Welcome to Blogtober day 5! I thought I’d do a day in the life of my part time job as a GP practice nurse, as it is probably the most interesting. If I did blogging it might be a little boring to describe, but if there is interest I can do another post of my blogging schedule. I thought if any nurses in a different speciality might be thinking of getting into practice nursing might be interested too. I had no experience of it prior to this job a year ago, but I’ve been a nurse for 21 years. Now I feel old. Here’s how my day goes:
I get up at 7 and wake up my eldest two children who go to secondary school. I let the dog out, feed him and the cat, make the kids breakfast and my own. I chivvy them along and they eventually get up. My husband gets up a little later and he makes the packed lunches for all three. At 7.30 latest I make sure they are getting dressed and have all they need for school. By 7.50 they leave the house. I then have 10 minutes grace before I have to get Daniel up.
At 8am I get Daniel up (very reluctantly usually) and make him breakfast. At 8.15 I go and get dressed and make sure he is eating and has all his clothes, tell him to get dressed. At 8.30 we leave the house. I drive him to school, which takes about 5 minutes, then I drive to work to be there by just before 9. I make sure the kettle is on or just boiled when I get there, I need a cup of tea! Then I go to my room, which as I’m the only nurse is always the same and means I can personalise it how I like it. I switch on the computer and insert my smart ID card, unlock the cupboard and the fridge, which has all the vaccines in.
Once the computer is fired up I check my appointment list which is all computerised. It shows me when people arrive and then I can mark them as seen or left. I can also access their medical records, investigation results and referrals. I can order tests as needed. Every patient that has care needs outstanding comes up in a little yellow box in the corner, and I love it when I get to check these off. It can be simply doing a routine check or giving a vaccine that is due.
My appointments vary from doing chronic illness reviews like Asthma, Diabetes and COPD which are typically 20 minutes long, to short appointments for administering B12 injections or checking blood pressure. I also see people needing contraception checks, HRT checks, NHS health checks, depo injections, administering hormone injections, childhood immunisations, smear tests, vaginal swabs, wound swabs, travel vaccines and sometimes random things like police medical checks (parts of it). Sometimes it’s a quick blood pressure, weight and height check, but then they have another issue they want to discuss and it puts everything behind. It usually sorts itself out though. In flu season I do all the flu vaccines, all the pneumonia and shingles vaccines. I do do some Covid vaccinations but that’s only a few days here and there. If any urine samples are dropped off I have to test them and send off any to the lab that need it, then message the Doctor to prescribe antibiotics as required. If a patient is travelling and wants a travel vaccine, they fill in a form which I then check which vaccines they need for their trip.
Sometimes I’m the only medical face the patient has seen for a long time and they offload everything on to me. I like to try and help where I can but sadly, a lot of issues are either ongoing and not able to be cured, just managed, or due to old age. A lot of people also don’t want to listen when I say that either losing weight, exercising more, stopping smoking or reducing alcohol consumption will help their problem. I know I should do more exercise and eat less fat and more fruit and vegetables but the lazy way always wins.
I work for 4 hours Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and 3 hours on a Thursday afternoon. I don’t think I could cope with working a whole day, because if you ran over or needed to do some admin, you wouldn’t get a break and it is quite mentally draining. I like making them feel better though and contributing in my small way to the nation’s health.
If you have any questions or you’d like to read about my blogging day, comment below. This post is part of Blogtober, you can catch up on the other posts below:
- Blogtober day 1
- Blogtober day 2
- Blogtober day 3
- Blogtober day 4
What an interesting day you have. I am betting no two days at work are the same. x
What a great job. I’m very familiar with our GP nurse, she’s great when my autistic daughter needs blood tests, she’s not good with needles. I must be a big change from full time nursing.
This is such an interesting post. I bet you really appreciate those ten minutes of grace in the morning. It sounds very satisfying to tick off the care needs. I like the thought of working (at a job) four hours at a time, sounds like it suits you very well. Thank you for doing what you do xxx
It does suit me at the moment
I only work 4-hour shifts a day too, I know I couldn’t cope with it anymore. I am not really a people person lol. We get people coming into the shop and you are the only person they have spoken to all day. Its so sad.
What an interesting day at work you have! Thanks for sharing.