Okay so you ve set yourself on the road to self discovery, youve had the calling. You know that there is a big deficit of nurses in the country and there will be for some time to come. You want to do something worthwhile with your life. You want to be a someone not just anyone. All good reasons for choosing to be a nurse and there are hundreds more. But are you ready for the journey or are you unprepared. Let me help you guide you on your first port of call the training. This can last three years of your life. This believe me will sometimes feel like 10 years and then after it has finished feel like only 10 days. Let me begin with day one, this is often called the„icebreakingsession.
Your scared, maybe nervous of meeting new people, feeling uncertain of yourself. Lacking confidence and self belief. This is natural. Believe me everyone else in the room are feeling exactly the same way. The first thing to remember is that you are not alone. All these people in the room some of whom no doubt will become close friends are feeling insecure and unsure they are doing the right thing. This is natural. To survive the day and get the most out of it you are going to have to enjoy it. How can you do this? Well first of all laugh. There will be a lot of friendly banter between you and your trainers that day. Try laughing dont be afraid of anyone looking at you feeling self conscious. Stretch a lot too again his will help you relax. You will notice people in the group that appear to do the most talking (extroverts or leaders). And you will notice people in the group that dont say a word looking sheepish (introverts). Remember that both are qualities desirable to nursing and that we are what we are as human beings. It doesnt matter which one you are. As the day progresses you may or may not have begun to form friendships again it doesnt matter as these friendships may change several times during the course. Nothing is fixed at this stage. Dont be afraid to ask lots of questions if you are unsure of anything. Again it is important to stress that most people are worried about what others are thinking about them to even notice you. And at the end of the day reward yourself. Buy yourself a treat. Youve taken the leap of faith and survived. Congratulations.
For the rest of the week a panic might set in. you will have a lot of paperwork thrown at you. Be directed to many classrooms which you may or may not know the location of. And be bombarded with miscellaneous information that your brain may find it impossible to store. Do not panic. Remember the golden rule. Enjoy. If you miss anything it can be picked up later. There is lots more time than you think. Lots more. And at the end you will succeed because there will be enough support i.e. mentors, trainers or new friends around you to ensure that you will succeed. Just let the information come to you naturally as much as you need. You will take in a lot more if you arent stressed or panicky. Remember to keep laughing and to keep relaxed. The priority is to enjoy what you are doing. Anything else is a bonus.
Aim to be organised to rid yourself of any stressful feelings. Im not saying be a super secretary but to keep all work separately filed in your bag, briefcase. dont mix work up keep each topic separate in either a paper folder or a plastic one. Know what youve got and where to find it. This will give you a head-start on the others.
Have you ever seen panic like never before. Then witness hundreds of students flapping like headless chickens at the thought of having to get an assignment in on time. These form the bulk of the written work on the course. They are short essays on all topics to do with nursing. If you pass first time then great but you are usually allowed to do them again and maybe again until you successfully pass them. Remember your tutors want you to pass and will help you in any way they can to make sure that you do. Most of the information you will need to pass will be from libraries and journals and the internet. It is important to stress three thing for successfully passing an assignment.
1. Stick to the facts. Do not personalise assignments 2. Keep all information gathered as up to date and as relevant as possible.
3. Learn to reference correctly.
The last point is fundamental as is often a key reason why most students fail assignments so I shall outline and simplify how to reference correctly. (See appendix B).
And then comes the placements. These are localities in the community or hospitals to give you an insight into what lies ahead as a nurse. It can be anything from a hospital ward to a school classroom. dysfunctional families, mothers, in fact anything at all. The key thing to remember is that your not a nurse yet youre their to experience and learn. Throughout all youre placements no-one will have any high expectations of you, and from that point of reference it is better that you try not to impress but rather to enjoy and take everything slowly in order to understand and learn the principles that are being taught to you. The placements really are the best bit of the course, try not to get worked up about filling in books to take back to university. Again this will happen anyway. See them as voyages of discovery and you will get much more out of them. One humorous moment was when I was on a maternity suite placement, (Yes even the boys have to do this one). I was approached by a midwife who asked me if I would don a surgical mask and a pair of green Wellingtons. When asked why as I scrambled into my new costume I was told to just go through those set of doors. As I went through the doors I was hurriedly directed to the front of a crowd of people. I wasnt prepared for this and when I saw a woman having a „window cut for a baby to be lifted from her womb I went straight into faint mode. The sweat dripped from me and the it can involve encountering
problematic children, pregnant room became woozy. I clung on long enough to see the full caesarean procedure. Asked how I felt afterwards I nonchalantly iterated the word „interesting.
