Where do I hope to be in five years time? Honestly, I would like to be in a place that makes me happy, both in my personal and my professional life. My journey, as I am sure has been the same for a lot of you, has been characterised by a lot of highs but also a lot of lows. I wouldn’t change it though, because it has shaped me into who I am today.
Professionally in July 2023, I will be coming up for my fourth anniversary of being a qualified nurse – assuming nothing goes drastically wrong in my third year or career thereafter. I will also be 38, which is scary. By this stage, I hope to be working in oncology and to have found the area I would like to specialise in. My aim by this stage would be to apply for a Band 6 Charge Nurse position, as I would like to gain some management experience. I think I would have a lot to offer a team as I passionately believe in being a strong advocate and leading by example. I would also like to be working on progressing academically. I want to complete a Masters Degree in Advanced Practice, and in five years time, hopefully, I’ll be ready to start that. Also, I hope to have completed or be in the process of completing my nurse prescriber qualification.
I am loving my time on the RCN UK Students’ Committee representing Scotland, and I am excited for the year to come. I know that in five years time I will still be involved with the College in some capacity. How? I’m not sure. I would like to sit on the Scottish Board at some point, so who knows, maybe I’ll be doing that in five years time. We were also talking at Glasgow Pride yesterday about forming an RCN Scotland LGBT+ Committee. I would like to be involved in setting that up and sitting on it. The College has done excellent work in promoting equality and diversity, but we could be doing more. We as a College and as a society must strive always to do better – to be more inclusive, more accepting, more understanding. We as nurses should lead the way, and I aim to be part of that.
I also hope that in five years time we have begun to address the gender imbalance in nursing. 11% of the nursing workforce being men is not good enough. We as a profession should be as diverse as the communities we serve. I hope to have an integral role in helping to shape an inclusive recruitment drive for nursing, based around public education of the modern nursing role, which will hopefully encourage and welcome more men into the profession. I am honoured to be speaking at both RCN Scotland’s “Men in Nursing” conference this summer and at Holyrood’s “Attracting Men into the Caring Professions” event later on in the year. I am sure I will continue to advocate passionately for this cause throughout my career.
Most importantly in five years time in my personal life, I would like to be married – though my partner and I debate about who should propose to who. I would also like to be at the stage where we can start planning a family. It’s not easy for a same-sex couple and it will involve a lengthy process however we do it. But, having my own family is very important to me, and it is something I want. That is why I am working so hard; so that one day I can provide a good life for my family and give them a daddy they can be proud of.
So fingers crossed the Universe is listening and this is where I will be in five years time. Though, I am well aware that life throws curveballs at you. So I am prepared for that.
Craig
Craig’s Considerations 