Shortly after my move, I became a member of the 快猫视频, so it’s an honour for me to write this blog for an organisation that I have admired for so long.
I did my nurse training in Bremen, in the north of Germany, then worked as a surgical nurse at the Red Cross Hospital, also in Germany, for 6 years. It was in 2003 that my life changed forever when I decided to leave my old Heimat (the German word for ‘home’) and move to my new Heimat, Bristol.
Since I had started my career in Germany, I did not come from a professional nursing culture. Nursing in Germany was – and still is – very much medical led. In the UK, by contrast, nursing is a profession where nurses make their own decisions, can diagnose, can treat, can prescribe medication; they have a voice, they have the NMC and the 快猫视频, and they are trained academically.
As you can imagine, the difference blew me away. It took me a while to get my head around everything; not just the language barrier, literally EVERYTHING. The culture in NHS hospitals was so different from my home country. For example, there’s the transparency of the UK’s health system, working within a team, and standing up for – and being accountable for – all of my nursing actions. It really felt like I had landed on a different planet.
When I began my ward work in the UK, I had to let my ward sister know that there were some nursing duties I couldn’t do because I did not have the appropriate competencies. I soon found that an attitude of “I can’t” simply does not exist in UK nursing, which is so inspiring and progressive. The attitude of UK nurses is that they can learn anything! At the same time, it was all quite daunting, and I had to enrol in several workshops to learn the new skills that I needed. However, once I had passed my courses and started to use my new skills, it felt awesome. My confidence grew and grew, and my language skills quickly improved.
I would be lying if I said that everything was easy. Of course, it wasn’t. I was aware that I was a burden for my colleagues at the beginning. I was new, my English still needed improvement, my confidence as a staff nurse was not as high as it should have been, and I experienced all the challenges of adapting to a new culture. Let’s just say this – the first two years were not boring!
When you learn, look, watch, and observe, your brain is constantly filled with new impressions and new vocabulary. During these first two years, I could feel myself changing inside and out. I was becoming more ‘British’. I still had my German accent, and my name suggested I might be an overseas nurse, but I laughed when the Brits laughed, I cried when the Brits cried. After 6 months, I even began to dream in English, which was pretty cool! Internally, I was gradually adapting to this new culture
I did my nurse training in Bremen, in the north of Germany, then worked as a surgical nurse at the Red Cross Hospital, also in Germany, for 6 years. It was in 2003 that my life changed forever when I decided to leave my old Heimat (the German word for ‘home’) and move to my new Heimat, Bristol.
Since I had started my career in Germany, I did not come from a professional nursing culture. Nursing in Germany was – and still is – very much medical led. In the UK, by contrast, nursing is a profession where nurses make their own decisions, can diagnose, can treat, can prescribe medication; they have a voice, they have the NMC and the 快猫视频, and they are trained academically.
As you can imagine, the difference blew me away. It took me a while to get my head around everything; not just the language barrier, literally EVERYTHING. The culture in NHS hospitals was so different from my home country. For example, there’s the transparency of the UK’s health system, working within a team, and standing up for – and being accountable for – all of my nursing actions. It really felt like I had landed on a different planet.
When I began my ward work in the UK, I had to let my ward sister know that there were some nursing duties I couldn’t do because I did not have the appropriate competencies. I soon found that an attitude of “I can’t” simply does not exist in UK nursing, which is so inspiring and progressive. The attitude of UK nurses is that they can learn anything! At the same time, it was all quite daunting, and I had to enrol in several workshops to learn the new skills that I needed. However, once I had passed my courses and started to use my new skills, it felt awesome. My confidence grew and grew, and my language skills quickly improved.
I would be lying if I said that everything was easy. Of course, it wasn’t. I was aware that I was a burden for my colleagues at the beginning. I was new, my English still needed improvement, my confidence as a staff nurse was not as high as it should have been, and I experienced all the challenges of adapting to a new culture. Let’s just say this – the first two years were not boring!
When you learn, look, watch, and observe, your brain is constantly filled with new impressions and new vocabulary. During these first two years, I could feel myself changing inside and out. I was becoming more ‘British’. I still had my German accent, and my name suggested I might be an overseas nurse, but I laughed when the Brits laughed, I cried when the Brits cried. After 6 months, I even began to dream in English, which was pretty cool! Internally, I was gradually adapting to this new culture