The second half of the course you will branch off into you re chosen field of nursing. This may be general, childrens, learning disabilities or mental health. Youre group will become smaller and as such more intimate. You will have already got to know each others foibles and ways and have formed firm alliances. Or you still may be the loner in the group. It doesnt matter as your goal is to qualify as a nurse come what may. During this branch programme you will discover knowledge and skills specifically related to your field of interest. This may generate increased motivation as you may feel you are at last getting somewhere.
One of the greatest concerns talked about by all student nurses is that they arent learning everything they should. That they lack confidence in certain areas egg. Giving an injection. Now Im going to let you into a secret. Nurses that have been qualified 30 years or more are prone to moments of self doubt. Moments of hesitancy. That is all part of being a human being and not a machine. You will always have these feelings. And believe me it is far more dangerous NOT to have them than to have them as overconfidence can lead to trouble. And remember that throughout your nursing career you are always learning. You will never have all the answers. I hope this will put your worries at ease about not being good enough. Remember that if your never sure of anything you DONT have to do it, in fact dont do it but ask for someones else advice. Never feel embarrassed to do so.
You may or may not have intermediatery or final exams. Okay exams arent for everyone but everyone wants you to pass. There is a severe shortage of nurses in this country and from that standpoint all your tutors want you to succeed. And succeed you will but it wont be determined by just passing a final test. No, it will be from travelling through three years of life changing experience that you have been privileged to have been through. You are already a success before the exam. Come what may congratulations on completing the course. I have included an appendix on all the relevant drugs in nursing. This is because as a student nurse (or qualified) you can often fret as to not having enough knowledge in this area. The words used for drugs are quite obtuse and difficult to remember but after so many time saying them aloud and writing them down on a Kardex they will become second nature to you (See Appendix A).
Some people make friends quickly some people don t. There isnt a proven formulae for this kind of thing but you can do things to improve your circle. There are lots of books written on how to be liked and to influence people but at the end of the day it is just about being your true self. You dont have to try to fool people into thinking your interesting. The one true quality that people like in others is the person that will listen and not talk about themselves. Those that do are bores and quickly lose the interest of others. Listen first is the best recipe for success. If you do talk about things outside of nursing topical things in the news. Etc. etc. Broaden your knowledge of issues outside of nursing. People will quickly discover that you are a hidden
resource of knowledge. This makes you more interesting and will increase your chances of making new friends. Also beware of people who push themselves on to you. You will quickly discover that these people arent loyal and move quickly from one association to another.
Every now and then the lecturer will pause for breath and ask a question to the class. They hopefully will get some sort of response and this will hopefully contain the correct answer. If not Im sure they will put you right. But hold on, dont make it so easy for tem and their wonderful salary. (Which theyll say they earn every penny). As much as they ask questions then the class should ask too. I became known as a right pain the ass when it came to asking questions (many so obtuse that they often though I was sectionable). Asking questions serves three purposes. Firstly it may put you in the picture for a dilemma or lack of knowledge that might be causing you concern. Secondly it will highlight the fact that your are motivated and an avid pupil to the lecturer. And thirdly it will put the lecturer on the back foot and hopefully bring out the best in them. They are human beings too and prone to losing motivation and feeling a little uninspired. Think of the lecturer and pupil as a team and by asking questions of each other will make a more dynamic learning experience for both of you. Once you start asking questions the hardest bit will be biting your tongue o stop overdoing it. And by asking questions in front of 50 or more other pupils it will increase your confidence of public speaking one hundred fold.
At the start of the course you will be allocated a personal tutor to assist you through the three years of training. These people are there to help you with academic problems and work placement related problems. They are often incredibly busy people having hundreds of pupils to cater for at one time so try to keep on their good side. Having said that they are paid to help you and if you think you are getting a raw deal then they should be made aware of this. You will undoubtedly run into difficulties during the three years and at some particular point you will need the assistance of your personal tutor. Make your voice heard and stick to the facts. Expect some kind of outcome and action from your tutor and dont accept second best or being fobbed off with some kind of half-hearted answer. If you feel that your personal tutor is not meeting your needs then you can request to change to another one. This happens and if it does you need to be clear as to why you are requesting a change and not make it a personal issue. Again stick to the facts.
