It is already the end of semester one and time has flown. I thought maybe for this post I would do a bit of a rap up of the first semester and then later do another slightly more in depth post on clinical placement.
I'm going to start this post by saying while nursing can be stressful do not let it stress you. No one wants a stressed nurse or nursing student looking after them or doing their cares for them. In aged care where a lot of first year nursing placements are based being stressed can reek of incompetence and inexperience and your clients will definitely pick up on that making it an unpleasant experience for both you and your client. My recommendation
would be to slow down, you are never as time poor as you think you are and remember to practice good therapeutic technique and communication with your client and fellow nursing students. Anyway, weird rant over.
Nursing so far has been an incredible amount of fun. Placements become extremely enjoyable as soon as you get over that hurdle of getting yourself orientated and settled. You find yourself slipping into nice routines and find that in your own time that you are thinking about ways to improve your routine and make things safer and more comfortable for you and your client. Can make sleep a bit of a problem though and you do need to find a way to switch off at night.
I don't know how other polytechnics and universities run their nursing courses but at Massey being a research university there is a strong emphasis on research in nursing and evidence-based practice, so as a part of the first year nursing course it is mandatory to take a research in nursing paper. For those of you that thought nursing wouldn't require as much classroom academia as other degrees, you were wrong. If fact nursing has just as many assignments as other degree papers and all the clinical work on top so it is not an easy ride. This relates to the stress problem I discussed earlier, good time management while you are completing your Bachelor of Nursing is a must. Nursing is not a degree where you are able to do all your assignments the night before.
Semester one exams start next week so I will probably break up the rest of my study time this week with writing a few more posts so keep an eye out.
