Dear future nurses...

Dear future nurses,

As I sit and write this, I am aware that there are students up and down the country about to start a degree in nursing. 

A year ago, I was you.

And I was terrified. 

It’s not that I didn’t want to go in to nursing, it’s really not. It’s just, in the hours that I spent trawling google to try and find some advice on what to expect, I found very little. And that really scared me. So this is a letter to you, no matter where you are going to study, here is some (probably a little too honest) advice from one student nurse to the next.

1.  No matter how much passion you have for your course, there will be days/weeks/months where you just want to throw in the towel, admit defeat and walk away. But that is okay. Nursing is difficult, I’m not even going to try and hide it. You will have challenging patients, heck, you will have challenging mentors. When asking for advice about what to put in this letter from some close friends at uni, one came back to me and said ‘be prepared for unhelpful mentors who aren’t interested in you at all’. Thankfully, I have been lucky with mentors, but I know of a few people who have wanted to quit the course because of the mentor that they have been assigned to. It all contributes to those evenings where you collapse on to your bed after a 13 hour shift, cry a bit, phone your parents and say ‘I want to quit’. If you listen to one thing, listen to this…don’t. When you get that feeling, look in the mirror and say ‘I am a good nurse. I can do this’. Repeat until you feel better about yourself. You got this shit! 

2. Self-care is the most important thing in this course! Look after yourself. During placement time, you will drag yourself out of bed at some unearthly hour in the morning, stand at a freezing cold bus stop wondering how the hell the first bus of the day is late, despite there being absolutely no freaking traffic anywhere. Get on the bus, grunt at the bus driver, run from the bus stop to handover. Make the most of handover; think you are sitting down again for the rest of the day? Think again. When you are on the ward, you are more concerned about your patients than you are yourself, in my first placement I frequently left at 8pm after starting at 7am and not had a chance to pee. Always have one day a week where you don’t do anything, have a ‘you’ day. That may mean not setting an alarm, waking up at 2pm and only getting out of bed and leaving your Netflix binge to answer the door to the pizza delivery guy. That’s okay. It really is; you will need it!

3. Some people will say some really stupid things to you. And it’s fine to turn around and walk away. Far, far away. My personal favourites?...

‘Nurses are only in it for the money’ – Er, are you being serious right now mate? 

‘Are you coming out this weekend?’ – as much as I would love to come out, I will be buried in books trying to remember different types of hallucinations, why the hell we need a heart and despite your lecturer telling you otherwise, you are convinced that you know people functioning without a brain. Or maybe even just staring in to space wondering why on earth you’re not asleep. Or drunk. Or both. 

‘You’re young, you shouldn’t need caffeine’ – Speechless. If you didn’t believe that caffeine should be right at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you will when you do your first 13 hour shift, and it only gets stronger and stronger, but you notice the effects less and less. Don’t believe me? Tell me that again in a year. 

‘You’re so lucky, you only have to work 4 days a week! LONG WEEKEND FOR YOU!’ – No. Just no. 

4. You may (will) forget that your non-nursing friends don’t do the same as you. Sometimes one of your multiple stories about bodily fluids plastering the walls just doesn’t go down too well at a family dinner party. Who knew. On the bright side, you can eat your dinner whilst still engrossed in 24 hours in A&E/One born every minute/Casualty. You will have a strong stomach by the end of this. 

5. Don’t be afraid to ask questions whilst on placement, you won’t learn by staying quiet. And whilst we are on this, don’t keep all your questions for your mentor. Learn from the team around you, they are a wealth of knowledge, use them! I have worked within some fantastic teams, but the people I learnt most from? The patients. They will teach you more than a lecturer ever will be able to. Take some time to talk to your patients, they are people, not objects that you fix then send home. I promise you, you won’t regret it. 

6. Theory doesn’t always fit the practice, don’t go in to nursing expecting it to be straightforward, and don’t expect there to be a reasonable answer for everything. I’m really sorry; it just doesn’t work like that, however much you want it to. Two patients with the same diagnosis? You can almost guarantee that they will present differently. It’s confusing, believe me, I know. But I’m afraid you will have to get used to it! 

7. Don’t be afraid to cry. Don’t be ashamed that you are drained after your first week. Seek advice. Don’t let ANYONE make you feel small and inadequate. No explanation needed.

You are going to make a fantastic nurse, I promise! Please don’t let this scare you, you are going to do incredible things and meet incredible people! Despite the grumbles, it is so worth it, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life, we love what we do, otherwise we wouldn’t do it! 

So go to university – and go make a difference, this is what you were born to do. We need you.

All my love and best of luck for the future.

A second year student nurse (Mental health branch)

P.S…buy some comfy shoes, you won’t regret it.