Rekindling My Interests

Since starting university I had to put some of my hobbies on hold until I started getting myself into a routine. One of my hobbies is writing; I’ve always loved writing short stories. In fact, I thought I’d share an extract from something I wrote after my first day at university. It’s nothing much but it kind of gives you some idea of how I was feeling on the morning of that day.

“Walking up the steps towards the entrance I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of apprehension - that intense feeling of butterflies whirling around my stomach was unmistakable. I felt sick with nerves. Was a really here!? What if they made a mistake? What if I wasn’t meant to be here at all? I remember walking through the doors with my hands intertwined with each other, fidgeting and trying my hardest to keep my anxiety at bay. I surveyed the entrance area as I stood there with what must have been a look of disbelief on my face - it sure felt that way inside.  

After bringing myself back to my senses, I looked to my left and saw the familiar sign that read ‘Costa Coffee’. Why not? I thought to myself, I had time. As I walked through the door way, slowly but surely the unmistakable delectable aroma of coffee began to fill my nostrils, taking me to a quiet, peaceful place that made me feel calm again – it’s strange what effects certain smells can have on you.  With time to spare I collected my coffee, sat down on one of the empty sofas, and began pondering on what the day would hold for me. 

Glaring out of the window, I couldn’t help but notice all the self-assured, competent students enter the building for what was, for them at least, an ordinary day. I hoped I would one day be like that. “Hello” Said a voice. I looked over at the sofa opposite me to see a young girl sitting there, she looked somewhat familiar. “Hi”, I replied. I couldn’t help but notice that she looked how I felt. “Sorry to bother you, but… are you new?” She asked, with a slight quiver in her voice. “Yes” I said, “Is it your first day too? I think I remember you from the interview day”. She confirmed she was there and that this was indeed her first day too. “Nervous?” I asked. She nodded, stared at the floor as though willing the ground to swallow her whole. I looked at the time and noticed it was time to head up to the room. “Come on”, I said, “We’re going to be just fine”.

This really makes me remember how I felt that day, and I can say it was a total contrast to how I’m feeling now. I actually do feel like one of those self-assured students, entering the building each morning with confidence and enthusiasm… I won’t say competent yet, haha. I still have a lot to learn. I got told today that I could sign up for a writing class in my spare time if I wanted to continue with my writing, doing it at uni would definitely be convenient.

I’m really looking forward to the coming weeks; so much is going to be happening. Our assignment is finally going to be launched, we’ll be doing some more clinical skills sessions, receiving our uniforms, and most exciting of all, we’ll be finding out where we are going on placements, I cannot wait.

Hope you're all getting on well with whatever you are doing. =)

Uni Life Thus Far

Hello Everyone...

My apologies that it has been so long since my last post. There has been sooooooo much going on. Not so much in terms of doing assignments or essays (wish I was), but our first module is all about preparing us for placement. We have been going through so much, things such as basic A&P, Law and ethics, the NMC Code, infection control,  record keeping, etc. We start our clinical skills sessions next week which will be on communication, basic life support and patient handling. I'm really looking forward to these sessions.

A big part of the module is also based on our personal, professional and academic development. So we have been given an online portfolio (an e-portfolio) to work on, this is a place where we can post things such as journals, blogs, reflections, anything to do with our development which our personal tutor can see and give us feedback. We can also create a resumé/CV. That is only the basics, there is so much more you can do with it. I think it's brilliant. We have also been given our Practice Placement Support Packs, this contains 2 booklets, one being our Ongoing Achievement Record and the other is our Assessment of Practice book which contains many, many competencies we have to learn, which will also be graded on by our mentor! It also contains a CD which holds all the documents we need for placement. I've loved going through it all, reading everything that needs to be learned makes it all so much more real!

We have had it drilled into us how important professionalism is, and I have listened very carefully about what is and isn't acceptable, so after hearing everything I am being even more careful now about what I post. I am not going to go into specifics about anything I write so my apologies if things I talk about appear a little vague.

