Steady My Heart.

My very first day of placement was actually not that memorable. I felt like I spent most of the day wandering around after others, repeatedly reminding people that I'm a first year, first placement student and I spent a significant amount of time avoiding answering the phone that was incessantly ringing! Probably the key thing that I'd reflect on now, is that in handover, nobody actually introduced themself, showed me around or explained what the hell was expected of me. Everyone was friendly enough though and I hadn't forgotten how to talk to patients so things were okay! Upon leaving, everyone said that the second day would be better and they were right! The second day became a day of many firsts. My first drug round, changing a dressing alone for the first time, writing in patients notes for the first time, answering the phone with the phrase "X ward, Student Nurse Laura speaking" for the first of many many times! I felt I really found my feet and got on well...

Following induction, I embarked on 3 weeks of intense clinical skills to prepare us for going on the wards and it was quite frankly, the most intense three weeks in my recent memory (hence the lack of posts!). Rather than dissipating, the overwhelmed feeling I spoke of in my last post grew and grew and grew. However, I equally need to remember that I love what I am doing and I am good at it (no matter what my brain says sometimes). The main things I took away from the three weeks were that my basic clinical skills are actually pretty good. I can talk to patients, I'm confident with a variety of personal care, I can take manual observations without really having to think about the process, my basic life support skills are pretty darn good. It's some of the more academic things that are proving a tad more tricksy. My anatomy and physiology knowledge leaves a lot to be desired...I know a lot and can reel of various facts and phrases but I don't actually really understand it...