Nursing & Medical Students
Starting your nursing course doesn’t have to be a step into the unknown
Becoming a nurse is a lot of work but the training available gives you hands-on experience to make you as prepared as possible to start your career.
Nurse training is provided by universities. Students typically spend half of their time in university studying the academic side of nursing and half of their time in placements learning practical aspects of nursing. This makes a nursing degree unique to other university-based degree courses as so much of your time is spent experiencing the job first-hand.
Practical placements
Student nurses tend to find going on placement the most exciting part of their course – after all this where you get to see what the job is really like.
You will be assigned placements in a variety of settings throughout your course. The aim of these is to give you insight in to all different types of nursing. On qualifying, you should then have some idea which area of nursing you want to work in.
It’s important to keep in mind that you will learn something from all your placements and to always be open-minded.
Placements can be anywhere from 5 to 10 weeks or longer. Whilst on placement you will be required to engage in nursing duties as well as to observe procedures in order to build your skills and knowledge. You will be expected to act in a professional manner and to engage with the rest of the team to get the most out of your time with them.
On each placement, students are assigned a “nurse mentor” who will be responsible for making sure you achieve all your learning outcomes. This person will be a qualified nurse who has completed a mentorship course. They will also be the person who assesses you on placement. You will spend one-on-one time with your mentor at regularly intervals and your shifts should be the same as theirs where possible.
