Nursing

I was thinking in Adult nursing what kind of things do you do in your placements? And it the content heavy? How many hours do you revise a day

Reply 1

Littleemma98

Original post by hellothere34443

I was thinking in Adult nursing what kind of things do you do in your placements? And it the content heavy? How many hours do you revise a day

Basically you'll be doing on a hospital ward placement -
Obs- blood pressure and temperature and note them down
Bed changing
Asist with any patients that may require bed baths instead of going to bathroom for a bath or shower 🚿 and some patients will be requiring assistance with washing in the bathroom/shower which you'll help with
Assisting with handing out meals at appropriate time
Taking notes on new patients coming into the ward so communication is very important
You may go round with the nurse who is doing the medication round
Unfortunately you may come over patients who been Sick which you might be asked to clean up 😞

Community placement varies but on home visits you'll help to change any dressings on wounds etc and get opportunities to ask questions.

Outpatient department places varies on what you'll be doing

The contents varies depending on what you have to learn and what notes you're writing up at the end of the day after university or placements.
How many hours you revise is what you do yourself.

Reply 2

hellothere34443

Wow thank you for the information

Reply 3

Littleemma98

Original post by hellothere34443

Wow thank you for the information

You are welcome and good luck 🙏 on what you do 💞

Reply 4

Emily_B

Original post by hellothere34443

I was thinking in Adult nursing what kind of things do you do in your placements? And it the content heavy? How many hours do you revise a day

I certainly didn't revise every day through my nursing degree. On placement and on a 13 hour day shift? No chance of doing any revision that day. 3 12 hour nights together? No chance of revision on those days. I'd look through my notes of things to look up on other days while on placement - could spend 15 minutes to 2 hours a day on a non-shift day. When on theory blocks, it could be anything 2-4 hours working/"revising".

As for placement, this is what I did.

Year 1 placement 1, school immunisations
- watched immunisation sessions (I wasn't allowed to give any immunisations under trust rules)
- learned about consent process, especially for the 4-16 age range
- spent time reassuring children before having their immunisations
- spent some time with neighbouring GP practice nurse - gave B12 injections, watched asthma/diabetes reviews, dressings clinics
- spent some time with neighbouring district nurses, going out to patients to do dressings
- spent some time with neighbouring school nurses, at drop in clinics for school children and school/social work/family/nurse meetings regarding children/families with issues and how best to support them
- spent some time with neighbouring health visitors

Year 1 placement 2, elderly medicine
- taking/giving handover
- taking observations (BP, pulse, sats, etc)
- helping feeding, washing, changing, toileting patients
- checking pressure areas
- documentation
- some slight insight into complex social discharges

Year 1 placement 3, day surgery
- pre op checks
- admitting and discharging from the daycase ward
- post op observations - clinical observations, and has the patient mobilised, eaten, drunk, been to the bathroom
- basic wound care
- referring to practice nurses/district nurses
- following the patient's journey - through pre op, admission, anaesthetic, theatre, post anaesthetic recovery, ward, discharge (as daycase)
- documentation

Year 2 placement 1, cardiology
- taking/giving handover
- taking observations (BP, pulse, sats, etc)
- helping feeding, washing, changing, toileting patients
- checking pressure areas
- basics of reading cardiac monitors
- transferring patients to tertiary care
- maintaining fluid balance charts and the importance of such (including the importance of fluid intake restrictions!)
- documentation

Year 2 placement 2, A&E
- the basics of triage and which part of the department to send patients
- witnessed arrest situations & traumas
- when it's appropriate to discharge from ED and when it's appropriate to admit
- exposure to child, LD and MH patients as well as adult - the differences that come with different fields
- how to do ECGs
- documentation

Year 2 placement 3a, nursing home
- basics of nursing - feeding, pressure area checks, washes, toileting
- when to call the GP/on call GP vs 111 vs 999
- how continence products need to be prescribed in the community
- PEG feeds

