What To Do Before Becoming A Student Nurse

• Brush up on your math skills as much as possible..drug calculations etc. There are some good websites out there to help, and BBC Bitesize is good for the basics if you haven’t touched on that in a while.

• Following on from this…familiarise yourself with Anatomy & Physiology. There will be exams on this! And this will help loads in learning little bits at a time during your free time. When else will you have this many months of preparation for a single topic where nothing else is also hanging over your head?

• Enjoy your free time as much as possible. Nursing degrees are in university attendance a lot longer than some other degrees. The summer before you start may be your last one with a lot of free time. The following summers you may spend revising, working and / or on placement. Make the most of seeing people and having days where you know you can enjoy the sunshine. It sucks having to be sat in, or even in your garden surrounded by books while everyone is off to Alton Towers or a BBQ..but it definitely pays to work hard!

• Get some stationary and get yourself organised - This includes a USB and / or portable hard drive to back up all of your work. (And me..personally i backup, my backup. As mentioned previously., me and technology sometimes have little fallings out!) Get some lever arch files to organise your notes. And a wall calendar i have always found helps immensely for keeping track of deadlines. And not forgetting, pens pens and more pens. And a pen clip if you’re anything like me. I have lost pens from my tunic pocket at work more often than enough. Bending over making beds, doing personal care etc. My pens have met untimely ends in toilets, bins, soiled laundry and well..you get the picture.

• Socialise! Both online and offline! Make yourself known on twitter etc. I have won a book through this and had tweets published, and it always helps to know your stuff on all things in your chosen field as well as others and all NHS info. Health care is constantly changing and being updated, so it pays to have the most up to date knowledge when it comes to assignments and helping your patients. Just please remember confidentiality. There is nothing worse than working so hard to get where you are to be kicked off your course or have your PIN withdrawn for some daft comment you have made about how bad your day was or how drunk you were the night before.

• In relation to the above…housekeeping. As you are going to be on placement and trained through the NHS, you are now looked at very differently from ‘ordinary students’. Thus, look at your online presence. Can people see you in ridiculous photos on social networking sites? Have you made any stroppy comments about anything that can bring yourself or others into disrepute? Worth thinking about. I have had friends delete all photos from websites, change privacy settings and even their online name so people cannot link them. Nothing worse than having a patient / client etc saying “I see you had a great night last night, bit drunk were we?” Or “That photo of you flashing your bum was hilarious..hope to see more ;) ” This can and will happen, so be aware!

• Research. This is so important. Research your university course you want to apply for, as well as the universities you apply to. Research what field of nursing you apply for and how you can progress. Is there a speciality you’re interested in? Research it! You may not have a definitive idea of how or where you want your career to progress in, but even a vague one is better than nothing. And if you’re ever asked..it may help to know (!)

• Get excited!!! This is a great opportunity and you are about to embark on what is the rest of your life. Never forget the privileged position you are in and why you started in the first place. After all, nursing is an amazing career and will have many ups and downs. Remembering why you are there and how you got to be there can help to keep you grounded and a little more sane when you have those busy insane days where it feels like nothing has gone right.

I’m sure i’ll end up adding more to this once i start. But this is a list from all my research and talking to student nurses etc. I am very lucky in that my place of work sees a lot of placement students. And they are more than happy to answer all my questions that i bug them with! But i will repay the favour when i’m in the same position (fingers crossed everything goes according to plan that is!)


If you can think of anything to add to this then please feel free.


Hope this has helped somewhat and best of luck for the future!