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 There is nothing worse than working so hard to get where you are to be kicked off your course or have your PIN withdrawn for some daft comment you have made about how bad your day was or how drunk you were the night before.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!

Why Learning Disability Nursing?

I suppose when most people ask me why learning disability nursing, i always reply “Why not?” 

It isn’t something most people think of when they think of nursing. Or a field that people may think needs specialised nurses. But the reality is that as we live longer, as we progress in medicine, as we find new cures and new medications, as we advance as we species, there will be new diseases, new learning disabilities and new immunities. 

And there are many, many people that have learning disabilities. It may be mild, they may be very high functioning in that they lead a reasonably independent life. Or it may be that they have such profound learning disabilities that the individual needs care with every aspect of their daily life. And for that reason, i want to help shape the care of the future for those with learning disabilities.

                                             

It is important to recognise the difference between learning disabilities and learning difficulties.

A learning difficulty doesn’t affect general intelligence (IQ) whereas a learning disability does.

Examples of learning difficulties may be dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD.

Learning disabilities on the other hand do affect IQ. And generally to be identified as having a learning disability, three criteria need to be met. These are; early onset (presenting before aged 18 years) ; intellectual impairment and social or adaptive dysfunction.

(Please see BILD for more information)

I recently posted that the reason for me going into learning disabilities is to make a difference. To be more than just an advocate, but to show people that those with learning disabilities need to be included, not secluded. And this is enforced in my mind every day.

I work with adults with learning disabilities, and i have done for the past 4 years. i originally started out as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities. This was after i went out to America to work in a special needs camp. Hands down the best summer of my life!

Well worth doing if you ever have the chance. I met some amazing people, it helped shape me as a person and cemented my career goals and aspirations for working with people who need that care and support.

Anyway, i digress.

Working as a support worker i was able to see how those with learning disabilities function day to day. How they integrate within their local community. How they achieve the most monumental of feats due to support, education and assistance.

I then started to be interested in the ‘what happens next?’

Its okay for people to see the day to day functioning, but what happens when someone with a learning disability is admitted to hospital? How do health professionals monitor health? Especially in those with communication difficulties?

I then began working in end of life care, to gain insight into the more clinical side of care. To see what is needed for people in such vulnerable positions. This was eye opening. I worked with people in their own homes who chose to return there from a hospice or hospital setting. And i loved it. Not many people can work with those who need such terminal care, and some may say it takes a special kind of person. But i, myself, would have remained doing that work for a lot longer than i did. But i needed to progress in my career!

So then onwards to working in a day centre facility with adults with learning disabilities. Some have been attending for years, some months and some only weeks. Some are making the transition from child services to adult services. This again, has been another way for me to see yet another side of the care and support that adults with learning disabilities receive. It is a fascinating job and it is utterly amazing the work the staff do. Everything is monitored from weight, hearing, eyesight, communication, to completing goals and tasks to enable someone to write their own name, to choose their lunch independently, to being able to go to zumba classes or even scuba diving!

The work that goes on in a day centre is massively undervalued. When i have worked in supported living (which i still do), i have met staff that will say they dont know what the staff in day centres do. Or why are they so nosey ringing up all the time? Or why do they get paid loads for doing nothing? The list goes on. But what some of these people fail to realise is that all those involved in the care of an individual need to work together. They need to utilise their abilities to communicate and do so! And by doing so it improves the individual’s quality of life, their care and their task learning.

So from here i now go to university (again) in September.

I get to learn more about the care of those with a learning disability and hopefully get to make a difference to someone, even if it is merely helping them put a shoe on. It is the littlest of things that can sometimes make the biggest of differences to a person.

After all, isn’t that what nursing is about?

What Are Nurses?

Nurses Are Advocates...

I absolutely love this video. 
It's touching, honest and most of all heartwarming. 

And another one that says more than words could...

NURSING. It is what we do, who we are and why we love our job!