Practice Nurse

My name’s Amber and I’m a practice nurse. I started my new journey in July 2023. After working at the hospital for 6 years and gaining lots of acute experience I decided it was time to start my dream career of being a practice nurse, and eventually a nurse practitioner. Ever since I had a placement in a general practice surgery, I knew it was where I wanted to be. Working on an acute stroke unit and other acute wards reinforced how much I wanted to help prevent people requiring hospitalisation by managing their chronic illnesses, and conditions, and through screening and monitoring registered patients. 

My day to day varies. I work across two surgeries and no two days are ever the same! I usually have a mixture of blood tests, medication administration, baby immunisations, travel immunisations, health checks, wound dressings, and ECG’s. I will shortly be undertaking my cervical smear training and completing contraception reviews. I love how much there is to learn and all the new skills there are to gain!

I’m really enjoying being an autonomous practitioner and making evidence-based decisions. The team I work with have been so kind and helpful in my transition to primary care, and I love how closely everyone works together. 

There are so many career pathways in primary care, and that really excites me! The fact that I can always gain more knowledge and skills to help people stay healthy and prevent them from needing acute care I think is so rewarding.