Plenty of opportunities for graduate nurses
Maura Buchanan, President of the Royal College of Nursing, and Government Minister for the North East, Rt Hon Nick Brown MP visited Northumbria University recently and allowed students the opportunity to question them on how the economic situation is impacting health care. |
One in three community nurses are currently aged over 50 and one in five practice nurses are over 55 years old. But, she warned students the current economic climate was likely to have an impact on patients both now and in the future.
“We will see patients in increasing poverty,” she told an audience of nursing students. “Malnourished children, stress and family breakdown are all likely to increase in these difficult times so there’s going to be an impact on nurses.’’
Ms Buchanan went on to tell Northumbria students they were well placed to deal with the challenges of the future. “Both the educational and the placement opportunities afforded you at this university are some of the best in the country,” she said. “This university has a reputation that is second to none.’’
The Nursing programmes, run by Northumbria’s School of Health, Community and Education Studies, aim to produce highly skilled and knowledgeable nurses who are able to respond imaginatively to health care needs and accept responsibility and accountability for their professional practice.
A particular strength of the programme is the integration of theory and practice throughout with a higher emphasis on practice to ensure students are confident in their ability to care for people effectively in a diverse range of settings.
Professor Kath McCourt FRCN, Acting Dean of the School of Health, Community and Education Studies at Northumbria, said: “Maura Buchanan’s visit has been an inspiration to our nursing students. During this current economic climate it is encouraging for our pre and post-registered nurses to hear that their skills will still be much in demand in our hospitals and communities.”
Date posted: May 22, 2009
