Student nurse Review

My placement was very satisfying, as from my first day I felt a part of the team and by the end, I was treated as a valued member of the team. All staff were very helpful and inclusive. The skills I gained were a great starting point for the rest of my studies and other placements.

All the staff on my placement were very friendly and welcoming from day one. They made me feel a part of the team and looked after me. They took me under their wings and pushed me to build my confidence and grow in my role. They were very encouraging and I will miss them greatly. The staff all taught me various skills in my time with them.

My mentor was the manager of the unit and as such was very busy. She was also in the process of revalidation so didn't have as much time for me as I'd have liked. However, she always made time for me and answered any questions I had. I also had a buddy mentor who always checked in with me whenever we worked together.

The placement I was in had a set routine every day so the only way the placement varied in levels of business were dependent on the clients we had in and staffing levels. There were only ever two out of five days that were particularly busy and other days could vary. Sometimes there was not enough to do.

Staff tended to keep certain jobs away from me, as they felt they were responsible. The placement had a slow start with what I was allowed to do but they soon started giving me more responsibility and I pushed to join in with all duties. They then started treating me as a team member and I was working the same as everyone else, except for having to be constantly supervised.

The skills I developed on my first placement will provide me with a good foundation for the rest of my studies and future career. I feel as though I have developed a strong Base set of skills and feel more empowered to build on my skill set as my confidence has increased with the fundamentals.

When I first started my placement, the atmosphere was good and very friendly although people were overtired. When some staff returned from sick leave, the atmosphere changed and there seemed to be a divide in the team. The staff were still very supportive of me and tried to keep me away from the politics.

When I first started, the placement appeared quite disorganised and like they did not know what to do with a student. However, the longer I was there, the more they organised things for me to do and different places to visit. It was still quite disorganised when it came to sitting down and going through paperwork as often meetings were rearranged or cancelled so I felt as though I was chasing them a lot.

I feel as though they invested as much in me as they would any other student. I felt valued and encouraged by them saying they would offer me a job and that the area manager was encouraging me to return there to do my management placement. I did just feel part of the numbers and after a certain amount of time, I felt that they were no longer teaching me anything new.

I know that I will be working within the NHS when I qualify and this placement changed my outlook of working with older persons. I also was not aware of being able to work in a day unit setting and really enjoyed my time there. I would like to work in that environment in the future and felt as though it provided a good work life balance compared to my previous employment.

I was the only student on my placement and the staff were all a lot older than me. They included me in most things but I was not invited to any social gatherings or asked to meet up outside of working hours. Other students were placed with fellow students and had the ability to form bonds and this is something I felt I did miss out on by being a lone student.

I lived at home so the only costs I had was for petrol and food. As previously mentioned, I was not really provided with any opportunities for socialisation outside of the work place so this also did not incur any cost. The distance was not that far from my home address so I did not find any significant cost associated with this placement.

I did not experience any of the night life whilst on placement and this is not really of interest to me. However, as my placement was close to my university, I believe there is a good student night life in the general area and that it is rather cheap and lively.

During my time on placement, I was only aware of one social event that was happening after I had completed my placement. Most of the staff lived in quite spread out areas that did not really encourage any activities outside of work. It was also 9-5 weekdays so it made it difficult to plan a lot of things.