When I started my course the one area I was brimming with confidence with was the academic side. I had a good way with writing was very good at spelling and unlike most of the other students was totally undaunted by the prospect of succeeding in getting past these compositions. But you know what. I was the only one to fail the first and on paper the simplest assignment. A 1000 word write up on a skill you had learned on the ward. I chose blood pressure something that was routine and straightforward. But I fell into the trap most students fall into at the start of the course. I didnt follow the criteria. The criteria is handed to you with the assignment details. It a list of requirements by the university that you have to complete in order to pass the assignment. Because my English and narrative style was good at essay writing or story composition. This was NOT what they wanted. They didnt want Steven King or William Shakespeare. They wanted the criteria. It took me many days to get my head round this one. But when I re-read it I began to understand. It had absolutely no referencing. I didnt feel the need to do this because I thought it to be simplistic and childlike. Backing up your statements as if you needed help and support with them, laughable. Fortunately I am a quick learner. And even better I had failed where all the others hadnt. This made me stronger as I was now mentally prepared for this. And when many of others failed later on and appeared devastated I had the knowledge that failure couldnt break me. What can is giving up and not learning from mistakes. Remember this on your course. It is not about perfection but about recognising your weaknesses and strengthening them. If you fail an assignment find out exactly why you failed, put it right and move on. Dont dwell on failure use it as a learning opportunity.
You will be either being paid a bursary or a student grant depending upon which course you are attending. Either way up it isnt a great deal of money. But it is ample enough to survive on if you know how to budget correctly. What you need to have is plenty of discipline and self control. You need to prioritise your survival needs which are warmth and food. Make sure that you have always enough to cover the fuel bills and always enough to eat properly. I developed recipes that cost less than a pound to buy and cook. They were solid bulking foods that covered all the carbohydrates protein and vitamins necessary to get you through the most arduous of days. One meal was pasta tinned tuna and tinned tomatoes (Carbohydrate, protein and vit C in abundance. You can mix it up by adding other vegetables and you can eat as much pasta as you want without breaking your budget. I still eat this meal today and still enjoy it thoroughly. Try to avoid public transport. Cut out things like mobile phones or get pay as you go but only use it in emergencies. Dont go on expensive night outs. If you want a drink and to socialise get a cheap bottle of something and either go to a beauty spot with some friends or go round to their pad and use their gas, electricity. Dont smoke. But if you are addicted then smoke roll ups as they work out a lot cheaper. Dont take out student loans that will be thrown at you by the bank. You will be paying these back for years after and will prevent you from getting the job you really want after qualifying. If you do get a loan make it for emergencies only. And I mean emergencies. If you need course books then buy second-hand from other students. They often will take less than half price for the books that they bought saving you a lot of expense. Look for money off coupons and for two for one sales in supermarkets. Shop at supermarkets just before they close and you will find quick sale items at a fraction of what they were costing earlier in the day. If you need a holiday then look in the papers for free self catering holidays. These will give you your accommodation and you can get early saver rail tickets at big discounts. Go self accommodation and cook those cheap meals, buy the cheap plonk and rollups as mentioned before get a good book and lie on the beach all day if need be. The total cost of the holiday I guarantee will be just your weeks bursary or grant. No debts incurred and youve had a holiday and a good time. I went through my three years having a good time having a good diet socialising well and having all the books I needed. WITHOUT BORROWING. You can do it too just tighten up and learn to be frugal with your money and when you get that first months salary it will be all yours.
Now here s the crunch question. Which branch should you go into. You have a choice of five. Adult. Childrens. Mental health. Learning difficulties or Midwifery. Well usually you have made your mind up before the course starts. But people do change their mind as the course progresses. I switched from adult to mental health. This was because I had countless comments on how I would rather sit and chat to the patients about their feelings rather than help them get changed. You will discover things about yourself as the course progresses. Things you will like or dislike. Dont be too hard on yourself we all have strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. I just happen to like learning about peoples emotional needs and feelings. Maybe your more practically minded and lean more towards adult. Maybe you are more bent on caring for children. Maybe you like the euphoria of delivering a new born into the world. Or maybe you like trying to understand people who struggle to make themselves understood in the world. Which course is for you is more a journey of self discovery. Finding things out about yourself. Remember you can change courses like I did and a lot of others do too. Nothing is set in concrete. Even after you qualify you may wish to switch branches and there are conversion programmes to enable you to do this.