Oops, the student nurse did it again!

What do student nurses do? That's easy; we sweat during moving and handling, we comfort patients and families, we put our needs second - yes, we sometimes miss breaks, we balance exams/assignments along with placements and we'd take coffee via IV if we could but most off all? We make mistakes.

As much as we try to learn certain procedures, drug names and side effects, blood gas values and their meanings and even how to operate equipment and what they do (I have a story about a commode I'd like to share). As student nurses, we're trying to blend in with the rest of the pack but it is not about blending in, it's about having the courage to stand out.

What I mean by this is, so many student nurses are afraid - not of blood, needles, sweat or patients, but of one specific thing - looking stupid. When people are afraid of looking stupid, they don't ask questions, they are hesitant to try but most of all, they don't learn. That's what I want to talk about. 

I wanted to share my top four mistakes during my first placement that may even make you feel better about your learning experiences. So here we go!

1. I didn't know what a commode was. A nurse asked if I could go and get it and enthusiastic first-day me said "Yeah, of course!" and as I enthusiastically said yes and ran away to get it ASAP it dawned on me... I don't know what the heck I am looking for. It sounded like something soldiers use in the trenches. Luckily as I ran my eyes all around the utility room I saw a massive sticker that said 'Commode' which I saw a chair with a bed pan in. Turned out I grabbed the right thing - and they never knew!

2. I was giving a water bolus feed of 300ml, somewhere along my fourth bottle of sterile water I had forgotten how many mls I had done, and after counting the bottles I realised I had given an extra 30mls of water in the syringe... well, I tried to undo my mistake. I had forgotten that the point of a plunge is that it uses resistance to keep water in, without it it will just fall out... didn't think of that at the time so when I went to unscrew the syringe with 30mls inside, it went all over a 4 year old patient... whoops.

3. I was asked to get a feeding set with a bottle top, so I went down to the store room looking for a label/trying to remember what it looked like. I go in and see a label "feeding set", and what do you know, it sort of looks like a bottle top so I bring it back to the nurse and she bursts out laughing... "That's not a PEG feeding set, that's a breast feeding pump!"... Well, you live and learn.

4. First or second day we had to give a patient a bed bath, I remembered for the first patient that she had put wipes in a basin of warm water but I couldn't remember what wipes. I grabbed the closest ones I could find and put them in the basin which made it soapy. When she asked if I had put any bath soap in, I replied I hadn't... she looked confused, and then figured out I had used the green packet of Clinell wipes which are antibacterial wipes you use on surfaces, not people... *face palm*.

I hope you enjoyed my blunders, and looking back as I finish my first year of my PgDip course they make me laugh. Sure, at the time it can be a little embarrassing, but you have to take mistakes with a pinch of salt. Nurses don't mind if you make mistakes, so long as your honest about them. Of course, always follow your trust's guidelines and never do anything out of your scope of practice, but just remember that WE ARE NOT PERFECT. We make mistakes, even qualified nurses make mistakes! It's part of learning. I learnt so much by trial and error and you have to make sure you take every opportunity you can. As a student nurse, you have that title to fall back on when you make a blunder because as student nurses they expect us to make mistakes... but as qualified nurses the expectation becomes higher so use the student status while you can!

Remember to not be to hard on yourself. You're making a difference, even if you don't know what a commode is!

Please feel free to share what mistakes you've made as a student nurse - sharing mistakes should be a positive thing - we are all human!

What's it like being a PgDip Student Nurse?

For those of you who don't know, my previous degree was in Primary Education. In my previous blog I talked about why I shifted into another profession but in this blog I want to talk about what it's like as a student nurse working towards a postgraduate diploma in nursing (specifically children's nursing for me).

I'm 22 years old, I'd done the whole uni experience and on my first day, I wasn't that post-sixth form fresher who was worried about making friends or making a good impression, I was just relaxed, happy me, and it was so much better. A lot of people in my class are 25+ and it's great having mature students as your peers... we'd all done Uni, we all wanted to be nurses, we all wanted to be friends and work hard. The environment is so ideal, at least for me. Also, for the entire academic year, we have 1 essay and 1 exam.. that's it. Yeah. Pretty cool right? We also are only in Uni for 12 weeks out of 34, the rest is placement so it's pretty full on.

My first placement was in a special school, and of course when I heard "school" I thought "Great, I choose children's nursing and now you're sending me into a special school where students a year ahead of us basically told us we are temporary TAs and nothing else". I felt like I was walking into territory I wanted to walk away from. However, after a week of working there, I loved nothing more. I loved waking up in the mornings and thinking "Yes! Time to grab my breakfast to eat on that 20 minute train ride, and get to school!". I think it was an important placement for me because it re-instilled my love for learning. I had a bad last placement on my final year training to be a teacher, and honestly it led to some dark times for me, but when working with special needs children... it really is special. I know words are always changing for political correctness but special needs children... yeah, they definitely got that right. It was such an amazing, special six weeks I was even thinking about becoming a nurse for a special school... still am!

Now I am on my second placement in Neuro and Metabolic Diseases in Evelina Children's Hospital... and O-M-G am I loving it. It's so great putting skills and knowledge into practice. I just feel so honored to be trusted and to have responsibility over children's care and lives. I'm mostly working on the basics first like doing obs, familarising myself with PEWS, age parameters, fluid charts etc. but I feel I'm getting more and more confident each day.

To anyone who is wondering whether they should do PgDip in nursing and wondering if it is really intense? Not really - at least not for me. The training and paperwork to become a teacher when I was training was 10x what we have to do. We had to fill in forms and write a load of waffle each day - with nursing, you do as much as you can, get a few things signed off and bish-bash-bosh - you're sorted. I'm not trying to make it sound like it is a breeze, but if you are doubting whether you have the strength to complete it, with the right enthusiasm for nursing, you 100% will.

I'm so glad I chose nursing. Yes, NHS struggles are real... but I couldn't imagine doing anything else now. I've found my calling. I'm so glad I was able to get onto a PgDip course because I would of missed my calling.