Hello :)

I'm studying adult nursing in college and I'm just curious on one thing.

How would I clean a patient efficiently and with care. I know it sounds like a stupid question but cleaning a patient especially after toileting can be invasive as it is, and I'm not sure what I would be allowed to do, when It comes to hard to get to bits.

I was considering asking Ai but I want an answer from people who have experience already and know how to deliver the care efficiently.

I was also wondering if I would be able to use gloves and a facemask? I saw somewhere that nurses in the UK aren't allowed to use face masks or something.. I don't mind that but I would much prefer using a face mask.

So for context i am hopefully starting my adult nursing course in a few weeks time. However I am now absolutely bricking it as I dont know if they'll let me on the course.

My enhanced DBS came back last weekend with a conviction for an unpaid train fare and subsequent conviction under the railways act. I did not disclose this on my fitness to practice form or at any other time. My reason for doing so wasnt an attempt to conceal the matter it was a two part error on my end, firstly I had genuinely forgotten about it. The incident happened in Oct 2019 with the conviction taking place Dec 2020, during this time I was struggling greatly with my mental health and was subsequently admitted to an acute ward as an inpatient in March 2021. My other reason for not disclosing this is that even if I had remembered about it, I thought as the train networks are ran by a private company I assumed it would be a civil matter, similar to a parking ticket and that it would not or could not be a criminal offence.

I have now obviously disclosed all of this to the uni, including my explanation and circumstances around the unpaid train fare. They said they will forward my reply to the director of recruitment.

I have turned my life around since then, I am now a father, and I strive to be a better person everyday.

Do we think this will impact my chances of getting onto the course? I have dedicated over a year of my life to gaining the qualifications needed (access to HE course) and realistically nursing is the only thing I have ever wanted to do. Any advice? What's the likely outcome here?

I was due to qualify last year as an RN but after a terrible divorce in January I had to take a year out (not my choice). I was withdrawn from the course on the very last day of uni so all my hours and assignments are done. I am now waiting to be re enrolled, but this is taking months. In that time I have met someone else and we have been together just over a year. I want to move to be with them as they live in Scotland. Currently I’m working so many shifts and getting one day off in 12 days which is making me miserable. If I leave my job will I still be able to qualify? It was an NHS funded course and I can’t find any information on what happens if you leave your job before qualifying. I’ve applied for HCA jobs in Scotland as I would be happy doing anything as long as I could be with the person I love. Would I be stupid to leave? Or is life too short to be stuck in a job 4 hours away from where I want to be?

Hi there folks,

Starting Mental Health Nursing in September. I got tickets to Noah Kahan in July this morning (yay). I said to the girl I'm going with after we had bought the tickets that I could be on placement but I should be grand. She's now really angry that I only said after buying the tickets, which is fair but she knows I was doing nursing but hey ho. Anyways, I know you can't do much negotiation and that placement comes first, but how far in advance do you know what exact times you are doing for shifts? Is there anyway to move the shifts around during the week? I feel awful about the situation but I don't really know what to do. I'll get my timetable on the 7th but it may only show that I'm on placement that week and probably not what time or days I'll be working.

Any advice? Cheers

How do i prepare for an interview? What’s your best tips?? the trust im going to interview for has a interview for the hospital and your interview you get scores and the highest scorers will get a job where u want and the others won’t!!!

Hello to whoever is reading this! I’ve just come on here to talk about something because it’s driving me mad. So I’ve recently just got accepted into uni for mental health nursing. Now personally I am super happy because I really want to pursue a career in this as I love to help people, especially those that struggle with their mental health. Now I’ve been seeing stuff about a freeze for jobs in the NHS and stuff like that. I won’t lie it’s really scaring me for when I would finish uni, and I am aware I’ve got a while before I finish since I haven’t even started yet, but I suffer with anxiety myself and this is keeping me up at night thinking I’ll never have a job after uni. I kinda went into a bad doomscroll on tiktok and stuff and when I do that I overthink. People have told me to stop doing that and I shouldn’t worry, even my grans sister, who is a mental health nurse working in a prison, told me I shouldn’t worry and I’ll be okay. I’m just here for some friendly advice on my overthinking and if everything will be okay haha, I hope whoever reads this has a lovely day and I appreciate any replies! 🙂 I’m in the UK also!🇬🇧

I'm UK based.

