I have worked with Valeria over the past eight months in a very challenging and complex home. When Valeria joined us, we had very little permanent staff and the culture within the home was very much a lackadaisical approach. The staff had not been managed and were not used to evidencing the key areas of care for residents. Valeria was able to put measures in place, re-do care plans and her administrative skills were excellent. Valeria was also very strong in reporting and this is a key area that a Home Manager needs someone reliable.

For areas of development, about five months ago I sat down with Valeria to discuss some feedback that had been given to me about how at times Valeria can come across a little abrupt and that perhaps she should could be a little slower/softer in her communication with people. Valeria very much took this on board and there was a noticeable positive difference.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Valeria for future placements.

Juliet Gallop

General Manager 

I found your book very interesting.
As a nurse of 30 years all the information & skills that was written about I knew, but it was good to go over them again.

Kind regards

Amanda Lyle

Nurse

I was just reading this from your book! Very helpful! I am a nurse in the UK for 10 months and I’ve been stressing too much; I lost 8 kg since then 🙁

I’ve discovered you on a group on Facebook, and I couldn’t wait to buy your book. Hopefully, it will give me the confidence I need either I’ll quit.

I am very impressed by your courage and determination that brought you where you are today. I wish I were like you one day.

Thank you very much for what you are doing!

Kind regards!!

Ana-Maria

Nurse

“… community or in the acute trust, so I don’t know anything like this. Your breath of knowledge is impressive, that you’ve tackle every area of nursing, which is good. You give very good practicable advices to nurses coming to the UK on: application forms, on registration, on thinks you don’t know and things you (Valeria) went through personally that inspire you to go and write the book. There is a lot of practical information in there. And I think if I was a new nurse to the UK I will find it helpful.”

Kim Smith

End of Life Community Nurse

“I am quite confident that the knowledge that you actually put into this book will be of assistance to a lot of the nurses out there. For us, as a recruiter of nurses it hopefully will act as a tool for them and supervised guidance, because a lot of the times you can get lost in the system. A lot of the information that Valeria is taken the time to claim and put into this book will save many hours of finding the information. I am quite pleased that somebody is actually taken the time to do that. From my knowledge there is nothing like it presently on the market. So I wish you all the success. And I am quite confident that will be a success because is very much relevant in today’s world, for recruitment, for organisations like ourselves that rely heavily on nurses. I’ve been quite fortunate to work with Valeria now for a few months and see her working. ”

Kester Fraser

BUPA Residents Experienced Manager talking about “Be a great nurse”

An informed man is a strong man, and a nurse cannot practice without being informed at all times. It is an essential condition if you want to have a good and long-lasting career as a nurse in the UK, aside from the training provided by your company, you need to learn and keep yourself updated with the last information in the sector.
With long and tiring shifts it is very hard to find time to read, analyse and structure. From my own experience, I can say that I have done many white nights scouting the internet and trying to find credible and quality information sources. Now I have my list of top 20 useful links for which I used a lot of time and energy to put it together. I had the same dream of being a great nurse. With this book, I would have shortened the way a lot. A synthesis book that contains everything you need and saves a lot of time and nerves, it is a real gold mine. Personally, I would have liked to have access to this book from the very beginning even before arriving in the UK. It’s a perfect radiography of the nursing system, it’s like a full menu you’ve got in front of you and you only have to go through it from starter to desert or according to your informational appetite or your needs at that particular time.
I found a living book, more than a simple compilation of highly accurate and well-structured information. I also found a lot of personal experience, the author’s footprint and the personal evolution from the beginning in her career to the great nurse level where she is now. It is a book as a testimony, as a kind of author’s diary; and if journalistic publication is great for the audience, I’d like to see this volume as a Best Seller amongst debutant nurses, and why not over a few years to continue the adventure of “how to remain a great nurse”.
We are witnesses of a remarkable evolution, of a good human, honest and palpable example that can be done. And it really can be done with a good organization, seriousness, accountability, ambition and power of synthesis, which Valeria Costinar proves in every page of her book. She has done a great job and was not easy work to bring to light some shortcuts, to simplify a redundant and profound language of company policies and procedures (which are not at all attractive to go through). The book is “great” as it speaks in accessible language and it seems so easy to get rid of much of the start-up stress. Suddenly after you go through it seems like it’s not all that complicated as appears in the beginning. It’s a book like a best friend and a good companion that I would warmly recommend to any aspirant for a sustainable nursing career in the UK.

Pamfilia Bilt

Nurse and ex-journalist

That’s great, thank you so much for permission to use your testimonial. I will include your book cover, no problem. It may take me some time to get the website up and running but I’ll let you know when I do.

As for reading your book, I really enjoyed it. The impression I have is that the information is accessible and fairly comprehensive — certainly worth reading cover to cover, but also useful as a reference tool. Although there were occasions when the terminology was unfamiliar to me, a quick google search helped me to understand, and of course nurses know their field so they will likely know quite a lot of the terminology. I very much get the sense that this work is in your blood, and you come across as knowledgeable and trustworthy…. I think this brings everything needed to make your book a success.

Heidi Hollis

Editor

Hi Valeria! I have to tell you that I was skeptical about buying the book because of the price, but still I was curious to see where I could improve my knowledge. I received your book three days ago and I read it. I just wanted to tell you that I found myself in your book. And I had to learn “the hardway”, unfortunately. Your book is easy to read and easy to understand. I would have liked to read it two years ago when I first came to England as a nurse. But I have learned a lot from your book. I’m a person who cannot tolerate abuse and I do many complaints and most of the times I’m rebellious and the managers look badly at me … which most of the time made me doubt of myself and I wonder why is just me who see these things? Why I am the only one making complaints? Is there something wrong with me? But after reading your book, I realized that “speaking up” is not a bad idea even if it makes you unpopular. A topic you did not develop is what we do with managers who abuse staff by overworking them. How did you said you had to take a 24-hour shift. I was forced to cover 2 units all summer because of the short staff. And I was told that I must be able to accommodate 2 units because I am a senior nurse. I found this explanation absurd, but I switched and worked on 2 units. And as you said in your book, at the end of the day I prayed to have signed all the charts and done everything well, I dream about work at night and back to work in the morning. What to do in these cases? Another topic you have not developed at all is health care assistant … what do we do with them? How do we make them do the right thing? How do we make them understand the importance of doing their job properly? As I noticed that the supervision or record of conversation does not really scare them, they do not feel that will be consequences if they do not do the job well. Maybe you can address this topics too. Sorry for my long message. I do not post such messages on facebook publicly, maybe because I am afraid of being ridiculed. That’s why I allowed myself to write to you privately. Have a lovely day! And success in all!

Lorena-Beatrice Ardelean

Nurse