Stuck In A Rut

Last semester proved a tad stressful for me. I worked hard, agonised hard, and then agonised some more, and fortunately, it paid off. I decided from the very start of second year that I would be going after that first classification all guns blazing, and for a while there, I did. However, things aren’t exactly going according to plan this semester. My motivation it seems has completely deserted me: nowhere to be found, and as a direct result my work ethic currently leaves a lot to be desired.

The problem is I’m enjoying life too much. Not being on placement and having to endure shifts that make me delirious with exhaustion, combined with not having to write any soul-destroying and panic-attack-inducing assignments leaves plenty of time to... you know... have a life! All this temporary freedom is intoxicating, and I’m definitely making the most of it. I find being on placement quite isolating at times, and not surprisingly, I miss my friends and family dreadfully. As soon as placement is over, I have my diary out and phone at the ready; determined to eradicate absolutely any evidence of ‘free time’ whatsoever. But I digress. Soon all this splendid social freedom will be over, and it will be time to return once again to normality; which for a student nurse usually means being on placement, being in bed, or being in the library (hopefully).

I'm acutely aware of the importance of work/life balance, so it's not surprising that after a particularly full-on period of hard work or long placement, I feel the need to distance the nursing side of things for a little while - hence the persistent study struggles, not to mention lack of blogging! However, I am determined to turn things around as of today. I’m just going to watch Come Dine with Me first...

Midpoint Musings

Now that the first semester of second year is finally over, I’m (sort of) officially halfway through my degree. I am genuinely confused as to how this has happened?! Obviously I know how this has happened, but I’m shocked (and scared) at how quickly it has come around. To put my amazement and confusion into perspective, let me point out that this very time last year I had precisely one semester under my belt, and was consequently only a ninth of the way through the programme. To further illustrate my point, I realised over Christmas that by the time the festivities roll round again I will be scouting around for jobs in preparation for when I qualify! I’m starting to have palpitations so I think I’ll leave that thought process there for now, but you get my drift.

I’ve been told by many people that second year is the hardest year: not just because of the increased workload, but also due to the fact that you’re in a state of nursing limbo. I have to say that I’m starting to understand what they meant. For example, whilst I know infinitely more on all things nursing and health than I did this time last year, I still struggle to utilise this information critically in a real practice environment (read: I am rubbish at assessments). However, I am also aware that these things will come in their own good time - I am not supposed to be the finished article at this juncture (is my new mantra).

I am genuinely amazed at the transformation of myself and my peers during these last 18 months, and I am unashamedly proud of us all. With each passing day we develop and evolve into better and more competent nurses, and I for one couldn’t have hoped for more when I started on this incredible journey all those months ago.

All Work And No Play

I always knew second year was going to be hard (they’re not called the ‘second-year blues’ for nothing!), but I didn’t realise things would get quite so tough so quickly. The increase in workload has been somewhat of a shock to the system: currently I have four pieces of work to do, all with the same deadline, and each a different type of assessment. In addition, I begin my placement on Monday, and as you may or may not know with placements comes a whole different set of assessments and paperwork. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I'm stressed!

The problem is I have tendency to worry a lot (a fact you may have noticed!), and worry leads to stress, which in my case, then makes me worry more about the things I am stressing about. It’s kind of like being on a never-ending anxiety-fuelled merry-go-round, which isn’t as fun as it may sound!

The fact that I’m not even two months into my second year is yet another cause for concern, as I expect things will only get harder from here in. I understand that nursing is a hard profession, and that we need to be adequately prepared for what lies ahead once we qualify, but I’m genuinely starting to worry (I swear it’s like a hobby at this point!) about whether or not I have what it takes. Both third year and qualifying seem like an awfully long way away, and I know it’s gonna be a rough ride.

I fully accept that I do not help myself in these situations: I put too much pressure on myself; I concentrate on what I haven’t achieved or can’t do, instead of focusing on what I have achieved and can do; and I berate myself for having a night off from studying even though I've studied seven nights in a row.

Perhaps I should learn to take one day at a time and go a little easier on myself, or perhaps I just need a night off! One thing’s for certain, something’s gotta give.

Second-Year Fear

Three weeks into my second year and I’ve already got ‘the fear’. I’ve quickly come to realise that the expectations now placed upon me are much greater than they were in my first year. My seemingly unbreakable bad habits such as checking a bazillion books out of the library and then never so much as opening them, and researching my assignments as I write them were somehow sufficient enough to grant me a fairly-successful first year, but are not going to be enough to help me achieve that first-class honours I’ve firmly fixed my sights on. I quite simply have to buck up my ideas... which is obviously why I’m writing this blog article instead of writing my assignment. Aaarrgghh!

As if all that isn’t enough to make me pull my proverbial socks up, I keep recalling vivid memories of third-year students and newly-qualified nurses I’ve encountered along the way grimly informing me that ‘second year is the hardest year by far’. Of course I paid no attention at the time because I was a first year, and second year seemed soooo far away! How wrong I was! Now that I am a second year however, I guess I should come up with some sort of strategy to help me through what are probably going to be some pretty turbulent times. So here’s the plan so far (you may have guessed that I LOVE making lists by now)...
 

