Stress During Placement

Video transcript

I remember how nervous I was before my first placement. I had never done any sort of care work before so had no idea what to expect really.

I went to the ward where I would be and asked if I could have a look around. This helped but I was shocked at how poorly some of the patients looked.

I made sure I was well prepared for my first day, I had my first week's hours already from a phone call the previous week, I had some pens and scissors. I nearly forgot my lunch but luckily remembered about a mile from home and went back for it! I had no idea what food would be available in the hospital or even if I would get the opportunity to leave the ward! I certainly didn't want to be stuck without food.

I was mostly worried about silly things and these included getting up on time and being able to communicate with the patients. My first placement was a stroke ward so I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to understand what the patients were trying to ask me. Because of this I barely spoke to any patients during my first shift!

After a couple of shifts I started to feel much more comfortable and wondered why I hadn't tried this change of career years ago. I started to relax and enjoy my placement.

As I did more placements I became more confident and was not worried at all about my first day like I was on my early placements. I was always wondering whether I would have a supportive mentor who was enthusiastic and willing to let me get stuck in wherever possible. I found that my biggest problem was trying to run before I could walk and, because my mentors didn't know me very well at first they were reluctant to trust me with any complicated tasks. Over time I learned to accept this and got used to spending the first couple of days acclimatising to the environment and allowing time for the mentor to get to know me.

I must say that as my course progressed the stress of being on placement while having assignments took its toll on me and many other students in my cohort. In particular in 2nd and 3rd year we had an assignment that had to be a reflection of my evidence and my learning.

This was stressful because we were under pressure to produce really good evidence or else the assignment would be really difficult to write. We had to hand it in very soon after the placement finished so there was added pressure to write while on placement. I tried to plan what I was going to write and schedule time to do this – this approach really helped. I still make lots of lists and timetables, and try to plan what I need to do. I find that putting it on a list gets it out of my head!

I have found that time, or lack of it, has been the biggest cause of stress for me during my course. This is partly my fault because I also work part-time, but this is a reality for many students in order to make ends meet. I've sometimes struggled to squeeze a work shift in whilst on placement particularly when I was approaching an assignment deadline. I found I had no time for working and this added to my stress because then I had no spare cash!

I feel much better now I am nearly at the end of the course and it has boosted my confidence to know that I have a job at the end of it. So my advice is to stick with it because when you finish that last assignment and placement it will have all been worth it.