Career Progression In Nursing: Opportunities Abound

Good evening Fellow Nurses Africa🤸‍♀

It is my pleasure being here this awesome evening. I thank God for  sparing my life and guiding my path in Nursing.

He brought me into Nursing and He has been so good to me in Nursing. Glory to your name the God of Nursing.

I want to thank Fellow Nurses Africa crew for this great opportunity. I do not take it for granted.

 I always relish any opportunity to speak to Nurses. Speaking to Nurses is one of my greatest passion.

 I know this evening and this weekend, our lives will not remain the same after this conference.

```Permit me to use this opportunity to welcome some great personalities in the house.```

 They are very important people to Nursing. They are Kings and Queens in Nursing.

Join me as I welcome the:

 latest registered Nurses in Nigeria❗❗❗

 I say a big congratulations to you. 🤝

This evening, we have a very crucial topic before us titled:

Career Progression in Nursing- Opportunities Abound


I want you to tag somebody "beside you" that: Opportunities Abound❗❗❗❗


```I need you to please download the image I am sending right away. It speaks volumes about this profession you have come to embrace- NURSING❗```

Nursing is actually a very diverse profession with many opportunities and also a number of pathways.

This evening we will be examining the opportunities and the different pathways.

Let's go.....✈


THE GRADUATION ANXIETY

I connect with a lot of Nursing students all over and I have come to discover this very anxiety that is common to most Nursing students on graduation...

🤷‍WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE- THE ONE MILLION DOLLADOLLAR QUESTION

 Every nurse at one time or the other has asked this question. So friends, relax you are not alone❗

 By the end of this discussion this evening, I am sure you will have more insight into where you are going and how to get there....

The First Few Weeks After Final Exam

I know how rigorous your exams were, this is time to relax after a very hectic exam time...

Depending on your school, while some schools will release their students immediately, some will have to stay back for some weeks of posting....

Depending on the prevailing circumstance on your school, just make sure you find time to REST

You might consider visiting a family or just doing what you love to do...
EXPLORE WHILE YOU REST❗

Now that I am an RN, what Next. As you rest, make sure you are

 prayerfully meditating on what to do next

WHY AM I IN NURSING❓

 _I have come to understand that this is a very crucial issue you must settle before you enter the "market"_

This I call your Vision and Mission.

This statement must be clear. It will keep guiding you as you move on in Nursing.

This vision that you have made very plain will propel you to run as you move on...

Nurses Running very Fast and Going Nowhere

I see this every day in Nursing and I am very bothered.

Nurses without a direction. They are going anywhere anyhow anytime.

 No clear sense of direction
Can you tag somebody "beside you"...


 *WHY ARE YOU IN NURSING* ❓

YOUR FIRST YEAR AFTER SCHOOL, A VERY CRUCIAL YEAR

I find this year very crucial as it will determine a lot of things.

 It is a year that will determine your next step.

 ```It is a year that will determine your next ten years and more in Nursing...```

While some take wrong steps that will ultimately slow them down in Nursing; I pray for every body in this room that you will NOT TAKE WRONG STEPS

How can I know my Vision and Mission in Nursing?

1⃣. Know the problem you were called to solve in Nursing```

 I don't just see the problems in Nursing Nigeria, I see opportunities❗


See friends, don't just join the criers in Nursing

If there is any English like that...🤣

Men, I see opportunities❗

I pray for every body in this room tonight and I say SEEEEEEEEEEEEEE❗

I entered a new city some weeks back and on entering the first thing I am looking for are the *Opportunities* ❗

They are there waiting to be seen.
I refuse to see just a nurse wearing white and cap and serving drugs.

 I refuse to see just a meagre salary.

I refuse to see just this RN.


*I see MORE* ❗

 After this conference, something is going to happen to you, some ideas will be forming inside you. *Note them* ❗

Later we will consider What do I do with my ideas in Nursing?

THE PROBLEM YOU WERE CALLED TO SOLVE...

I think I might have to expatiate on this issue, the problem you were called to solve...

Lemme share my own experience...

 ```🅰 One of the problems I saw in Nursing that caught my attention was how Nursing students were taught and the pains many go through in training...```

That formed my heartbeat in Nursing...


 Nursing the Nursing students


So I started a Mentorship and Consultancy Program for Nursing students which is one of the reasons I am talking to you this evening...

The vision is simple... Helping Nursing students get there

You can't walk with me and not move❗


🅱 *Research* : I saw many nursing students and even nurses find research difficulty, hence I partnered with some nurses to start *Institute of Nursing Research*

HOW CAN I KNOW MY VISION AND MISSION IN NURSING❓

2⃣ What do you like to do ?

For me, I like imparting knowledge. I love to teach❗

A friend of mine has this contagious flair for clinicals


 *She will say just put me at the beside I am fine* I am OK. I want to sit beside my patient....

