purple rain

Could any Community Nurses help me with a few questions please.
How does your organistation go about mandatory training, do they pay you to attend.
Other education do you get time off, paid/unpaid?
Fit testing, anyone been involved?
Infection control, how do nurses manage this in the community?
Sorry for all the questions, I have a new job as a Clinical Educator in the community and am finding it vastly different from a hospital setting.
cheers
jacqui

kitty4

I'll be interested in his too - I want to work in community and was offered a job as an educator but the pay offered with this particular organization was vastly less than I earn in hospitals as a level one staff nurse and it goes against the grain. Good for you if you have secured a position which suits you. Will be interesting to hear how any new practice recommendations are recieved

purple rain

The company I work for have recently expanded and really seem open to change, we will see and I will keep you informed.
I am shocked the pay they offered you wasn't up to much, I was under the impression that CE's pay was quite good. I was literally asked to name my price, wish I had asked for more now
jacqui

kitty4

I could be ''the'' medical receptionist for the pay they offered. Apparently the most desired position. RN's are somewhat down the importance scale (now I'm not having a pop at medical receptionists) - I'm really not but we all have different roles.

seanandmaria

I worked for RDNS in Melbourne and have to say they were excellent,
1. mandatory training was paid for and we were paid to attend.
2.They offered other training and if you were interested you got the time off to attend and it was part of your working week, you were paid for it!!
3. no fitness testing (not sure if thats changed as it was over 12months ago)
4. PPE was provided, gloves, aprons, alcohol gel etc, some homes were lets say less that perfect and it was difficult to get around that sometimes, I found it disturbing that bandages were washed by the clients and re-used at the next dressing change, also that dressings were opened, cut down to size and the surplus put away for next time, clinical waste (old dressings etc) were all left for the client to dispose of in their household rubbish.

hope this helps a little

Maria

purple rain

Thanks Maria, just the sort of information I was looking for. I would love to discuss these issue a bit more fully with you.
Where do you work now?
(you can PM me if you like, don't want you putting to much personal info on an open forum)
jacqui

seanandmaria

Have PM'd you Jacqui

annqldau

Depends on the organisation and if it's private or public. Public sector has Clinical Teachers, Clinical Educators and Nurse Educators and all are on different pay levels depending on job description.

annqldau

As Mandatory training is just that something the Employer insists their staff has do to be able to do their job on top of their nursing quals in a fair workplace it should be an in house expense not an out of pocket one for the staff.

You will find the large company reps an invaluable source of info as long as you don't sell your soul, they are often willing to share presentations and do in-services for you. Your Fit Test Kit Provider should be able to give you all the back up information to go with it, including videos for in-service.

You may also find this site of help although it's QLD not Adelaide it's an official government health site with lots of Infecton Control Info and resources, it's seems you can get into quite a bit of it from your home internet.

http://www.health.qld.gov.au/chrisp/...hings_1ste.asp

does your employer have a http://ckn.health.qld.gov.au/ equivalent as that holds lots of info of use to you?

purple rain

Thank for you help.
I have a good relationship with some company reps so I will see what I can come up with.
I was involved with Fit testing staff at the hospital I previously worked at, the company I work for now have not fit tested there staff, The business manager has told me he can't see the point.....mmmmmm so how will the road staff be able to deliver care if there is a flu pandemic for example!!!!
jacqui

annqldau

Get a good stock of the 3M P2 Masks,one size fit's most people so in the event of the real thing you'd be able to do mass fit testing at speed at least.

purple rain

Now that is a good idea...cheers
jacqui

annqldau

Slightly more exspensive than the other brands but at least you need only order boxes of one sort not small, medium and large and they tend to be a better fit for a lot of people.

purple rain

I have just spoken to our business manager regarding this and he says it is a waste of money as they will never be needed!!!!!!!
jacqui

annqldau

LOL...keep one for yourself and let him die.