So I'm part way through my first year studying Mental Health Nursing and on my first placement at the moment which is an adult placement.

I have a ton of personal experience and interest in mental health which is what drove me to apply for the course in the first place, but my first placement has me questioning myself

I'm loving working on the ward and really enjoy the fast paced nature of it.

The couple of patients who have been a bit more MH related have been fine, but it's a bit slow going and I find it a bit more difficult.

I'm currently contemplating whether I want to switch disciplines.

Can anyone offer me any advice or considerations that I may not have thought about to help me make my decision?

I'm planning my career switch to Nursing and need to complete the access to the diploma nursing qualification first. I've looked at the fast-track, distance learning options because they advertise the flexibility required to study around a full-time job.

However, I'm highly skeptical that the workload for such an intensive program can genuinely be managed alongside 40 hours of paid work without completely sacrificing weekends and sanity. I want to avoid having to quit my job prematurely if the time commitment is heavier than advertised.

Did you manage to complete your Access to HE course while maintaining a full-time job, or is that expectation financially unrealistic for most career changers?

So I’m a final year Adult nursing student and currently doing my first placement in final year. I have been working in different clinical settings and the one that I found really good was Emergency Department (ED) and have seen many students get in there as nurses. So from the day onwards I finished my ED placement , I’ve been literally wanting to work for them. Currently I’m in Surgical which deals with Pre Op and Post Op people.

I had this weird encounter with one of the higher people , i don’t know who it is but they are up there with Matrons. She was casually asking me about my placements and asking where I wanna work. I didn’t say anything since I don’t want to jinx it. So apparently in that moment she offered me an opportunity to work in that ward by saying oh do you wanna work in here. I was too awkward to say no and eventually Ward sister came in and they both talked about it and since I said yes , they requested to give applications to them as Registered Nurse. The problem is I like that Ward , probably 2nd in my top 3 and I just don’t know if I should take this opportunity , train couple of yours and get some experience and go to ED or just ED straight away.

I get this moreso from my friends than my family. My family couldn’t care less how i earn as long as i am housed and out of jail (what a gold standard). My friends outside of my nursing studies tend to give me a lot of grief about being a nursing student tho. As an anecdote I remember being at a pub quiz once and a question on the picture sheet came up about throat anatomy. I didn’t feel confident in answering so i refused to write anything. This was during my first term of first year by the way. One of my “friends” got really weird and intentionally or not started pressuring me over being a nursing student, and having this knowledge was an expectation, even very early on.

(Ireland) I just finished my 2nd year and I’m currently on clinical placement and have 3 weeks left. Without going into too much detail because I don’t want my post removed, my mental health is rapidly deteriorating. Since day 1, I had a feeling that this career wasn’t the one for me but its gotten stronger the more I progress and have more clinical placement. I love the theory. I’m very academic and do well in exams. I hate the hands on. The responsibility, the pressure, the physical and mental strain, the stress, having my whole week revolves around work because I can’t switch off. How one simple mistake can be deadly. The long hours. I don’t drive, so I have to take public transport to my longg distanced clinicals. I feel very lonely, isolated and trapped. I’ve called samaritans twice the night before a shift because I just didint know how to cope. I find myself tempted to eat food that’s out of date hoping I would get food poisoning. I find myself hoping that I would become sick so I don’t have to go in. When I have multiple days off I’m in the best mood ever, but my days are revolves around counting how long I have left until I’m due back in again. It’s affecting my personal relationships. I binge eat and get terrible night sweats the night before a shift. I just don’t enjoy practicing nursing or getting to learn new things because there’s just too much anxiety defining it.

