It is now only a matter of days until I begin my very first placement on a general medical ward within a fairly large hospital. Scary stuff!
We
were told by university that it’s always good practice to contact the
placement links two weeks before starting a placement, and if possible
make arrangements to go and meet the mentors and have a look round.
Following a phone call I made earlier on this week, I actually went to
visit the ward and staff I will be working alongside for the next few
weeks. I cannot tell you how relieved I was upon meeting my mentor and
some of the nursing staff. They are all lovely! Although I'm relieved
to discover how nice the team are, the realisation of what it means to
become a nurse has done nothing to calm my nerves, and I am now more
nervous than ever! I
have been informed however that there will be two or three other
student nurses on the same ward as me, so that has provided some comfort
at least - safety in numbers so to speak.
I
think it’s fair to say that most of us are fairly nervous about
our first placements, and after tweeting about my own personal
misgivings these last few days, I’ve rather unsurprisingly discovered
that some of you are too. Here’s what I’ve realised thanks to a number
of my online mentors and supporters: anxiety focuses the mind and
results in much-needed caution (courtesy of @AmBadwolf &
@sarah_morbey); if you can, buy a pocket-sized guide to drugs that you
can refer to at any time on your placement, or even better, make friends
with the pharmacist and try and wangle a spare copy of the BNF
(courtesy of @switchedonduhhh); ‘they won't expect u to know everything
& we were all students once’ (courtesy of @AgencyNurse); and perhaps
most importantly, as the above shows, there is a lot of support for us
to draw on - for those on Twitter, I would highly recommend following everybody mentioned here, as well as forming an amazing support network, they are also great sources of information and inspiration.
I
can honestly say that after receiving the above responses, and some
others, I am feeling much better about the whole situation. I know I can do
this, and so can you!
