Long time, no post! Oops! Update :)

First of all apologies for my lack of posts. It has been hectic here! Second of all can I just say that I am over half way through my first year! It has flown over, people said that it would but dear me. 

Right, what's been happening... I have finished my hub placement for the year, finished my mental health spoke placement and now I am half way through my second spoke placement which is out in the community with infection, prevention and control. I love my hub placement, which is just as well as that's where I'll be spending most of my time there. It's hard work and it's the kind of ward where a student will sink or swim as it's so busy! It is a respiratory ward so everyone who comes onto the ward is really quite sick. One of the advantages of it being a respiratory ward is that we get a few regulars in but that also has a down side as you get attached to some and then they died :(

Anyways, it has been going great so far and even though I have had very challenging moments I wouldn't change what I'm doing for the world! There's no better feeling than leaving for home after a shift and knowing that you have done something worthwhile, it might not have been saving a life but even offering comfort and support to an anxious patient can be as squally rewarding. I'm going to keep  to my word and get on here a lot more often and I'll start by doing some on each placement I have been on and the experiences that I have had so far that have stuck in my mind the most. 

Anyways, bye for now :)

Nikki x

Placement Update

Where to begin? Literally!! First of all i'm going to state a hard fact, if you're contemplating about going into nursing because it'll be like Grey's Anatomy, saving lives, or just a glorified profession' or anything like that, don't waste your time. I wasn't one of those people, I knew it'd be hard but I was wrong. It is more than hard! I have been on my (very busy) ward for three days and I have never felt so physically and emotionally drained in all my life. I'm on shift for nine days straight and don't really get set breaks, for example yesterday I worked 7-4pm and in that time I got one 30 min break at 9.30 and that was it :( 

Anyways, enough of the rant. It may be a busy ward but the patients are lovely, as are the staff, i've learnt so much and I really believe that i'm lickh to have got such an amazing first placement. 

So far I have done vital obs, care planning, wound dressing, washing, meals, injections, bm's, got a look in on up-dating handovers and i think that's about it, even though I know i've missed stuff out as there's so much I have done and learnt. I have even developed further with my communication skills, which suprised me as I have always been a bit of a talker but when an elderly woman (patient) is crying because she's just seen her husband who is also a patient and is looking so unwell. (Was their anniversary too) it sure helps you communicate more effectively. You'll be told in uni that 7% of communication is your words, 38% is your body language and 55% is your body language and they couldn't be more correct! In the short time I have been there I have learnt that it's the little things that can count most, it's the simple touch to a shoulder when a patient is upset, the keen ear when someone is distressed and, the hand to hold when someone is scared or even the reassuring chat when someone is embarrassed because they've had an accident. 

What i'm trying to say (in a round-a-bout fashion) is I LOVE being a student nurse on my one of a kind ward!! 

That's enough for now, more soon! 

TTFN :P 

Sorry for the neglect, been so busy. Here's an up-date!

I always said that if I started a blog I'd keep it up to date. Famous last words eh? In my defence it's been a whirlwind of events over the past few months and I'll do my best to mention most of the goings-on without being too much of a bore.

Where to begin... Well I've come to realise (the hard way) that being late to a seminar is no where near as bad as being late for a lecture. AWKWARD! Lecture seats are no fun for the Gluteus Maximus :( and OSCE's aren't for the faint hearted. 

The last few months have been all about getting us up to scratch for our first placement (which I'll add is this week!!!) so we have been doing practicals on the main things needed for that such as:

- moving and handling

- basic life support

- safeguarding

- vital observations

We have had one essay on lifelong learning and one practical exam which was out vital observations OSCE (Observed Structured Clinical Examination) which was probably the most nerve wracking thing I have ever done, mainly due to the fact that I haven't been in an exam for nearly 7-years and especially not a practical one. All was fine though as I passed... WOOO! 

So as I mentioned earlier my placement begins this week and I have been allocated a position on a medical ward (respiratory - all I can say) and I am nervous, excited, scared, happy all at the same time. It feels like all I've wanted for the past few months is to start placement but now the time is here I feel like I should still be in uni learning. 

So far my experience as a nursing student in 3 words has been fun, challenging and alien. Everything I thought it would be like turned out to be wrong! I never thought for a second that the course would be easy but I never thought for one minute that there would be so much expected from us at such an early stage. For the most part I feel I've taken things in my stride but things still have time to change, there is the next 6 weeks of placements to get through yet but I'm feeling optimistic. 

