Community Nurse

Community Nurses are on the front line, making a difference to our patients every day across a range of community settings. Whether dealing with minor injuries, end of life care or people with chronic health issues, you’ll help to provide assessments and diagnosis for patients, evaluating their needs and planning their ongoing journey. You may find yourself in a supervisory role directing the work of your colleagues, and you can mentor and assess pre-registration students nursing associates and assistant practitioners.

 

What is it like to work at the Royal Devon?

What is it like to work at the Royal Devon?

The Royal Devon is a university hospital trust and in addition to the teaching opportunities that you would expect, there are educational programmes, specialist networks and lots of opportunities to advance your own learning.

For those joining us with a wealth of experience in your field, you’ll also hold great autonomy as a senior professional, imparting your knowledge and experience to the next generation of medical students. In terms of your own development, you can expect a dynamic working environment with plenty of rotations to pique your interest.

This will cover a diverse mix of patients, complex conditions and specialist procedures, plus you’ll be working with the latest equipment under the guidance of senior medical staff that are at the very top of their game. We can’t wait to welcome you on board.

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Becoming a Community Nurse at the Royal Devon

What does a career pathway look like?

What does a career pathway look like?

There are so many ways to achieve a fulfilling and rewarding career as a Community Nurse. You may be starting afresh and looking for a brand new role, or perhaps you have dedicated a few years to other goals and are looking to return to practice. If you are interested in developing your role, we have a wealth of opportunities you can harness too.

To help you on your way, we produced a brochure to kick start your career with us. 

Download our brochure

Your bespoke learning journey

Your bespoke learning journey

You’ll be supported to create your own personal development plan. This is used to identify your individual training needs, which can be met from the wide range of learning opportunities available such as clinical skills, management development, coaching and mentoring, IT skills and much more.

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Advancing your career

Experienced Nurses

Preceptorship programme

Preceptorship programme

Whether you are newly qualified, joining us from outside the UK, or returning to practice, our Preceptorship Programme will help you find your feet so you feel as confident and competent as possible.

The structured programme consists of a series of study days, after which you will apply theory to practice and hone the skills you have learned as you gain experience within your clinical area. These study days are spread over the course of a year.

Find out more

What can I expect to get paid?

Star iconCase study

Bridgette, Community Rehab Nurse
Bridgette, Community Rehab Nurse

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.

Last updated: August 17, 2023.