A day in the life of a community nurse
Community nurses play a vital role in delivering important care to people in local areas. The pandemic has placed renewed emphasis on high-level care in environments beyond hospitals, meaning that your clinical expertise will be vital in delivering top-quality community care.
From helping people with long-term illnesses to looking after those with physical conditions, working as a community nurse is a rewarding career path. If you’re looking for your next community nurse role, Medacs has some great opportunities to join our team as a community nurse.
A typical day as a community nurse
No two days as a community nurse are the same. On a given day, you’ll arrive at your community hub, GP surgery or care centre before heading out to deliver care. You’ll have developed relationships with some of your patients over many visits, whilst some others you’ll be meeting for the first time. But with all your patients, your care will be making a tangible difference to people’s lives.
You will be delivering compassionate care to all your patients, and could include:
- Administering medication
- Taking blood samples
- Cleaning and caring for complex wounds
- Delivering palliative care
- Caring for ulcers
- Working with other healthcare professionals to deliver co-ordinated medical assistance
The shifts and days you work will be your choice, so you may be taking early-morning shifts or perhaps busier weekend or evening shifts. Community nursing roles generally offer more flexibility, with typically shorter shifts than nursing roles in acute care or hospital settings, as well as travelling breaks either side of your visits.
How do you become a community nurse?
To become a community nurse, you will need both formal qualifications and relevant personal skills. You will have had nursing training and be a registered adult, child, mental health or learning disability nurse. You should also be able to provide clinical references, have a current NMC Pin, drive and own a car, and be able to provide evidence of vaccinations, including MMR, Varicella, TB and Hepatitis B.
To excel in the role of a community nurse, you will need to have certain personal qualities too, such as:
- The ability to work independently and make clinical decisions alone within environments that are not always clinically safe
- Adaptability
- Excellent organisational skills
- Confidence when working under pressure
- Empathy
- Clear communications
- The ability to cope in emotional situations
What challenges could community nurses face?
As can sometimes be the case for anyone working in nursing, overtime is to be expected, and this is in addition to being on-call from time to time. Community nursing might be rewarding, but you will also need to be ready to work hard.
Community nurses will usually be expected to pay for their own transport costs, and those working at night also should be aware of any further precautions they need to take to ensure their safety, with many nurses keeping an alarm pendant with them whilst they work.
Why specialise in community nursing?
One of the great benefits of this nursing role is being able to give back to your community. Your dedicated care will be helping alleviate ailments and pains, as well as helping people to become more independent in their daily lives. You won’t just be getting to know your patients, but their families and friends as well, and as you support your patients over long periods of time, you’ll build some really close relationships and have more influence on their continuity of care.
A community nursing role also lets you balance your shifts around your personal life. Many of the shifts open to you will have flexible and family-friendly shift patterns, so working as a community nurse helps you reap the rewards of this satisfying role, whilst maintaining a work-life balance that works for you.
And if you’re looking for career progression, community nursing is also an excellent pathway through to becoming a Band 7 district nurse, a highly paid role in demand across the UK.
Apply for your next community nursing role with Medacs
Community nursing roles can help you balance the benefits of a highly rewarding nursing role with your personal life commitments. Medacs has thousands of new roles every day, and as a preferred supplier of medical professionals to the NHS, you can have sight of many community nursing jobs before anyone else when registered with us - including great opportunities with NHS Trusts such as Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
When you find your next role with Medacs, you’ll have a dedicated consultant providing plenty of ongoing support, so you’re never on your own. You’ll also have access to Care4Carers – our support service to help support your mental health and wellbeing.
