A Day at University!

Monday 11th December - a day at university to find out more about the course and meet my fellow nursey folk...EXCITING! Apologies in advance that this is a little all over the place. The day was a blur and went so quickly...besides the fact that I'm recounting from well over a week ago and my memory never serves me well.

The day began with a little meet-up with a few other student nurses...it turned out to be around 10 of us. We had already spoken via a social networking site but it was brilliant to be able to put names to faces. We then travelled to uni, skidding all the way due to the wintery conditions, where we gathered and chatted nervously about what we might find out/do.

First we listened to a presentation on practice placements - where they might be, length of time, health trust areas and how we choose, mentors, etc.

We then got to meet the course leader who is AMAZING! She literally lit up the room when she spoke :) I love it when lecturers are passionate about what they do and how they teach, it makes soooo much difference. She spoke to us about the time we'll be spending in university. We found out that the entire course had changed in the September and that we were the second cohort to experience the new curriculum and structure. It includes a different placement structure, a longer period at uni for the first part of the course, as well as different assessments, including OSCEs and an Anatomy and Physiology exam - eek! It all sounds very exciting though! We were told that this university is the first and only to be awarded accreditation from the NMC - WOW! Proud to be a student nurse here :)

Then we heard from some current students ranging from year 1-3, from all different nursing fields. They (obviously!) have a wealth of knowledge. I just wanted to sit and chat with them all day. The information they gave us was absolutely invaluable. I can't believe that I could be doing that this time next year!

Finally we had to do all of the organisational things - CRB and information on bursary applications. We completed our CRB checks and I literally received mine in the post 5 days later - super quick! I've been trying to do the bursary application for ages and it's giving me such a headache! I can't understand why the form is like 40 pages long. Who designed it?! Crazy people :0p

Oh well, I'm off to battle with the dreaded form again. Hope you're all well!! :)