First nursing placement - will it get better

[toots123]

I'm a mature student on first ever nursing placement at the moment.

It's been a huge learning curve as I don't have any healthcare experience.

I've hated the placement so far as everyone seems to expect me to have experience and I don't. Massively Out of my comfort zone and wondering if I should continue.

My MH is at an all time low and my confidence has gone.
I knew there was alot to learn but it feels like nurses and nursing assistants assume we know everything.
I'm proud of what I've learned so far and have helped with personal care and did everything I feel able to but still feel everyone is disappointed in me.

Can someone tell me if they've felt the same and if it got better?

Have you passed your placement?

I think those are common feelings when starting as a trainee in any field. The beginning part of the learning curve is the most uncomfortable part but you'll get momentum and it'll get easier the more experience you get.

And stop trying to mindread - it's making you feel worse and knocking your confidence. I doubt people are feeling disappointed. You're not the first student they've worked with, you won't be the last. They won't be giving it as much headspace as you.

Encourage yourself instead of telling yourself these harsh stories about what you imagine others are thinking.

You'll get there.

Hi Op
I retrained to be a nurse at 25. Felt so out of my depth in my first placement and some nurses were quite mean to me but it does improve! Some great mentors and skme crap ones its swings and roundabouts! 15 years later I'm in a job I love. Being a student nurse is really hard but it goes quite quick, hang in there!

@Waterfallsandrainbows I haven't finished the placement but I'm definitely passing so far. My mentor is lovely and very encouraging.

**@equinoxprocess
Thank you, I really needed to hear this. I'm probably just too hard on myself. I just want to do it all and help as much as I can but feel useless 😕

**

I was a mature nursing student. I felt the same and it didn't get better. I left after two years. For me it was the job culture rather than the patient care.

That said there were a good few mature students in my year, all had various wobbles and all went on to compete their degree.

Don't be fooled by the ones who 'love it' all the time, I think they are the ones you need to worry about. It's normal to view an occupation critically at the beginning.

I think if you continue to hate it and there is a very deep unease with your decision into placement 3, then I'd start to think about moving to another branch of nursing ( I was too late and far gone by the time I realised it wasn't for me).

Don’t worry then mentors make all the difference unfortunately, nursing has a reputation for unsupportive cliques demoralising students however, good mentors really can make all the difference.

Be more confident don’t let others bring you down. You are a student and you are learning.

However, if in your heart you know nursing isn’t for you then get out and don’t look back.

Do you have a mentor? (Or practise supervisor/assessor) I’m a nurse in Scotland so to supervise students and sign them off we need extra training to support you and make sure you’re looked after and getting the best experience possible whilst on our unit. I would’ve talked about opportunities available whilst on placement, what you want to learn, past experience etc and you’d also be assigned 2 supervisors on the ward - but all nurses can supervise.

I think it’s really important to have that initial chat about expectations, outcomes and what support is available and who to go to. Make sure that happens on your placements. I had a mature student last year and she was fabulous - a little ahead of you in her training but the confidence comes. I hope you reflect on your experience and can think of ways to help next time, speak about it with your uni too. It’s sad you were made to feel that way make sure they know you’ve not got prior experience in this field not that or should matter, I just want students to enjoy their placements and learn what they’ve come to learn.

I also want to say my decision to leave was easy, straightforward and I've never had second thoughts. I don't view it as a mistake to have tried. My only regrets are around the impact it had on my mental health.

I've worked along side 1000s of student nurses on placements and I promise you not even quarter remotely enjoyed the placements. (Day centres and respite units mostly got the student nurses in) and its such a culture shock if you've never worked in health care before.

You'll feel so much better making friends with the people on your course and finding your own rhythm in doing things, I'd suggest to anyone prior to doing nursing doing some care work first, bank or agency shifts to just get a feel for it maybe? Or maybe ring your local nursing home and ask if the activities coordinator could use a hand once a week and you can just observe how the carers are and then get yourself used to the care environment? Whenever I've done activity coordination I've had people volunteering to help and they've always been very appreciated.

It is a massively new world to you and it'll be so rewarding long term once you're a part of a actual team not just popping in and out of places.

You'll get the hang of it all really quickly and most nurses and carers are lovely and caring for people is the best, I loved it so much! I'm now a carer for my son however if he didn't need me home I'd be back at the nursing home with the elderly in a heartbeat!

Best of luck and keep going a bit longer, you'll know if it's not for you but there is so many options nursing gives you, you'll be able to look into so many more careers with your pin than just the obvious kinds of nursing.

I'm not a nurse but if you've any questions on nursing/hospital/care in general culture I can have a go at answering them, I was a carer and did a wee bit of hospital work but only enough to give you basics, but I have nurse pals I can always ask x

Hi OP, I’m so sorry you have such a crappy placement! Everywhere you work will have a different culture, it sounds like this one is very competitive and blame focussed. This is normally a result of poor management and intense pressure.

I would try very hard not to take this personally. I am a good nurse who loves my job, but I was bullied on one placement and had a few nurses try (and fail) to use me as a scapegoat on others. It would have been much more traumatic if I hadn’t had such overwhelmingly positive experiences and feedback on my other placements for me to mentally fall back on. One mentor even wrote me a letter saying that other people would be intimidated by my enthusiasm and to always back myself, so the type of behaviour you have described is certainly not new. People like to make themselves feel better by putting others down.

I have known plenty of nurses who hate working with students, it’s very very unfortunate. But that is not the students fault.

The tips I always give my students are:

Get inside the curtain listening to what is going on, if something interesting is happening ask if you can observe. You are not there just to learn personal care and how to make a bed, it’s not the 1950s.

Read notes!! As many as you can, you learn so much that way.

Ask questions, don’t stop asking questions. You need to know every acronym your placement uses by the end. My biggest red flag is a student who doesn’t ask a ridiculous number of questions. In particular, ask the doctors, please don’t be intimidated, they are generally much better at answering questions than nurses.

If there is anything in particular you want to understand but don’t, just shout! There are loads of nurses on MN.

Good luck and keep going, it’s the best job ❤️

I was late 30s when I started training. I also had zero care experience. I was honest with everyone about this and made sure I teamed up with the HCAs when washing and toileting patients to get the basics. We were told by the uni that year one was all about fundamentals of nursing such as the washing, toileting, observations etc.
You also need a certain amount of resilience to be a successful nurse, honestly you can’t take things to heart, it can be a brutal, emotionally draining job. But it’s the best job I’ve had and is so rewarding.
good luck