Can I state at this juncture that

What you like to do that is not even "nursing-inclined" can give you an insight into what you are to become in Nursing.

 Let me expatiate...

What do you like to do...?


🖥 I have a friend that what he likes to do is any thing computer, friends there are branches in Nursing that can cater for this....

🎙 ```A protégé of mine in Nursing, what she likes to do is talk. I hope you know there are just so much opportunities for nurses to talk now....```

 Or you don't know there are nurses that are now paid to talk?


✍ ```Another one she is into writing and it is crucial to state here that there are Opportunities for you to write in Nursing....```

So from the foregoing, you should hear me saying think outside the box❗

DIVERSE FIELDS IN NURSING
When I started my MSc in Nursing, I was eager to know what is this Nursing gan ..

I have heard a lot of pple say a lot of things about nursing..

Some have said it is a dead end

Some said it is a feminine profession


Some said it is the profession at the bottom of the ladder in Nursing Nigeria...

 Friends what are you saying...?

So I landed a book on the internet, God bless Joyce Fitzpatrick Joyce, the author of one of the books that has inspired me the most in Nursing

She titled it 201 Careers In Nursing

Let me share a screenshot from one of the presentations I did some months back as I made reference to this book....

 Kindly download the image below....👇

Welcome once again to this Field of Endless Opportunities called Nursing


How can I know my Vision in Nursing...contd

I need to leave this area now cos they are still much but I need to talk about this point which is neither the last nor the least....

3⃣ EXPLORE NURSING
When I was still in school for my degree, I was innocently and religiously reading my Nursing Textbooks..

Mustapha
Brunner

Oya mention ooooo...

*Exploring Nursing* (contd)

Thanks friends I thought I was exploring Nursing that way❗ Until I discovered I didn't know Nursing....

 ```See it is possible to even have a degree or even MSC in Nursing without knowing this Nursing...```


How do you explore Nursing ?

 Read about Nurses❗

 _The only Nurses some of you know is that fat nurse that rains abuses on students on your clinical posting_ 

 That nurse that sends you to buy recharge card for her or that sends you to the nearby market.

 ```Or that nurse that has never opened a book in the past years if not for MCPDP``` 😂

Do you now see why you are tired of Nursing❓

I was speaking to some nursing students around last year and I told them that:

 ```If you want to make something serious out of this your Nursing``` ,
lift up your eyes from where you are...


And *SEE* ❗

That can mean:

📲 Going to Twitter  and LinkedIn to follow some powerful nurses ...

📚 Reading books and Nursing Journals

✈ *Attending local and International conferences*

My picture on this programme flier is one of the Intl conferences I went for.

 This was in Accra some months back

. A conference that brought all health professionals from countries and continents.

I am yet to recover from it❗

 *I presented a part of my dissertation...*

I went with my supervisor and one elderly nurse one of the Ogas in one Big hospital in South West Nigeria.


As the program was going on, she was just lamenting that..

Aye mi o ( _My life_ 🙆)
 *Where have I been all these Years* 😰

 ```I have just few years to retirement. Where have I been``` 😫

Friends, where has she been....🤷‍♀?
She has been where many nurses have been and where many are yet heading to...

Where Nurses do so much and their voices are not heard in the International community❗

Friends, where are you, yes you👉 heading to ?

QUESTIONS TO ASK AS YOU START YOUR NURSING JOURNEY...


🗣 1⃣ What next, work, school or both❓

🗣 2⃣ If work, where and what kind of job❓

🗣 3⃣Nigeria or Abroad...❓


......

*WORK, SCHOOL OR BOTH*

For those that are leaving the University, before you leave for NYSC, you can consider picking a job....

( _Later, I will give some tips for Nurses that are presently in NYSC camp or those that are currently serving)_

 ```Similarly those that finished from SON, you can get a job too.
```
 In fact, I know too many SON graduates that got a job before their results even came out❗


That is Nursing for you. There are a lot of job opportunities out there...


 _While the pay might not be fat, you can get jobs that are not bad for a start...._

BUT, I DON'T LIKE CLINICALS😭😭

I have met a number of students that they have told me point blank, I don't like clinicals😫


Well, I was like you. I just "left" the regular clinical work a couple of  weeks back as I now work in the office... _But then I have almost five years experience in the clinicals..._

Though I might not be fully there, I will still make sure I have good contact with the clinicals.

 *It is the basis of Nursing*

This weekend you will be seeing a lot of things you can become in Nursing but many of them stem from clinicals❗And even if you are not in the clinicals, your work will one way or the other impact the clinical environment. *So it is good you know your onions in clinicals* ..


 ```If I can work in the hospital, then anybody can``` 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Even if you don't like it now, stay a little around it and the interest will build while you prepare for the next area in Nursing . .

HOW WILL I LAND MY FIRST JOB?

