We spent our second week at Royal Preston hospital having the trust induction which I was expecting to be a Very long day but actually wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. It was good to get some background on the trust and its history especially if I'm going to be completing my placements within it. The second day was definitely my favourite after receiving my student nurse ID bade and getting measured for our uniforms we got to find out where our first placement is. Can honestly say I was pretty excited, and yes also nervous. It's on a surgical unit and I geeked out a bit when I got home and did a bit of a Google search to get an idea of what to expect when I start it.
Wednesday was for infection control and although it was not a lively day I know how essential it is and its definitely stuck.. we learnt soo much about super-bugs I'm pretty sure I can touch anything without washing or gelling my hands... I actually had to resist the urge to ask a woman leaving the ladies in the city centre in front on me to wash her hands. I would've been rude I know but after finding out how fact bacteria can spread and make people seriously ill it was a struggle.
The third week we had our normal classes at Bolton, I enjoyed my session on Monday where we spend time in the skills lab attempting manual blood pressures (no one really found it easy) it was a lot harder to concentrate in a busy area an hear everything you needed to with the stethoscope but it was realistic. On a ward its not going to be quiet to this is the learning curve we are on. I know that not all nurses do BP manually any more but the ones that do and definitely the nurses that spent their whole career doing so deserve a pat on the back for their concentration skills.I'm finding that I'm still pretty stressed but in the good way, like its spurring me on and motivating me to do well. I'm feeling pretty lucky at the moment with the people I have in my life and the support I'm receiving from them. My family, friends and work colleagues have probably listened to my concerns and little things that I'm nervous about a million times over and have been great.
I don't know if its just me but the fact that my cohort is smaller than some universities it really helping to put me at ease, its comforting to know that there ate 30 other people doing the same thing along side me and have similar stresses and worries. It's a real team atmosphere. Along with that my lecturers seems to be pretty approachable and really willing to listen and try to problem solve for me this is great when i have an issue i need to talk about it otherwise it'll seem 50 times bigger than it really is to me.
