Secondary care

Secondary care nursing offers a range of career pathways, in a variety of care settings. This includes services such as accident and emergency or general surgical services, as well as speciality work such as nutrition or tissue viability. Nursing in secondary care typically means working in a hospital setting. These can be either public or private.

The main difference between public and private hospitals is that patients receive public healthcare free at the point of care, while with private healthcare they usually have to cover the costs of the medical treatments themselves or through private insurance payments. 

Hospital settings vary widely from the very new and modern ward environments – with plenty of single side rooms and ward bay areas both with en-suite facilities for patients – to the old style nightingale wards. Most acute hospitals operate on a 24-hour basis, so shift work will usually be required. These shifts vary from short shifts (8 hours) to long days (12.5 hours) and night shifts.

Starting Out

There are increased opportunities to work more flexibly. Roles for newly qualified nurses in the secondary care setting are varied, and the complexity depends on the area in which you work. However, whatever the clinical area, responsibility for planning, providing and evaluating nursing care is an essential part of the role, as well as the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and care and rehabilitation of the sick.

The supervision of students during their practice experiences is an integral element of the trained nurse role. Secondary care settings offer an enormous range of exciting and varied career development opportunities. Career development is also discussed during the formulation of your personal development plan during regular appraisal sessions.

Skills required

You will need to:

• promote a patient-focused approach in collaboration with carers, healthcare professionals and other agencies
• maintain effective communication
• be able to work under your own initiative
• be able to work as part of a team
• prioritise your workload.