Confessions of a Community Nurse

by Lucy Spencer

The difference between a student nurse and a registered professional, the past and the future, is simply one day.

From travel sickness in the back of an ambulance to chasing 87-year-old patients down the corridors of care homes, from borderline assault to ulcers big enough to fit your fist into, Confessions of a Community Nurse follows the experiences of Lucy and her transition from timid student to a healthcare professional in the NHS.
After a shaky start to her career, Lucy has now encountered every bodily fluid going, smelled things no-one should ever have to smell, and resisted the urge to bang her head against a wall more times than she can count. Between fond attachments to patients and wanting to hand them the nails for their own coffins, Lucy has flourished in the healthcare profession, not being afraid to speak up for her patients but also not being afraid to speak up for herself.

Offering a completely truthful insight into being a 'baby nurse', it is funny and honest, but also emotional and humbling. Written as a memoir, it may just change the way you think about district nursing and open the mind to understanding the frustrations, and passions, of healthcare staff and patients alike.

211 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 28, 2019

Reviews

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was ok, gave a basic insight to life as a community carer with some funny experiences. Worth a read.

[Lilly Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a 3rd year student nurse with 3 months to go until qualification, I found this book very reassuring. I’m going into community as an NQN so this book directly relates to me! I loved it!

[Rebecca Woodberry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a female Adam Kay and unfortunately this is nowhere near as good. I couldn't finish it! The author came across as quite arrogant and not endearing.

[Frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love hearing the perspectives of other job roles and working close with DNs it's interesting to hear everything from their perspectives especially.
Love all of the confessions series so another good read for me.

Related to so many things in this book.

'We go out of our way to help you and if we can’t, we will signpost you to someone who can.'

'One thing I absolutely hate is people who behave like they’re entitled to anything they ask for, simply because they pay tax and national insurance. Please, never ever say to me, “I pay your wages”. The belief some patients have, that because they pay tax and insurance, this means they are effectively paying my wages, really winds me up.'

'It makes the world of difference when you don’t feel like you’re about to ask a stupid question and you end the day having learned something you started in the morning being absolutely clueless about.'

'The saying ‘if we didn’t laugh, we’d cry’, has never been more true than when working in healthcare.'

'When you’re running on empty, mistakes are made, tempers are short, emotions are fragile. Everything becomes worse than it is and it’s a heavy burden to take home to your loved ones.'

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great look into the life of a community nurse in the NHS and following her journey from a student nurse to a senior nurse. It is very uplifting and hilarious and it's filled with tongue in cheek humour that will have you in fits of laughter. As I've said before when I've read memoirs like this, I think they need to strike a balance between being informative and funny without coming across as a full blown rant or being filled with politics and that can be hard to achieve but for me this is up there with the likes of Adam Kay's writing style. If you like these kind of books then I highly recommend adding this to your tbr list.

[Taisie Brennand-Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second week as a NQN in the community so this was the perfect read. It’s a realistic reflection on what the job can involve. Some parts really made me smile. She’s honest, I’ll give her that but I’m feeling more sparky about the job being brand new to it, I think this book reflects her passion for community had perhaps faded a little? Really enjoyable and relevant though. We need more community nurses, it’s an amazing job and such an honour to care for people in their own homes, no matter what the environment or circumstance.

[Brian Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book giving plenty of insights into the amount of work to do and the knowledge required to complete the said amount of work. Unfortunately for myself there were not enough case history's in the 205 pages.

[Vickie Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyable from start to finish.

As a Newly qualified RNA from an acutely med background, just starting my journey in the community a lot of this was incredibly relatable, yet insightful and funny! Lucy what a pleasurable read this was!

[CLAIR Withers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confessions of a Community Nurse

Quite enjoyed reading this book. Learning about how a nurse treats people in the community. Would be helpful to nurses in training .

[Gina Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight but a hard read

I really did enjoy these tales, amusing and insightful into the work. However it can be dry and hard reading, you really need to want to read this!

[lifewithshaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a strange book, because whilst I didn’t necessarily enjoy it, I couldn’t stop reading it. Found it very interesting.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very repetitive, felt the author came across as arrogant

[Allisonsaville65 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the role of a community nurse and everything that she may encounter in her day to day duties. Really interesting and passing on to one of my daughters to read....

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but a bit long winded