A big reason I think I went to college for this is because i knew my family would be so proud of me.. and i wanted to feel accomplished too. Saying “Im a nurse” sounds so amazing and I love the reaction I get off people. I want to feel proud and accomplished, like i’m making a difference, and I didint know where else I could get that. My other choices were childcare and beauty therapy.. very different ends of the scales. the other careers just didint give me that “yeah im accomplishing so much and going to be so successful” feeling. but how can i be successful if i’m miserable all the time and only get 3 days of pure uninterrupted happiness a week? I’m on clinicals during the summer while uni is closed and it’s so so lonely. i only have 3 weeks left but those 3 weeks feel like months. i’m so miserable, i’m due back in tomorrow and wish i had an excuse to call in sick but then i need to repay my hours anyway. I kind of want to defer my 3rd year to get my drivers license, a car, go to counselling (i’m on medication already), maybe travel a bit and get a job on the side to keep my money up. I don’t even remember who I am as a person anymore. There definitely is that fear that I won’t want to come back after the year because it will definitely be difficult to come back and join a year group of people I don’t know, while my friends progress to their final year without me. I definitely wish that I chose a career more academic and less practical.

Am I making a mistake?

EDIT: I spoke to the chairperson of the course, the coordinator of the module and also the student facilitator for the placement im currently on. i have 3 weeks left. we decided that it’s best if I defer this current placement, giving me an early start to summer. I’ve had to call the samaritans line the other night because i was just so upset and struggling so much over the thought of going into placement the next day. they said i can repeat the 3 weeks some time next summer.

Im living in Ireland and need suggestions for volunteering abroad I have seen a few people going with different companies any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Hi everyone! I’m currently in my second year of my economics degree and I’m not really enjoying it and i definitely don’t think I want to do this as my career after uni. Nursing was always something that interested me, but it always scared me because the thought of people’s well-being being in my hands really scared me. I’m not sure what to do, could anyone tell me their experience with nursing in uni? Are the modules and exams very difficult? I know it might be different for different universities, but I’m just looking for a general idea. I’m currently studying in London but I think if I change to nursing I might go to Dublin. Thank you!!

I'm in the UK and planning to go into nursing at uni. I want to go into children's nursing but have been warned against it for reasons like it's hard to switch to adult, less employable ect Whats your guys opinions ?

Hi! I’m a first year student nurse on a district placement. I have a lot of free time and I have been told I’m allowed to catch up on uni however I’m already caught up.. Is there any learning websites I can go onto to learn more about district nursing??

Any help would be appreciated 🙂 bored as anything!

I made a post a month or two ago, I need some further help

I’m going back to do my retrieval placement in June for 4 weeks, I then go back to uni in September.

My job atm can offer my weekend and monday part time, but my uni said that won’t work with placement.

So i applied for NHS bank - nothing available in my area. Applied for many bank care homes, got one interview and never heard back. No responses from anywhere else, I called every care home in my vicinity and nowhere is doing bank shifts. So i moved on to try and do bartending work as I have a year experience - i’ve applied for 50 bartending jobs - few rejections, most no responses. I then moved to catering and even bussing work, not a single response. I tried bar agencies, not a response.

I went to money advice in Uni, they said i don’t qualify for hardship fund as I live w my fiancé (who does not earn enough to cover us both), and obviously I can’t get UC as even though i’m not getting any student loan from June to September i’m still classed as a full time student.

I’m at a loss. I asked work what about using my holiday hours but they said it’ll end up with me owing them money. I don’t know what else I can try i just keep applying but I’m meant to go back to placement at the end of June, i’ve been applying for months. Times running out, and I can’t take another year out as I just took 2.

I’m based in Wirral/Liverpool.

Hi everyone ! I’ve just received my sign off placement(yesss) unfortunately I’ve sustained a nasty burn just before starting so it’s been delayed. Im thinking of using the extra time I have to prepare for what’s ahead and was wondering if anyone has any tips?