• Spend less time watching The Hotel Inspector and more time studying
• On a related note, finally admit to myself that watching Grey’s Anatomy does not actually equate to studying
• Devise a reward system for study-related achievements - let’s face it, probably involving cake
• Read something every day; not including my Facebook news feed or texts
• Achieve some semblance of work-life balance; starting with having at least one night out where I don’t talk about nursing the entire time, or end up recruiting for potential nurses, paramedics, HCAs etc
• Stop thinking that I am going to somehow kill a patient every second of every day whilst I am on placement
• Last but not least, just be the best that I can be. I am not the perfect student nurse, and I never will be. As long as I try my best, nobody can ask for more.

Academic Advantages

When it comes to studying I’m pretty much a make-it-up-as-I-go-along kind gal, something I’m sure won’t work as well for me now that I’m in my second year! However there are some nifty little tips and tricks that I've employed from the very start of my degree (all those months ago!) which have stood me in good stead, and so for your consideration, and hopefully benefit, here are my top studying suggestions:
 

• Learn your medical prefixes and suffixes; at the very least learn the basics or the most common ones. You’ll be amazed how handy this can be, especially in situations such as handovers when you’re likely to come across conditions and diseases that you’ve never even heard of before! If you know your basics, you can pretty much work most things out simply by breaking them down and recalling your prefixes and suffixes. You can find a handy guide to get you started here.
• Get to grips with your PDR and start it early. I may hate the sight of mine, but I always make sure that I keep on top of it. Filling out self assessments, outlining aims and goals, and writing what feels like endless reflections takes more time than you would think - leave it til the last minute at your own peril!
• Read a variety of sources and on a regular basis (yet another bugbear of mine). Even if you only read one blog post or journal article a day you’ll be amazed at the benefits, especially when you have that pesky assignment to write and realise you’ve already read a piece of literature that would be perfect to use, thus cutting your workload. Hurrah!
• The majority of us have smartphones these days, and there are a plethora of nursing, healthcare, and medical apps available to download and peruse at your fingertips. If you’re simply looking for a way to kill time (did I mention doing a little bit of reading each day already?!), or want to look something up quickly in a lecture - with your lecturer’s permission of course - you’ll find them a super handy and invaluable resource to have. Best of all, the must-have apps tend to be free. Double hurrah!
• Tackle the hard things first. I find that if I begin my study session with the easy things, by the time I get to the hardcore stuff my brain just isn’t up to dealing with it. If you start with the stuff that makes you want to do a cry first, you’ll find there’s still a bit of juice left in the old noodle to tackle those troublesome topics at the end of a long day.

And there you have ‘em. Now to get on with some actual studying as opposed to blogging about it, maybe that should be another tip!

'This is nursing' film via the RCN

As part of a new initiative entitled 'This is nursing', the RCN have produced an evocative short film that showcases the critical role of nursing staff throughout the healthcare sector within the UK, as well as the highlights and hardships that a career in nursing can bring. The video says it all really. Check it out below.

Placement Perils

I recently completed my end-of-first-year, two and a half month placement, and you may recall from the unapologetic outpouring of my last post that I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Enjoyment and enlightenment aside however, by the end of those seemingly never-ending ten weeks I was more than ready for some much-needed R&R.

I have had three placements to date, and it seems to me that no matter how many placements you have under your belt, or where you are in your training, it’s always a struggle trying to maintain some semblance of physical and mental stability whilst out in practice. So with this in mind, I’ve decided to make a shortlist of some of the regular pitfalls I encounter on a placement-to-placement basis. In no particular order, here are my top six.
 

• Healing hands?! - Whilst I like to think that my red, flaky, tired-looking hands are testament to my well-developed and effective hand-washing technique, it would be nice if they didn’t look ten years older than the rest of me! As the lovely Sarah Morbey once advised, having a small tube of hand cream on you at all times is a must!
• Sleepless in Studentnurseville - Random shift patterns combined with frequent periods of insomnia leads to a semi-permanent state of sleep deprivation, as well as an uncanny likeness to an extra from The Walking Dead!
• Excessive caffeine consumption - I love coffee, but the effects of my aforementioned sleep deficits often call for something stronger, and before I know it I’ve gone though two packs of ProPlus in a week - NOT something I recommend. Fortunately I learned my lesson during my last placement where I earned the nickname Taz, and have swapped the tachycardia-inducing tabs for a much-healthier morning bowl of museli instead.
• Thirst aid - Most healthcare professionals struggle with drinking enough whilst on shift, yet we manage perfectly well when it comes to monitoring and maintaining the fluid balance of our patients. It’s not uncommon for me to finish a shift suffering with a belting headache, and convinced that I have the beginnings of what must be a UTI.
• Thank-you treats - I’d be lying if I said my healthyish lifestyle doesn’t take a bit of a battering whilst I’m on placement, and the constant provision of biscuits and choccies combined with few and far between gym visits pretty much ensures that I’ll finish placement at least two pounds heavier than when I started. It’s a hard life!
• Illness - There reaches a point on every placement when the combination of all of the above leaves me feeling weary and rundown, and prone to picking up a head cold or two along the way. Fortunately these are usually fleeting and I’m back to being nursing fit within only a few days.

Two weeks into my annual leave and 5am get-ups and endless uniform-ironing stints are but a distant memory, no sooner will I be back at university and into my usual uni routine than it will be time to go back out into practice and do it all over again, and I'm too happy to oblige.