Nursing today is concerned with providing care which promotes and maintains health, prevents, detects and treats disease and disability and restores health following illness or injury. In order to achieve this nurses require knowledge and skills which are developed both in a wide variety of clinical areas such as hospital wards, community centres, patients homes and within the University.
As a student you will be studying alongside other students who will have interesting backgrounds and come from many different cultures. All of these students will share a common interest with you in wanting to become nurses and be involved in ‘taking care’ of and ‘helping’ patients, their families and significant others. Your experience in learning to become a nurse will be filled with opportunities for you to develop caring techniques that will make a difference in patients’ lives and their ability to care for themselves.
Your day may begin at the University. Perhaps you will start with a session in the biology laboratory where you will look at cells through a microscope or undertake an experiment. These classes will prepare you for the anatomy and physiology you need to learn so that you can nurse patients with the knowledge of why they become ill and how you can help them to recover. By learning how cells work and muscles move, you learn how the body can best be positioned so that rest is promoted, muscles don’t tire, and skin is not damaged.
As your day moves on, you may have practice sessions in nursing caring skills. You may learn how to move patients from different positions when they can’t move themselves or you may learn about how to give special medicines, most importantly you will learn how to teach patients about the medicines so that the patients take them properly at home. Your afternoon may include classes in learning about different aspects of health and illness and how nurses care for patients in hospital, at home or in other places.
There are days when you will be working with patients. You may be working with your clinical nurse lecturer in a public health centre teaching patients about healthy eating and caring techniques that promote health. You may be working with a Public Health Nurse (Health Visitor) caring for families and children under five. On the other hand, you may find yourself in an Accident and Emergency Department of one of the local National Health Service trust hospitals caring for patients who have been involved in a road traffic accident. Your experiences will be active and challenging and will help you develop the skills you need to provide care independently as a professional nurse.
It is important for you to remember, as a student, that a personal tutor from the School is there to support and listen to you. As you study and practice your tutor will be there to explain things about nursing practice when you think you do not understand. Your days will be full of new and interesting experiences, all carefully planned to help you develop into the best professional nurse possible. It will mean studying regularly on your part, and being prepared for those times when the unexpected can and does happen.
Each day you experience as a student nurse will be different than the day before and your knowledge will grow and your confidence will expand. By the conclusion of your education and training you will be ready to face the challenge of working with patients as a qualified nurse within a care team.
