September is a matter of weeks away, and soon new student
nurses will begin their journey to becoming new RN's! With that in mind, feel
free to read my list of hopefully helpful advice.
1. One of the books that so far has been worth its weight in
gold, is the Royal Marsden Hospital manual of clinical nursing procedures, by
Lisa Dougherty and Sara Lister. At my university, while on placement we have to
create skill sheets to add to our portfolio that will demonstrate our learning
throughout the programme.
Using the Royal Marsden is a good way to check that you are
being taught best practice, a good frame to base evidence sheets around, and
also provides a huge variety of references for every procedure, which helps
when writing essays.
The Royal Marsden can be a pricey book. If you don't want to
fork out that much money, fear not! There tends to be two cohorts a year
graduating from a nursing degree, you can often pick up a good condition RM
from eBay/ gumtree. Failing that, both university and NHS libraries will have
loads of copies of them for you to borrow.
2. Drug calculations! They are of huge importance within
nursing, and the quicker you can get your head around them, the better! At my
university we have a drug calculation exam once a year. If you don't pass it, then you don't pass the year (You do get to retake the exam if you fail, they're not that mean!).
If you struggle with maths I would recommend trying to get
on this as quickly as possible. There are loads of good drug calculation books
out there to practice, and plenty of nursing drug calculation websites.
3. Go to your local pharmacy, and ask if they have any old BNF's
(British National Formula) you can take of their hands. The BNF is a drug bible, and a huge tool within healthcare. Don't worry about trying to learn the
name of every drug. Instead read the pages informing how to use the BNF, and
become used to looking out for Contra-indications, and so on.
4. The Nursing & Midwifery council [NMC], will be
something you cannot avoid thinking about throughout your whole nursing career.
In short, they regulate nurses, and it's the NMC who provide you with a nursing
pin.
It's a good idea to become familiar with the NMC code of
conduct, to which nurses must abide by. It's also good practice to throw in at
least one reference from the code of conduct in to every essay you do!
Should you ever become bored, there is a very interesting page one the NMC website of nurses who have been called to trial, confirming if
they are fit to practice as a nurse. Some of the cases are shocking, but it
makes a good read, and really shows the importance of the NMC, and abiding to the
code of conduct.
5. Twitter has a great student nurse community. It's a good
idea to get involved, and bounce around ideas with other STN's. Every Friday
the @StudentNT (Student Nursing Times) does a student chat. It's really
interesting to see the different ideas, and get support from others. Some STN's
post links to their blogs, which are very thought provoking. It's also good to
read and learn from other nursing disciplines.
Not only that, but twitter is a good place to become a part
of a campaign, for example dementia friends, and HelloMyNameIs have a large
twitter presence. I follow a lot of qualified, passionate nurses who inspire me
to do well, and I often learn a lot, without intentionally trying to as its all
on my news feed!
It goes without saying that you do have to be careful with
what you write on social media- If you identify yourself as a student, don't be
an idiot. Think about that code of conduct, and never ever, ever (!) reveal any
patient identity- ever! Or anything that
someone else could use to identify someone.
6. Anyone who has ever had anything to do with nursing will
always recommend that you purchase a comfy pair of shoes! Unfortunately style is not your friend here,
and if you want something that will keep your feet feeling as good as they
possibly can after running around all day on an understaffed, 12-hour shift-
you want something with support and structure!
I have these shoes form Clarks, not in the slightest bit pretty, but boy- they are the comfiest shoes I own
(And I do own a lot of shoes from Clarks!).
The thing is, when you are in hospital, sick patients don't
care how pretty your shoes are! We were told not to get crocs, and have
something leather so any bodily fluids could easily be cleaned off (Glamorous
life of nursing!), and ideally something that covers your foot. And believe me-
that's a good idea. A friend of mine had shoes that didn't cover her foot, and
a patient’s type 7 ended up filling her shoes due to the big gaps they had.
Also, if you don't know why type 7 is, look up the Bristol Stool chart!
7. A good Anatomy and Physiology book will really help. It
could be a good idea to have a look at some different books in the first few
weeks of uni, to see what you like most. Some are more detailed images, and
some are filled with text. It's personal choice. But remember- if this book is
going to see you through your degree, make sure it's a new one! At degree level
it’s preferred that all referenced text be within a ten-year time frame where
possible.
I have this book. It's a bit of a beast and comes in two parts, along with a photo book. In
addition to this the Anatomy and Physiology colouring books have been really
good for me! A therapeutic and easy-going way to learn!
8. When you get there, don't be put off by anyone who has
more experience than you- and if you are the person with all the experience,
try not to be really cocky about it! I went into the degree with no paid
healthcare experience, and I'm doing well. So long as you stayed focused, and
get excited to learn any new skill you'll fly through! Just be confident, and
enjoy it!
