I feel really privileged to live and work in the community, it’s a steep learning curve and you need a bigger skill set to deal with a wide-ranging set of issues so you have to think on your feet. When you walk into someone’s house for the first time, you just don’t know what you’ll find or what you’ll be dealing with but you are well trained and very well supported so it’s interesting and exciting rather than scary.
The work is incredibly varied and you can develop into all sorts of areas, it’s often your choice or based on patient need but it’s very autonomous. You might be learning amazing skills like prioritization or preventing hospital admissions by working with social services, physios and other therapists on joint visits where you’ll look at nursing aspects and focus on the patient environment.
To anyone thinking about applying for a community nursing role, I would say do it! It’s so varied and you never stagnate. There are so many opportunities if you put yourself forward, and you will always feel like you’re learning and progressing.