The Student Room Group

What has your experience of nursing placement been?

Having heard some of the horror stories about the non-medical tasks given to nursing students on placement (eg. spending shifts doing admin) I was wondering what experiences other nursing students or graduates had of placements and the kinds of non-medical duties they were asked to perform.
Not really a horror story, but I have heard others complain of things like this.
However, nursing is not all about the clinical or medical tasks as such.
I've gained the impression that a lot of those in the adult field feel they're not doing nursing unless they're doing clinical tasks.
On the other hand, doing paperwork is an important part of the job role and needs to be treated with the same respect as it is a NMC requirement.


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Reply 2
I've heard more about students being used as hcas for the entire placement and barely learning a thing....that's more of a horror story. I know of some placements that put you with ward Clark for a day or so....some might think why on earth have I been shuved with ward Clark....what a ward Clark does is majorly important and nurses need to learn it when ward Clark isn't around etc. Massive part of nursing is admin (unfortunately). A lot is paperless or going paperless. Note writing is something we all do a lot of because it's a requirement. The more writing you do the better you become as a student so some mentors will make you do plenty of notes. Just the way it is unfortunately. But if your sat for 10 weeks doing admin then no....that's not right
Hello, placements are paid or unpaid? How many days per week a placement is taking place is the course is 50% lectures and 50% placements?

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Original post by Asklepios1
Hello, placements are paid or unpaid? How many days per week a placement is taking place is the course is 50% lectures and 50% placements?

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TO register as a nurse you need to complete a minimum of 2300 hours of university study and 2300 hours of clinical placement. They're unpaid, you'll be expected to work full time hours covering all shifts. Some unis mix placement and uni together, but it's more common to do uni and placement in blocks, both universities that run nursing round here do placement in blocks. You'll be expected to follow the shifts your mentor works, but there is sometimes some opportunity for flexibility.
Moonkatt you rock :smile:

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Original post by WiltshireSW
Having heard some of the horror stories about the non-medical tasks given to nursing students on placement (eg. spending shifts doing admin) I was wondering what experiences other nursing students or graduates had of placements and the kinds of non-medical duties they were asked to perform.


When I was on my community placement, we were in a really rural area and there was this lamb that had escaped from a nearby field and was right next to the road. My co-mentor and I decided that we couldn't leave it there in case it caused an accident, so I got out of the car and chased it back into the field :'D Haha not a task as such, but quite a funny anecdote. During my children's hospice placement I did end up using an old wheelbarrow to help clear out loads of unused toys too. Never thought I'd use a wheelbarrow as a student nurse! (The other nurses helped too)To be honest I think it's good for students to have a "Can do" attitude to any task given to them, as long as it doesn't interfere with their learning. Me clearing out toys was a couple of hours, when there wasn't much else happening, as one off, and was me being part of the wider team.

There does have to be a strict line between what is helpful and what takes advantage of a student though. Even now if my workload is low and my colleagues don't need help, you'll often find me restocking the drug room and paperwork drawers or cleaning the nurses desk and organising equipment. It may primarily be a HCA job, but if I can I do it.
I have had mixed experiences on my PGDiP adult nursing course. Some placements have been very aware of giving me varied experience and a lot of instruction. However there have been placements where my educational experience hasn't been taken as seriously. I think a lot of people will agree that it comes down to who your mentor is when on placement. Some people take the job seriously and accept the responsibility of training you correctly where others see a student nurse as an opportunity to get odd jobs done or jobs they just dont want to do. I have spent too much time making beds, preparing food and even organizing someone's storage cupboard. We all should be open to being helpful in all areas and food preparation, organization and bed making should be a part of that but not when more valuable educational opportunities are missed.
When we look at the amount of training time we have before we are sent out to look after patients I do question whether I have been given ample opportunity to develop my skills and gain the confidence I need to give exceptional care. I generally think I've been fortunate with my mentors but I know of many who haven't. This is definitely an area that needs improvement in the NHS, students should be valued more during their placement expereinces.
In my community/District nursing placement, I learnt a lot about wound care, but there were also times when I learnt nothing. For approximately 2 weeks of my 5 week placement I couldn't guarantee I would have any patient contact as the nurses parking permit had expired and I was often asked to "babysit" her car so she didn't get a ticket.

Or if I wasn't asked to remain in the car for the duration of a visit, I would be asked to run out and keep checking the car rather than getting involved with the patients care. This was particularly irritating as the longer visits where leaving the car alone was at greatest risk, generally involved the more interesting cases and clinical skills. Which I feel restricted my learning opportunities.

I also didn't feel I could say no, the fear of being labeled as "that student", and feeling vulnerable in my position as a student. My passing of the placement depending on the approval of the person, who would rather I did her this favour that take part in my placement . What can I say? No I won't stay here? Start critisising the person in control of my learning?

The placement was ok, the team was so friendly. So I feel guilty in saying negative aspects. But the placement was often over shadowed by tasks such as this.
Thanks for the update. Since that mentor kind of restricts your learning experience, could you complain sonewhere in order to change with somebody else? How easy is this procedure?
Reply 10
Original post by Asklepios1
Thanks for the update. Since that mentor kind of restricts your learning experience, could you complain sonewhere in order to change with somebody else? How easy is this procedure?


Not sure if your university uses online timesheets but we do....it's a database called PARE and on this you not only do your timesheets but you also leave feedback for your last placement (this can be anonymously) and the placement and other students can see your review! But also there is "alert words" that flag up practice facilitators and they deal with any negative feedback you have given about the said placement. It's great if you don't yet feel confident to approach the issue
Original post by Studentnurse567
In my community/District nursing placement, I learnt a lot about wound care, but there were also times when I learnt nothing. For approximately 2 weeks of my 5 week placement I couldn't guarantee I would have any patient contact as the nurses parking permit had expired and I was often asked to "babysit" her car so she didn't get a ticket.

Or if I wasn't asked to remain in the car for the duration of a visit, I would be asked to run out and keep checking the car rather than getting involved with the patients care. This was particularly irritating as the longer visits where leaving the car alone was at greatest risk, generally involved the more interesting cases and clinical skills. Which I feel restricted my learning opportunities.

I also didn't feel I could say no, the fear of being labeled as "that student", and feeling vulnerable in my position as a student. My passing of the placement depending on the approval of the person, who would rather I did her this favour that take part in my placement . What can I say? No I won't stay here? Start critisising the person in control of my learning?

The placement was ok, the team was so friendly. So I feel guilty in saying negative aspects. But the placement was often over shadowed by tasks such as this.


Why feel guilty of discussing the negative aspects? You're there to learn how to be a nurse, not a parking attendant. I hope you've fed this back to your university as it is clearly something that has negatively impacted upon your experiences when placed with this team.

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