Having worked at Epsom and St Helier for a few years as a Nursing assistant prior to starting my training, I was excited to be going on placement there to practice and learn new skills from a different perspective. My placement there really helped me consolidate existing skills and learn new ones that are required of a registered nurse. Following my first placement, I feel confident in my my documentation and medication management skills. My second placement was at the Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) which is a specialist cancer hospital. I was looking forward to this as it was something completely different for me to learn. I had never treated an oncology patient before so I was excited about all the new knowledge and skills I would gain. I learnt so much in my short amount of time here and would consider coming to work in this hospital once qualified as I feel the hospital provides endless opportunities for education. I gained confidence over this year in talking to both patients and colleagues. During my placement at the RMH I regularly lead huddles and handovers and received positive feedback from other nurses and members of the MDT on doing so. When my placement ended at the RMH I received a lovely thankyou card from the staff on the ward with lovely feedback. I felt proud of myself receiving this and it was nice to be reassured that I am becoming a good nurse as it is something I am so passionate about. I also feel confident in assessing patients and escalating any concerns that I have regarding my patients. I am also able to start discussing what treatment may be appropriate for patients given their presentations.

With regards to academia, I have seen myself progress across the year especially with regards to written work. In the first semester I received grades in the ‘60s’ for my written work. Having taken on feedback I have managed to improve and received 78 in my most recent assignment. This improvement is something that I would like to continue into my second year. I have discussed this with my AGT and made a plan that I will book with the academic guidance team when starting second year. To also achieve this next year, I feel that I need to be more prepared with my time, I will do this my making myself weekly timetables to adhere to.

I am really looking forward to the year two modules, to build on existing knowledge and learn new skills. All the modules for next year look really interesting. I am especially looking forward to ‘Preventing and Managing Deteriorating Patients.’ I did a managing deterioration course whilst working as a nursing assistant, so I am excited to build on this knowledge from the perspective of a registered nurse. I am also looking forward to placements in new areas that I have not experienced and being able to practice new skills, such as IV therapies which we undertake in second year.

Next year I am hoping to achieve similar results if not better results than I did in my first year. I am also hoping to have positive placement experiences by carrying on the same attitude and work ethic that I had positive feedback on within my first year and this way I can achieve all my second year competencies and maybe even some of my Part2/3 cross over.