As a third-year student nurse, I have had many experiences that I wished I had known more about before starting the course. Here are five useful tips that may help you as a student nurse.
1. get the best out of public transport
Transport can become quite pricey, especially if you have a lengthy placement. I have had my fair share of using public transport and it can be quite unreliable at times and expensive, particularly trains. I have found that you can get cheaper tickets for trains if you book the ticket on the day, as this takes away the fee if you are buying online. Though, I would say that this can be quite risky as you may forget to buy the ticket early in the morning. When working early in the morning, railcards do not always apply to the earlier trains, so please do keep this in mind.
2. take advantage of nursing ‘spokes day’ placements
As a student nurse, you will be assigned to a placement by the University. This means that you may feel that you want to experience a different type of nursing placement. Fear not, the beauty of ‘Spokes’ Day is here to help. This is where you can contact a faction or a place in the hospital that you are interested in working in and experience it for the day. For example, if you are given a placement in the surgical ward, you can contact your assessor for help to have a Spokes Day in the theatres. A great way to do this is to use to the Nursing Facebook page, which you will be added to at the start of your first year. Just post the type of experience you want and ask if they can accommodate you for a Spokes Day. There are many wards that will be happy to have you for the day.
3. Utilise the Nursing group chat and Facebook
If you are struggling or have questions, the Nursing group chat can help you. Do keep in mind that this group chat is used mainly by students so there may be questions that they might have trouble answering. The Nursing Facebook page is run by the Worcestershire Trust, if you have any queries regarding the hospital or the placement then they are more than happy to help.
4. Don’t take the hive for granted
The University has a brilliant library shared by the public and students alike. I did not utilise the library until my third year and I wish that I had sooner. The number of books and facilities in the HIVE is great for helping with essays and for developing nursing knowledge. It helped me find some high-quality research papers and nursing books that I can implement in practice. Plus, it is a nice place to study as it is quiet and has a great view.
5. location is key
For my second year of Nursing, I decided to move to the city centre of Worcester rather than live in St John’s. This was life changing as when you reach second year and onwards, you will find that you have more placements than lectures, therefore it would be best that you move near the city centre where public transport is near. I found that in my first year, living near St. Johns was difficult during placement, as there are no buses running 5/6am in the morning. This is a problem during winter when the mornings are pitch black. I found myself hiring taxis every so often to get to the bus station, which was very expensive and cannot be covered by student finance. Therefore, I’ve found that living in the city is best, especially as a Nursing student who relies on public transport to get to and from placements.
Worcester Student Life 