First Year Tips

So you're finally starting your nursing career. How do you feel... excited? Anxious? Every emotion under the sun? 

I still remember walking into university on my first day, looking around the big lecture hall, seeing so many new faces, wondering whether I was cut out for this career... it's safe to say I was bricking it! But I soon got chatting to people and realised we were all in the same boat and that somehow we would make it through the next 3 years and guess what? We did!

Looking back, it would have been nice to know a few things. So here's my tips and tricks for surviving your first year:

1. Don't get too overwhelmed with everything that you don't know - in this profession, you will never know everything. Just focus on learning a little bit more on each placement and lecture.
2. Stay organised from the get go - keep a track of assignment deadlines, exams and placement dates from the very beginning.
3. Ask lots of questions - you can never ask enough basically! 
4. Don't be afraid to take a step back if you don't feel comfortable - know your limits of competence and don't do something that you feel is beyond you. Of course throw yourself in and get involved, but put your safety and the safety of your patients first.
5. Even if you can't get involved with the more technical clinical skills, just talk to your patients and interact with them. Communication is a skill you can start developing right from the beginning and the earlier on you get comfortable with it, the more it will benefit your practice.
6. Try to act confident even if you don't feel it - you know the saying 'fake it till you make it', well that definitely applies to a nursing student!
7. Take care of yourself and make time for enjoyable activities and rest outside of your studies. You deserve it!
8. If you've made a mistake, don't be ashamed to admit it. You are only a student and you are only human.
9. If you're having a hard time, think back to why you wanted to be a nurse in the first place. Tough times don't last, tough people do!
10. Get used to documenting everything - and I mean everything. I found it useful to carry a pen and paper on me at all times. 
11. Accept that you won't get on with everyone and some people will be just be plain mean to you because you are a student. But that's ok. Try not to take it personally and just strive to make the most of your experiences.
12. Make friends with the people on your course - they will be the only ones who truly understand what you are going through so use each other for support.
13. Believe in yourself - you wouldn't have got a place to study nursing if people didn't think you could do it. 
14. Go into everything with an open mind - you may think a certain patient group or environment is where you want to work eventually but embrace every opportunity and realise you can learn from every experience. You may even surprise yourself.
15. Remember it won't last forever - keep your end goal in mind and know that you will get there!