Year 2 placement 3b, negotiated practice
I chose to opt into negotiated practice (4 weeks normal placement 3 weeks negotiated practice rather than 7 weeks normal placement), so went to the Isle of Man for 3 weeks. During this 3 weeks, I got to:
- see how a completely different hospital works
- spend a day with an anaesthetic ODP - I learned loads about anaesthetics from both him and the anaesthetist. The next day, the ODP sought me out to apologise for bombarding me with information... when I admitted I wanted/needed to learn stuff and was exhausted by the end of the day because I'd had such a good day and learned loads!
- got to go in to a planned C-section list, including scrubbing in for one of them. I'm not interested at all in having my own children but this was really interesting.
- I got to got to the TT emergency services debrief meeting and learn about what they thought went well/what could have gone better, and the sort of cases they dealt with on the island vs what had to be flown to Aintree

Year 2 placement 4, acute stroke unit/stroke rehab
Repeat elderly medicine, but add in what to do when someone's had a stroke +/- been to the neuro centre. I spent 4 weeks looking after a bay of 4 ladies with supervision from the nurse in the next bay.

Year 3 placement 1, orthopaedics & trauma.
- taking/giving handover
- taking observations (BP, pulse, sats, etc) and escalating appropriately
- helping feeding, washing, changing, toileting patients
- checking pressure areas
- documentation
- pre & post operative care - difference between spinal, sedation & general anaesthetic
- complex social discharges - can the patient go home, or do they need residential/nursing home; also difference with "out of area" patients" (retired people who were in the area on holiday, fell and broke a hip, were treated but from a completely different area and need care)

Year 3, placement 2 - final placement, vascular surgery
- taking/giving handover - being able so at newly qualified nurse level
- taking observations (BP, pulse, sats, etc) and escalating appropriately - being able so at newly qualified nurse level including talking to registrars and consultants not just the F1s!
- helping feeding, washing, changing, toileting patients
- checking pressure areas
- wound care - especially very complex wound care for vascular wounds including vacuum drains and vacuum dressings
- documentation
- pre & post operative care - difference between spinal, sedation & general anaesthetic
- complex social discharges - can the patient go home, or do they need residential/nursing home; also difference with "out of area" patients" (retired people who were in the area on holiday, fell and broke a hip, were treated but from a completely different area and need care)

Fellow student nurses didn't have the exact same placements as I did. Some students were on the same placement at the same time or similar time (e.g. I had a student in my year group with me on elderly medicine in middle of year 1 at the same time, 2 with me on day surgery at the same time, 1 on cardiology just after me in 2nd year, 3 in ED at the same time, 2 in a different nursing home at the same time, numerous who had been to ortho or vascular before I went there).
People in my year (adult nurses) had full placements with district nurses, lactation nurses, GP nurses, the local hospice, other areas in the local hospital such as intensive care, outpatients, all other medical and surgical wards e.g. gastro, respiratory, general medicine, haematology, diabetes, general surgery, urology, gynae.

Reply 5

hellothere34443

Wow, I really appreciate the detailed reponse and it seems very fun but tiring to work on placements but, I think I’ll enjoy it. Ty

Reply 6

Ezeokoyechisom

Original post by hellothere34443

I was thinking in Adult nursing what kind of things do you do in your placements? And it the content heavy? How many hours do you revise a day

How to study and prepare for nursing exams
Stay on top of your workload. ...
Revise your lecture notes whilst it's still fresh in your head. ...
Stay prepared for your lectures. ...
Flashcards, flashcards, flashcards! ...
Create a revision timetable. ...
Break your revision up. ...
Give yourself a break. ...
Take the night off the day before the exam.

secondly
have a 'give-it-a-go' attitude to new skills but remember the aim of the first placement is to develop your basic skills, such as making conversation with patients, observations, assisting with personal hygiene and bed changing. The programme is designed so that students can achieve the NMC requirements to complete 2300 hours of clinical learning by the end of their course. The standard working week whilst on a clinical placement is 37.5hours.

Thirdly
What should I do on my first day of nursing placement?

For the first few weeks everything you do will be under the supervision of your mentor so never be afraid to ask for help. One rule you should always abide by is to never do anything that you have not practiced or that your mentor has not demonstrated before. This is when accidents happen.8 Dec 2016

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