Day 8, current goals
My most current goal would be to be able to get another band 7 post. I have had some experience as a band 7 and would like to continue my career progression within research. I hear what people say about whether bands are important, but I'm at the top of band 6 and progression has halted. It is a status symbol, i understand that, but it's important to me. It's like being able to call myself a research sister rather than a research nurse. I know it's semantics but I guess it's the era I did my nurse training. We had the nursing hierarchy ingrained into our consciousness. When people call HCAs nurses I feel like I have to correct them and say, oh you mean HCAs? I trained many years to get my nurse title. Yes I know that sounds silly and I can't explain why I feel like that, but I do.
For a while now I wanted to get a band 7 to have a team and learn management skills and leadership skills. I did realise I didn't need a higher band to achieve leadership, becoming an expert in a specific area, but then felt rather short changed. When I finally achieved my band 7 I was overjoyed as I finally had the chance to learn these skills I had never had the opportunity to do before.
I am now in a much stronger position as I have the experience now. This was always the reason I was told I never managed to get band 7 post before as I lacked management and experience. It was like a catch 22 as I would never get the experience in my current role.
One day I will get back to a band 7 and then it's a band 8 in my sights. I have always been ambitious. I remember my mother asking me when I started my nurse journey if I was a career nurse or a vocational nurse. I remember thinking at the time, why couldn't I be both? Caring and also wanting to succeed. You don't have to plod on as a band 5 to be vocational.
Another goal would be to finish my Masters in research. I have until 2022, so there is still time. I miss my academic side but I really found trying to get a masters at the same time as a full time job and a family extremely hard. As I want to finally get PhD I should really try to complete my Masters however hard it is. Since school I always wanted to be able to use the prefix Dr and I'm more than happy to have this as a scientist and become a Dr nurse :-).
With my Masters, I want to be able to become a nurse researcher and become a nurse academic. I love running other people's studies but I have so many ideas, I would like to run my own. I guess it's the scientist within me.
A dream perhaps rather than a goal would be to specialise in genomics. Ever since my science degree I have had an interest in genetics and genomics. Nursing come along as a secondary career but I soon found I could combine the two. Nursing specialist in genomics. Who knows, I may get there one day.
A current on going goal is to continue to be a role model, mentor and hopefully a leader as I continue to not let my current band define me. I remember colleagues telling me off when I used to say, I'm only a band 6. They made me see I could achieve amazing things and to stop selling myself short. As a band 6, I did incredible things working on the 100,000 genomes project. I learnt skills I never had before, from project management to setting up transformational processes working across multidisciplinary teams. Not once did I say I can't do this, instead I said, show me how and I will learn.
When I was at school I had the grandiose goal of wanting to find the cure for cancer. It seems strangely fortuitous I became a research nurse. Who knows, one day I might even get there, as part of a team. Reserch definitely allows me to imagine.
Hope you enjoyed these although I feel after reading them I sound rather career snobbish. I really just want to be the best nurse I can be and to one day be inspirational. I want people to say, I want to be like her and achieve what she has. Yes it is rather vain of me, but I want to leave a legacy and for the right reasons.
For a while now I wanted to get a band 7 to have a team and learn management skills and leadership skills. I did realise I didn't need a higher band to achieve leadership, becoming an expert in a specific area, but then felt rather short changed. When I finally achieved my band 7 I was overjoyed as I finally had the chance to learn these skills I had never had the opportunity to do before.
I am now in a much stronger position as I have the experience now. This was always the reason I was told I never managed to get band 7 post before as I lacked management and experience. It was like a catch 22 as I would never get the experience in my current role.
One day I will get back to a band 7 and then it's a band 8 in my sights. I have always been ambitious. I remember my mother asking me when I started my nurse journey if I was a career nurse or a vocational nurse. I remember thinking at the time, why couldn't I be both? Caring and also wanting to succeed. You don't have to plod on as a band 5 to be vocational.
Another goal would be to finish my Masters in research. I have until 2022, so there is still time. I miss my academic side but I really found trying to get a masters at the same time as a full time job and a family extremely hard. As I want to finally get PhD I should really try to complete my Masters however hard it is. Since school I always wanted to be able to use the prefix Dr and I'm more than happy to have this as a scientist and become a Dr nurse :-).
With my Masters, I want to be able to become a nurse researcher and become a nurse academic. I love running other people's studies but I have so many ideas, I would like to run my own. I guess it's the scientist within me.
A dream perhaps rather than a goal would be to specialise in genomics. Ever since my science degree I have had an interest in genetics and genomics. Nursing come along as a secondary career but I soon found I could combine the two. Nursing specialist in genomics. Who knows, I may get there one day.
A current on going goal is to continue to be a role model, mentor and hopefully a leader as I continue to not let my current band define me. I remember colleagues telling me off when I used to say, I'm only a band 6. They made me see I could achieve amazing things and to stop selling myself short. As a band 6, I did incredible things working on the 100,000 genomes project. I learnt skills I never had before, from project management to setting up transformational processes working across multidisciplinary teams. Not once did I say I can't do this, instead I said, show me how and I will learn.
When I was at school I had the grandiose goal of wanting to find the cure for cancer. It seems strangely fortuitous I became a research nurse. Who knows, one day I might even get there, as part of a team. Reserch definitely allows me to imagine.
Hope you enjoyed these although I feel after reading them I sound rather career snobbish. I really just want to be the best nurse I can be and to one day be inspirational. I want people to say, I want to be like her and achieve what she has. Yes it is rather vain of me, but I want to leave a legacy and for the right reasons.
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