Tuesday 12 June 2018

What it’s like to be a Student Nurse?


I always had the inclination of caring since childhood, which just kept growing stronger and stronger while caring for my infirm grandmother. The liking further got powerful by seeing the dedication and selfless services of nurses at a nursing home where my grandmother was shifted. 

There I got valuable life lessons. Seeing people of different ages afflicted with one or the other type of medical conditions sowed the seeds of empathy in me. Juggling between my college and the nursing home earned me a realisation that nursing is the profession I want to pursue in my life.

  But as they say life sometimes makes you stand at a critical juncture where taking decisions become tough, I too face the same. Lots of people in my life tried to admonish me from taking nursing profession by projecting the poorly paid condition, and underrated status of nurses.

 But every criticism on my coveted profession re-enforced my determination. Now as a final year student nurse, I am happy that I didn't allow all the external pressure to distract me from my aim, and I stuck to my decision. 

Nursing can be a gratifying career option for compassionate people, but it's surely for the fainthearted. If you have finally decided to pursue a nursing degree, let me assure you that the next few years in your life as a student nurse, will be nothing less than an adventure. 

Firstly, being accepted in a nursing school is a big achievement in itself, and depending on the degree program chosen, your next few years will be filled with lots of classes, exams, learning, and clinical practice. 

The first semester is comparatively easy as compared to the second one where you will have your first official placement as a student nurse, and the whole degree program requires you to have eight placement practices over a three-year period. 

These varieties of placement options vary from hospitals, units, residential homes, etc., and depends on the specific field you will specialise in. While it can be so much intimidating to work with patients at first, but this is the time when you will learn roles of different staff, wound dressings, administering injections, helping patients with their daily living activities, and personal hygiene.

 I was placed in general and surgical wards where I learned a great deal about team work, communication, developing relationships with patients and their families. Like, from my last placement, my experience in providing care to a cancer patient who was having his first chemotherapy, taught me how important it is to assess your patients and teach them how that particular medication works. With these experiences, I have definitely grown so much as a student nurse.

Each day of nursing education and placement brings new challenges and achievements. Sometimes, you will feel proud of yourself while some days, you will feel discouraged. Being a nursing student is so intense that it is expected to have an emotional breakdown, but in order to stay focused, you just have to remind yourself why you are doing this, and how far you have come. 

Working for longer hours, including early morning shifts, late evenings, and sometimes, during weekends is one of the biggest challenges in lives of student nurses. So, there is always very less time to socialise or maintain work-life balance. Also, when you are in an accelerated degree program, placements are long, and essays, assignments are abundant. Eating healthy diet, getting proper sleep, exercising properly, maintaining positive attitude, managing time to pursue a hobby, or do other activities, and staying organised to spend some quality time with family, and friends is what you should do to deal with these situations.

Learning to face the challenges of being a nursing student is not easy, but it's rewarding once you become a nurse. Life as a student nurse is a mix of ups and downs, but with a little patience and determination, it's possible to face these tough situations, and carve your path for success.

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