I remember how nervous I was before my first placement, I never done any sort of
care work before so I 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 and my first weeks hours
already from a phone call the previous week, had some pens and scissors I nearly
forgot my lunch but luckily remembered about a mile from
home and went back for it. Had no idea what food would be available in the
hospital or even if I would even get the opportunity to leave the ward I
certainly didn't want to be stuck without food.
I was mostly worried about the silly things though 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 are trying to ask me because of this I barely spoke to any patients
during my first shift. After a couple of shifts though I started to feel much
more comfortable I wondered why I hadn't tried this change of currying years ago.
I started to relax and enjoy my placement
as I did more placements I became more confident and I was not worried at
all about my first day like I was at my early placements. I was always wondering
whether I'd have a supportive mentor who's 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 though that as my course progressed the stress of being on
placement or having assignments took its toll on me and many other students in my
cohort. In particular second and third 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 that whilst on
placement. I tried to plan what was going to write and schedule time to do this
and this actually really helped for me 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 out of my
head.
I found that time or lack of it has been the biggest cause of stress for me
during my placement, this is partly my fault because I also work part-time but
this is a reality for many other students in order to make ends meet.
I've sometimes struggled squeeze a work shift in whilst on placement
particularly when I was approaching a deadline fast. I found that in no time
for working and this is added to my stress because then I have no spare cash.
I feel much better now though I'm nearly at the end of my course and it's 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'd
have all been worth it.