental, physical, cognitive and behavioural care needs.
For instance, a Nursing Associate working in community mental health may support registered nurses in also looking after the physical health of patients. If your employer trains you in skills and competencies suited to a surgical ward, you could carry out IV procedures under the guidance of a registered nurse.
Working in a general practice, you could support the cause of patients with learning disabilities by looking after their physical health. You could also disseminate your knowledge to professionals from other general practices to improve overall health and care services. As a Nursing Associate in a care home for senior citizens with physical disabilities, you can deliver systematic evidence-based care based on clinical judgement rather than instinct.
More About Apprenticeship Programs
The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC)
The NMC is an independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the UK and Nursing Associates in England. It safeguards the public by ensuring that these professionals learn, train and work according to established standards and provide safe and effective patient care at all times to all patients and service users. The NMC must also approve course providers based on its quality standards. Nurses, midwives and Nursing Associates must register with the NMC to enable the public to check who is allowed to work.
The NMC opened up the register for Nursing Associates in 2019. It regulates the profession through its code governing professional practice and behaviour, established standards of proficiency for Nursing Associates, and prescribed standards of pre-registration Nursing Associate programs to guide education and training.
Professionals on the NMC register must constantly meet the NMC standards, abide by the professional code and undertake revalidation every three years to grow in their skills, develop their knowledge and reflect on their work. The NMC can investigate any issues concerning a registered professional’s conduct or practice and take appropriate action to enhance the care given to patients and protect their well-being. The NMC works towards fostering professional pride among its members and building trust within the community.
Registered Nurses (RNs) vs Nursing Associates
Given their higher academic qualifications, training and experience, RNs provide more direct and complex patient care. They must complete a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in nursing, which combines academic and practical learning, or an apprenticeship degree which allows them to learn while they earn. Their administrative tasks typically include assessing and documenting the condition and progress of their patients.
Nursing Associates work alongside registered nurses and healthcare assistants to bridge the gap between the two and provide patient care as part of a nursing team, working under the supervision of RNs. They must complete a two-year foundation degree or apprenticeship foundation degree and register with the NMC (Nursing & Midwifery Council).
Both Nursing Associates and registered nurses are accountable and registered professionals who promote health and prevent ill health. They work towards delivering better, faster, safer and more accurate patient care, collaborating in diverse settings as a team. They constantly build their knowledge and skills within their role or expand the scope of their career through professional development.
While Nursing Associates work as team members under the guidance of registered nurses, registered nurses may lead and manage nursing teams or work as team members. Registered nurses assess patient needs to plan, coordinate and deliver the appropriate care and evaluate it. Nursing Associates help execute plans, providing and monitoring integrated patient care. They support the nursing team, allowing RNs greater time to deal with more significant responsibilities than relatively routine tasks, which they may delegate to Nursing Associates with confidence in their NMC-verified competencies.
Healthcare Assistants vs Nursing Associates
Healthcare assistants work under the supervision of physicians and registered nurses. Their responsibilities include basic patient care and administrative duties, such as scheduling patients and answering phones. They either complete a two-year program in medical assistance or receive training on the job. Their work is unregulated, given that they do not need to complete a foundation degree or register with a regulatory body such as the NMC, unlike Nursing Associates.
Since Nurse Associates hold a foundation degree or an apprenticeship foundation degree and NMC registration, they have a broader scope of responsibilities than healthcare assistants. They may perform more skilled and complex tasks than them. Nurse Associates and healthcare assistants must, however, work under the supervision of registered nurses and take guidance from physicians.
Healthcare assistants aspiring to enter the nursing field may now become Nursing Associates by proving their ability to study up to the requisite foundation degree at level 5 and completing the Nursing Associate Apprenticeship program. Once registered as Nursing Associates and have worked for a year in the role, they may work towards acquiring a degree in nursing or complete a nursing degree apprenticeship and head towards becoming registered nurses.
Some History of Nursing
In centuries gone by, nursing consisted of caring, feeding and cleaning up after the sick mainly at home and was carried out primarily by family members, friends and healers in the community. Little healthcare was involved. Men traditionally took on active nursing roles during epidemics. Industrial nurses in the 1800s conducted house calls to check on sick workers, deal with emergencies, teach expectant mothers childcare and help families develop healthy habits. However, wars in the 19th and 20th centuries increased the demand for healthcare, and nurses were given more direct roles in treating the wounded and sick.