We won't be set an assignment for another couple of weeks so I have been keeping myself busy with all our pre-lecture reading and post-lecture activities. We also have online learning to complete which is actually really interesting - this whole self directed learning thing is quite fun! We're still waiting to be given our uniforms, so for now, we just have to wear something appropriate for our clinical skills sessions. We have a session coming up that empthasises on personal care, and involves us feeding each other and brushing each others teeth... hmm, that should be interesting...!

Well, I have a busy week next week so I will post when possible. Hope you're all well.

Take care.

And So It Begins

Hi everyone. It has been a while since my last post, this is mainly because I have been really busy and have been trying to get my head around all of this. It is all so new and after my induction week I admit I had some niggling doubts about whether I could really do this. During induction we had a course overview lecture which told us how the course works and what is expected of us. They went through the grading system and what happens if we fail.

We got told that in each year we have 4 modules to complete which are each worth 15 credits, and in terms of academic work, we get 4 attempts to pass the first year. This includes assignments, OSCE's (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) and numeracy exams. In practice, we get 2 attempts to pass placements. If we fail to pass after all of those attempts, we are out, simple as that. We could reach the final placement of our third year, and if we failed that placement a second time, the previous years would count for nothing, and we would be dismissed from the course... ouch! We also got told that when it comes to our maths exams, in first year we have to get 70% to pass, second year 80% and third year 90%, if we are so much as one mark off, we are removed from the course for 6 months, and we then get to retake. This really began to make me wonder if I was really ready for this, but I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be, and I'm going to give it a damn good go. It all sounds harsh but I guess they have to be, and I respect that.

We have also been told that we won't find out our placements until 4 weeks prior to placement, we also have to pass the mandatory training that will come in the following weeks. If we fail, we can't go on to placement.

Tomorrow is my first day of lectures, we are starting our module launch and then having a lecture on cells and homeostasis. I'm really looking forward to this because I think physiology is one of my strong points. Even though I have done plenty of reading over the summer, I am going to spend today going over everything again so it's all fresh in my mind. I really can't wait to get started. Wednesday is another day off (feel like a part time lol) and thursday we have a field specific seminar and a lecture of the history of nursing (really can't wait for that one).

I'm not going to post a blog on each day, if there is anything in particular I want to talk about then you may find posts on the Student Nurse Forums. Hope all my fellow student nurses are getting on well at uni. Looking forward to reading more updates from you all. To all my followers aren't doing nursing, apologies if you were anticipating more blogs from me, but I guess I didn't realise how hectic uni life was going to be lol.

Speak to you all soon. =)

The Journey Begins Tomorrow

So the day has finally come! Tomorrow will be my first day at uni, and despite the likelihood of the day consisting of paperwork and 'non-nursey' lectures, I am dying to get started and I couldn't be more excited!

Today I finally went out and did some stationery shopping... talk about procrastination, already! Haha! No, the reason it was left so late was because I am quite low on funds, and unfortunately my loan installment didn't go in to day as hoped. I guess I have to wait until my attendance has been confirmed.

I love stationery shopping, I'm like a kid a christmas and I always take my time when looking. I must have been in the store for quite a while today, I had employees coming up to me and asking if I was ok, haha. I have only brought a few essentials for now, and a few extras which I got cheap in Poundland (result!). So, I brought;

• Pens
• Highlighters
• Post-Its
• A Scientific Calculator
• A Pocket Notepad
• An A4 Pad
• Page Dividers
• Punched Pockets
• A Folder; aaaaand....
• An Academic Diary

I thought I'd be nice and take a picture for my fellow stationery lovers (you know who you are, haha!).

I will be buying more stuff once my money comes through as there is no doubt I will need more. I will let you all know how I get on tomorrow. We have to be there for 8:30am but I am meeting my friends there at 8am as we want to get coffee first and then go to the lecture theatre before everyone else, we don't like the thought of sitting at the back of a crowded room lol. So this means I have to get up at 6am to get ready, get the 6:55am bus to the train station and get the 7:30am train to be at the university by 8am. Oooh what fun this is going to be... =/

I'll post another blog tomorrow when I get home, and I have no idea when that will be. I'll be tweeting tomorrow so if you want to know how things are going, take a look at Twitter when you can.

Wish me luck