Beginnings

The approach of my first ever clinical placement in my first year studying for a Bachelor of Nursing has been a daunting time indeed. Aside from the masses of paper work (preparation for becoming RNs I assume), multiple practical tests and medical hoops to jump through, there was a fair bit of mental preparation and nerves to attend to. Having passed all the academic prerequisites, and my medical tests for immunity and MRSA were all cleared it became a waiting game. Initially I was assigned to a nice looking rest home, the only drawback being it was a three hour walk away for a car-less student, and buses didn't run early enough.  Happily before I has too much time to fret and pull hair I got another email from the clinical coordinator saying I'd been moved to a ward at the local hospital, a mere 20 minute walk from my flat. Although lecturers tell you otherwise, there is a certain advantage to being placed in a hospital ward over a rest home. The variety of what you will see and experience, the part each ward plays in an immense healthcare system, the level of care given to patients, and the amount of responsibility afforded to the student. I considered myself extremely lucky to not just be washing bedpans for the next six weeks, my only concern being that the ward is a rehabilitation centre for 65 years and over. Care for the elderly has never been an area that has appealed to me, believing it would not contain the same joy or excitement of a pediatric ward or emergency department. Having seen elderly members of my own family go through the system with immense struggles, difficulty and sadness for the patient and relatives, it seems difficult and depressing with little hope of a happy ending. I'm not naive, I understand that all areas of nursing involve heartbreak and death, it's an integral part of both nursing and life. But in the back of my mind I worry that the positive will be outweighed in this setting where the final stages of life are played out. Still I am very excited so we will just have to see, I am ready to take the first steps.