In the 19th century, nursing was not considered a respectable occupation for women of high social standing. However, Florence Nightingale (who came to be known as the Lady with the Lamp) broke off from societal norms and fostered the concept of professional nursing by advocating for educated women to use scientific practices to treat the sick. Nightingale and her team of nurses redefined nursing practice in the 19th century by using up-to-date scientific knowledge of sanitation, ventilation, nourishment and medicine to care for the sick and wounded British soldiers in Britain’s Crimean War.
Early urbanisation and industrialisation saw nursing care vary immensely in quality from one hospital to another. However, by the late 19th century, evolving medical practices and treatments, hospitals and physicians requiring trained nursing staff, and women wishing to engage in a useful profession led to the emergence of trained nurses.
The early 20th century saw nurses begin to be accepted as essential to a productive workforce, and the standard of education and competency of nurses increased alongside. Nurses first received their education and training strictly from hospitals, which had some cons, such as encouraging segregation and cultural stereotyping but also had its merits, including the focus on skilled and compassionate care and meticulous adherence to aseptic and infection-control protocols. In the late 20th century, universities and colleges began offering nursing programs and degrees.
The latter part of the 20th century also saw nurses develop new ways of dealing with the growing numbers of patients, innovatively reorganising them, such as grouping those who needed critical care, thereby optimising technology and resources. Models of progressive patient care and primary nursing brought home the need for a nurse for every patient.
Over time, nursing transformed from a domestic duty to a highly systematised career, yet lending the human touch to increasingly technical and less personal medical procedures. Nurses now also play a critical role in every community’s fight against infectious diseases, informing and educating the public, particularly the vulnerable and underprivileged sections of society, and contributing to lower morbidity and mortality rates from such diseases among adults and children. The World Health Organization (WHO) has helped expand the international scope of nursing and recognises it as the core of healthcare systems worldwide.
With the rise of private-duty nurses and the need to establish standards to differentiate between trained nurses, untrained nurses and supporting personnel, it became critical to put in place licensing and registration procedures. The role of a Nursing Associate is recent in history and was introduced in England in 2016 as a way to bridge the gap between healthcare assistants and registered nurses.
Ward Robes
Nurses must follow the dress code of the medical facility where they work. Scrubs and lab coats are standard protocols in most hospitals and clinics. Wear closed shoes, preferably water-resistant, to protect your feet from harmful substances and other accidents. Make sure they are comfortable and have slip-resistant soles or a firm grip since you must stand and walk for extended periods while on duty.
Other personal protective equipment (PPE) includes gloves, masks and goggles. If you attend a conference or present a workshop, you may be required to dress formally to convey a good impression of your professional capabilities.
Current Scenario
The employment outlook of a particular profession may be impacted by diverse factors, such as the time of year (for seasonal jobs), location, employment turnover (when people leave current jobs), occupational growth (when new roles are created), size of the occupation and industry-specific trends and events that affect overall employment.
The demand for nursing will likely increase, given the ageing population and the growing number of people living with chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, arthritis and dementia. The focus on preventive healthcare and the efficient delivery of healthcare services are further reasons for the projected growth of the nursing profession.
Nursing Associates have already made a significant impact since recently joining the national healthcare services and nursing teams across healthcare facilities in England, UK. In their support roles, they enhance the quality of patient care, improve the efficiency of ward operations and allow registered nurses to focus on their specialised tasks. Nursing Associates bridge the gap between health and social care by looking after the medical, emotional, cognitive and psychological needs of patients.
Stay calm and rational even in the most challenging of situations. Treat patients and their caregivers with kindness and empathy. Since working in healthcare can be highly stressful, be compassionate towards your colleagues. Continue to learn something new from every situation you encounter, even after working in the field for a long time.
Automated IV pumps that control dosages and drips using software and medical tech help nurses deliver timely, critical and accurate patient care, also allowing them to focus on other responsibilities.
What do Nursing Associates do?
A Nursing Associate would typically need to:
Accredited
$217,927
