Nursing in a cancer ward
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A day in the life as a nurse
Before you start your career as a nurse in the UK you should understand the typical daily activities and what is expected of you. Most nurses have a fairly varied schedule, so a day in the life of a nurse can include a wide range of duties. In this blog, you learn about a typical day in the life of a nurse in a cancer ward. Planning and the overall routine could apply to almost any nurse working in a different unit. You will be dealing with people in stressful situations. To make it easy to break down we will talk about morning and afternoon tasks.
Morning
A morning shift usually starts at 7:45 am taking handover from the nurse in charge of the previous shift. This includes updates about each patient. You will be allocated a with a few patients in the ward. The next thing you need to do is write out a shift plan. This will help you identify patients who need frequent observations to monitor their condition. You also need to check the drug charts and see which drugs are due at which time.
At about 10 am you should take fluid and IV pump readings for that hour (this is repeated throughout the day) and check that all the emergency equipment is in good working order. For each patient, morning tasks include monitoring their temperature and assessing their general condition.
If you work in a cancer ward, many cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy will require some form of IV hydration to help counteract the effects of the drugs. The care revolves a lot around medications in this ward. It’s vital to keep a strict fluid balance for each patient and ensure they don’t become overloaded, so this is something you need to check regularly throughout your shift.
Afternoon
Regular blood tests are done and compared to their previous results. If the results are outside of a healthy range, you need to communicate this to the medical team. Patients should be closely monitored throughout their treatment.
It is essential that you make sure your patients are eating. Nutrition is important because you have to ensure that your patients don’t lose weight or become malnourished. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can reduce a patient’s appetite and desire to eat.
Towards the end of your shift, you need to update a written handover and update the new nurse in charge. You need to complete all the patients’ paperwork, care plans and records of fluid balances. Finally, at about 8:00pm you should hand over.
At IELTS Medical we want to prepare you in the best way possible for working as a nurse in the UK. If you would like to see more tips about working in the medical world, keep an eye out for our daily blogs. If you would like to book a course please visit our website or give us a call on 02036376722.