 ```This is the next question but before we go into it, I think I need all of us to respond to this question....```


House what are the areas you have seen or heard nurses in Nigeria work within their first year after school❓


Can you just drop them...

We have the floor...🙇🙇🙇🙇


HOW WILL I LAND MY FIRST JOB

1⃣  🏋 I CAN DO IT❗

 *I was not that serious with Nursing when I was in school, and here am I ready for NYSC* 🙆‍♂

I was posted to a hospital in a kind of rural setting outside Southwest.

The matron was glad I am an RM too..

She was like Oyaaaaa🏃🏃🏃🏃

So I was like haaaa, mo GBE...
You need to know how awful I was with clinicals.

You need to know how I took so much time to be able to handle the needle ..

 ```To make matters worst, My first day the first case was an accident and they said Oya go and suture the scalp...```


I was like🙄🙄🙄🙄

But I coped eventually.

 How did I?

🅰 ```I told myself I can do it
I asked them to put me through the ones I have not learnt how to ..

🅱I was updating myself seriously```

After my service, they didn't want me to go❗

 *If I can succeed in clinical work after school, anybody can* ❗❗

 *God helped me, HE WILL HELP YOU*❗

*HOW WILL I LAND MY FIRST JOB*

2⃣ *Build your CV.* There is a way to build CV. I have seen so many funny CVs sha.😫 ..

That if I am the recruiter, it will take a lot of prayers of the person's mother to get the job

It is just❌❌❌❌❌

For someone with litlle or no experience, there is a way to write your CV to show case the little you have ..
*Well, Mr Oluwatosin @I_am_Oluwatosin  and his crew will see to that in the course of time...*

3⃣📲 *Come ONLINE*
There is an ICON in this house I must acknowledge. He opened up a platform that is blessing Nursing Nigeria. It is called *Nurses, Jobs and Opportunities (NJO)*

@Mr Abiodun

 I celebrate you sir.

There are too many opportunities online.

 *Offline might mean off-job* ❗

4⃣  *Talk to those already working...*

Spaces are always opening up.


 Nurses are very fluid you know
Changing jobs steady, So keep in touch.


Some jobs are just a phone call or text message away❗

5⃣ Decide your location and just look around there while you are open up to opportunities outside that environment.

After my NYSC, I decided to enter Lagos.

One midnight, I was just praying and I knew Lagos , Here I come.

I got a job in Lagos within three days.

At that time, I didn't like Lagos, so I was open to opportunities outside, I got another School Nursing Job some months after....

6⃣ *Pray before you accept the job offer*

 ```I so much believe God brought me to Nursing and He has prepared jobs ready for me  per time...```

So just ask *Is this the job you prepared for me?

As you are working, I beg you *DON'T BE CARRIED AWAY BY THAT JOB❗*

I know an RN that hmgot a company job some 3-4 Years ago. A nurse that works on site with factory men. Just standby incase of occupational injuries

At that time she was paid  over #150k❗An amount I wasn't even earning as a BNSc holder back then...

Half-way into the job she told me _I want to resign_
I am going back to school❗

 *Going for my postbasic*

The family members that were enjoying her fat cheque were like😡

 _Did I support her_ ❓

 *Why not* ❗

See you must have people in your life that won't be emotional when it comes to your life decisions.

Like six months into her post-basic, the company project stopped abruptly and the workers had to find their way...

 *What of if she stayed....*


 *Even if the money is coming, money is not everything* ❗

*WHICH SCHOOL*❓
Post-Basic or Degree...

Well the advice I give my protégé is simple...

Which is standing taller in your heart after you have made all your findings, then go for it❗

I have made friends with lots of students in many post-basic schools and degree-awarding institutions and I must tell you, *all those schools have their peculiar challenges❗*

So please go to any school you are convinced enough to.

The point remains no matter the school you are *YOU MUST NOT STOP AFTER THAT❗*

 *Move to the next....*
Online/Part time or Full time

Any is good. I believe in all.

 *Fellow Nurses Africa will be providing us with the list of the various schools and their requirements later.*


I love ODL. LAUTECH and that of OAU. I also admire the accelerated programme of BABCOCK.

All these can allow you work and study.

 *But if you really want the DE full time, you can reach the schools that offer it too..*

 ```Just relax, the good thing is no matter the school you want to, there is somebody you can be linked to already there or that has the adequate information```

*NYSC Nurses, pls try and build your clinical skills the more*
Serve in an hospital most preferably

For those that want to travel out to further, YOU ARE 💪💪💪💪💪💪
That is another course I wish This house will organise for us later...


 *..I love schooling abroad seriously*

Thanks family for this opportunity.

Thanks for having me. I am blessed.

Love you all and I believe in you all❗



  Akingbade oluwadamilare
       CEO, INR, FCNSWZ.