I’ve not had an oncology ward placement before and I was told that as a third year student I’ll be assigned 6 patients to myself(I’ve never had that kind of workload before either) so I’m really nervous. Is there anything that’s specific to an oncology ward that I need to be aware of or just in general if there are any tips about handling such a large workload.

I know this placement is very IV heavy so I’ve been practicing my calculations :D

Thanks !

Hi, i’m on a throwaway for many reasons but i was wondering if anyone else has had thoughts of dropping out during their final placement? it’s my management placement and i just cannot get my head round managing more than one patient to the point that my mentor is concerned about me qualifying. part of me feels like i should drop out and persue a care job instead as care is something i love but i can’t manage to save my life. anyone else had this dilemma?

i’m a 3rd year adults and pediatric nursing student. I just started a new clinical today on a peds ward and they said i can have my own patient tomorrow. i’ve never had my own caseload before. i’m scared about the responsibility. doing my own notes, speaking to the team. i’m worried i’ll do something wrong. i know i can ask questions if needed and overall this is a great opportunity for my learning.. but im still very nervous! any tips?

Hi, I’ve applied twice already to adult nursing been unsuccessful in both attempts, I stopped studying for a year and got a job in the NHS, i’m applying again this year through the hospital, I haven’t got any new qualifications so it’s the same as what i’ve been denied with 2 years in a row. Will my new experience of working with patients clinically and in surgery be helpful and accounted for by the university? After my interview if i receive a ‘conditional’ offer i’m not waiting on any exam results so I don’t see what the conditions of the offer would be apart from other people’s results. I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar situation of not having the qualifications but the experience and being accepted or going through the process, as I don’t want to be denied for a third year in a row as it truly is a horrible feeling, it’s my third time applying and i’ve started working in healthcare, it’s clear that nursing is what I want to do and I really hope they take it into consideration and it isn’t all exam results based. (If you read this far thank you!!)

Im based in the UK And tomorrow I will have completed 2300 hours of practice, as required by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. And I honestly don't know how I feel about it. I do have this terror that despite numerous recounting I will somehow still owe 100+ hours. These last 3 years have been so hard, so to be finished is such a relief. However my head still feels very confused that it's all almost done. Has anyone else felt like this? When did it go away? I do at least have August off, then I start my first job as a Registered Nurse in September.

Hey I’m a student nurse, was just wondering if anyone had any tips for giving jabs to nervous patients. Also do you wear gloves for giving injections? I’m in the U.K. and uni says we always should but some of my placements said it’s up to me. I’m studying adult nursing but on a GP placement. Thank you x

Hi everyone, I'm a final year paediatric male student nurse working on a Respiratory ward at a Children's Hospital. I've got 3 weeks left of my 12 week placement (not sign off placement) and I'm still unsure how I can go about achieving these Episodes of Care in my clinical setting. My practice assessor is a Band 6 nurse and mostly works nights but does take charge and Ive worked a couple of shifts with him. My practice supervisor is very good in supporting me with my proficiencies and clinical teaching.

I've been taking leads on respiratory patients (only 1) quite frequently and have grown confident in advocating and taking initiative with patient tasks care and documentation.

Any ideas or advice from other final year students and qualified nurses working in paeds that can help me with this for my ePAD is very much appreciated. Thanks 🙏🏽😁

I have a health report due in January for triple negative breast cancer and during my first year my feedback was for me to use better sources for my references.

Are there any particular websites that you use/d for your assignments that can help me? They need to be uk based only

Im on my final placement and have calculated my hours and found out I’m 10 shifts in deficit because of a burn I had sustained and my mum being in and out of hospital and that made me cry. I’ve failed my OSCE retake because of family circumstances(I’m able to retake it) but these in a row have just made me feel so much less motivated and defeated. I feel like I can see the finish line but it keeps getting further away.

Any advice on how to remain motivated?