Time to go now but I promise I will be back in the not so distant future. Pinky promise lol 

Nikki :)

Update:

So Monday just gone (25th March) was my first day and I was so nervous I got next to no sleep at all the night before! Oh and guess what...? I had no reason to be, it went super smoothly and everyone was lovely.

Monday basically consisted of having a welcoming seminar, being assigned our GT's (Group Tutor - the group I'll will be with for the next three years. Usually put together by area of trust your placement is in). Then we had a more in-depth tour of the campus and that was it. I thought there would have been more but I was glad there wasn't as too much so soon wouldn't have been good.

On Tuesday we had our uniform fitting and I have to admit, the trousers are horrid! They rival Simon Cowell's, they are that high waisted! Me and a couple of girls wen over to the library to collect our student cards and then went and printed out our timetable. Im so happy they have given us one up until July! :)

Finally we got an introduction into the way the library works and other things that were quite boring haha sorry but when your all excited about starting and the woman at the front of the lecture hall is talking about trade unions that you have already signed up to you tend to switch off a little.

Yesterday was my last day until Tuesday next week and although I'm a little sad as I'm enjoying going in so much, the break will be nice before the real stuff starts next week. It ended on a happy note as I got my badge, I'm a real student nurse now. (Picture below!)

Anyways, that's it for now. I'm beat! :)

It's finally March, I start uni this month! Yey... Oh wait, I'm scared :(

The title says it all really and is exactly how I feel. One minute I'm all happy and excited and then the nerves, worry and fear sets in. I'm sure it's totally normal for everyone to feel this way and when I sit and think about what I'm worried about they are things that will be covered when I start.

I have 3 weeks today until my first day and in preparation I have been going through all my purchases to see if there is anything else I need to buy. To be honest I have everything I need to start but there are a few things I still want to get once I have been there a while and found my feet a while. (Picture at the bottom)

That's about it for now, bye :)

Excitement in abundance!

So I got my much anticipated welcome pack this morning and at first I felt a little bit disappointed because I was expecting a lot more information than 'Be here Thursday 25th March at 11am room number blah blah' but once my disappointment dispersed i decided to read on and see what else the 3 sheets of paper had in store. A few paragraphs in and my student number, username and password were revealed as well as instructions on how to enrol online! "Now that's more like it" was all I was thinking until the dreaded 'upload picture' popped up for my student card, the pressure of trying to get a nice picture that doesn't look crap or overly posed is so difficult! By the end of it my arm was killing as well as my cheeks and neck (note to self. Don't use an iPad to try and capture an image that is bound to take some time!)

Anyways, I am now an official student and I couldn't be happier. Plus there's the added bonus that in a few days time it'll be less than a month until I start uni. Yeyyy!

Catch up with you later,
Nikki :)

P.s. If this thing works then below is the picture... Best I could do and even though I don't hate it I'm sure I will once its been with me for the duration of the course :/

Quite a productive day...

The title of this blog says it all really, so I'll end it there. Only kidding :)

It was productive for many reasons but the main being that I eventually pulled my socks up and sent my bursary evidence off. I was putting it off mostly due to laziness haha! Long story short, I had everything I needed bar my birth certificate and my tenancy agreement and to get them I would have to travel to TWO towns (South Shields and Jarrow) which are ten minutes away in both directions. See lazy!

Well today I decided that it had to be done and so I did it but instead of that great feeling you normally get when you tick off things on your to do list, all I feel is ripped off! My birth certificate was £16 and although my tenancy agreement was free of charge I still had to fork out £12 to send it all off. However, now it's all done so I have nothing else to do really other than pray I have filled out/sent the right documentation. In my opinion I think that as soon as you have confirmed your place at a university you should get the first part of your student loan/bursary as the costs so far have been quite steep. For example, it cost £15 to have my doctors fill out a health questionnaire, postage to send off documents to them, travel costs for occupational health appointment (not everyone has to attend one of those) sending bursary evidence off including return postage! I'm not even going to begin to talk about childcare so I can get most of the stuff done needed and then there's the stuff you need to prepare for university, like books, stationary etc.

Well no one said it was going to be an easy ride lol RANT OVER! :)

How's everyone doing?
Nikki x