Placements ending

Hello! 
So, my third placement since starting my course back in september 2013 is coming to and end. I feel like it's all going a bit too quick for me to keep up with. I have one week left of this current placement, but only 3 shifts left. After this week, it will only be three weeks until I go home for Christmas. Exciting! It's all very exciting, but it's making me anxious. This means that I'm even closer to my third year, and then even closer to qualifying. I'm very exciting to qualify, I can't wait to feel independent and feel as though I'm useful instead of doing things, but feeling like I haven't really achieved anything since my mentor or the nurse I am working with will still need to do it and check what I have done. 
So, anyway back to placements ending! I've really loved the placement that I am on. It's a male surgical ward and I honestly feel as though I have learnt so much. I have learnt so much about dressings, medication and different surgical procedures. There are so many things that go into a surgical procedure that I would have never even thought of. Even though I haven't actually seen a surgical procedure, I feel as though I have learnt so much about surgery! I've learnt that actually, things don't always go to plan. Doctors run over, things go wrong and wards get busy! But this placement has been absolutely amazing, and everyone I have worked with have been so lovely and so willing to teach me and help me learn. It's a horrible feeling when you feel like no one has any time for you, so this placement made me feel so welcome and so supported and I quickly felt as though I was part of the team. One of the nurses made every effort to get me to learn as much as I could, saying to me "there's nothing worse than training to be a nurse and feeling like a healthcare assistant". Which is so true, as much as being a healthcare assistant is part of the nursing job, when you've learnt that side it's so frustrating when there's other things to be learnt but the other healthcare assistants are using you and trying to make their job easier. And I really don't mind helping people out if it's busy, but I quite often get the healthcare's saying to other nurses "oh it's fine the student nurse can do it" or "it's okay that we're short staffed, the student is here". Which is really disheartening and makes for a horrible day at placement because then no one has time for you. But, honestly on this placement I haven't had that at all! Which is probably one of the reasons it's been such a brilliant placement. 
My mentor has been brilliant and has been so supportive, I feel quite honoured too since I'n her first ever student! She has honestly been amazing, and after every hand over has asked me if there was anything I didn't understand, always told me that no question is a silly question and has always been so approachable even when she was really busy! And honestly, I went through a rough patch through this placement when I didn't think I could be a nurse and I wasn't inspired to be a nurse and my mentor has re-inspired me. How cheesy! Yes, cheesy it may be. But very true. My mentor really made me feel like I was able to do this and at every opportunity gave me the independence to do things myself, which felt really nice. 
So, all in all I feel pretty happy about the past 6 weeks I've spent on this ward, and I do feel a little sad about leaving. But, another placement means more learning opportunities. My one piece of advice I have learnt from this placement is to remember that it's okay to say "actually I don't feel comfortable doing that" or "I don't understand what that means, please can you explain?" I have learnt in this placement that it's okay to say these things and everyone started from somewhere and it's okay if you don't know everything straight away! You have time to learn and you learn all through your career even after you qualify. 


That's all folks! I'll post another update when I start my next placement or just before.
Stay tuned!
Bye! xx