 So this is it, you have got your first ever 12 hour shift and you want to know how to prepare for it. Plan your journey, so make sure you have Google mapped where you're going to go, if you don't know where you're going, make sure you know where your placement allocation is, make sure you know the address, make sure you know different travel routes, the easiest travel routes, bus, train, tram, driving, walking, cycling, whatever route or mode is the easiest and quickest and cheapest route for you, do that. Make sure you do a practice run as well, leading up to your placement so you know exactly how long it's going to take you to get to your placement so that you're not late. Comfy shoes, oh my gosh, you are going to need so cloud nine style comfy shoes so you can walk on air for the whole day, otherwise your feet are going to be in bits, you might get blisters, it's going to be horrendous because you are on your feet, 12 hour shifts you are on your feet, non stop, getting 16,000 steps in a day, you're going to want to walk on air, you're going to want your feet comfortable because trust me, it is hell if you've got a blister or you've got really uncomfortable shoes out there on placement and you've got another 11 hours to go, 10 hours to go, the countdown begins and you're in agony, you're going to want comfy shoes, trust me. And two of the top pairs of shoes that I see a lot of students have are the Clarks, they're called Unlooped and these are what I have, I find them amazing, they are the perfect shoe literally, they're very very expensive from Clarks but they will last you forever for a lifetime and okay maybe not a lifetime but they will last you a long long time but if you have a factory outlet near you, please go there to get them because they're half the price, top tip of the day. The other shoe that you might want are Skechers, I know a lot of students wear Skechers all black, they meet the criteria, have a look at those and just see which one you prefer I think but it's up to you, it's you know your own feet, you know your own body, you know what's going to be comfortable and what's not, just go out there, trial and error, just find the perfect ones for you. The day before your placement, please please please, keep it off, keep it free, don't do anything other than relax, put your feet up, watch movies all day, completely chill out, you have to go to the shop, go to the shop but please just take this day to completely unwind, recharge and get ready for your 12 hour shift the following day. The night before your shift you're going to want to make sure you sleep properly and hopefully you will, I know the night before a 12 hour shift and it's your first one, you're really anxious, you're really nervous and it's kind of hard to sleep well I think so just do everything in your power, have a nice hot bath with lavender and bubbles and Himalayan rock salts, amazing, put lavender on your pillow if you like lavender, if you don't like lavender don't do that obviously but just find different ways that help you sleep and help you relax, try and avoid eating an hour or two before going to bed as well, completely just clear your mind, your stomach, everything to shut off all technology so that you can just hopefully concentrate, shut those eyes, count some sheep and I get a good night's sleep. Nutrition and hydration, so you're going to want to take loads of snacks, lunch, dinner, plenty of fluids, make sure you take a massive bottle of water or take just a standard bottle of water so you can refill it and just make sure you keep hydrated throughout the day. Ask the nurse when you get there after somewhere you can keep your water bottle, if not keep it in the staff room and just keep going back and make sure that you drink plenty to just help you keep going throughout the day, make sure you're packing some healthy snacks as well, things like salads, carrots and hummus, cucumbers, like different vegetables and fruits, you might want to take pasta, rice dishes, all of those sort of things to keep you going but just make sure that you have your meals for the day set out because you should get a couple of breaks through the day and you'll be allocated time slots to go and have tea and coffee and things like that. Also ring a head to make sure that they've got fridges, microwaves, kettles on the ward that you go into because if not you might want to take some other things that don't need to go into a fridge or microwave to be heated. I tend to take a snack from a tea break in the morning so it's usually something really unhealthy like biscuits or breakfast bar cereals, sometimes I will take cereal with me or porridge oats or the little tubs of porridge that you can buy, heat up in the microwave, sometimes I take those and a little plastic tub to put it in and my own milk, take all of that and then from a lunch break I will usually either I'll make something like a jacket potato, some pasta, I'll make some rice, I'll make some salads, I will sometimes take ready meals with me if I really can't be bothered and I just yeah I can't be bothered to cook the night before I will do that. Sometimes I will take leftover meals from the night before so I'll prepare a meal like spaghetti bolognese or stew or something like that and I'll always make sure that I've got some for lunch the next day so I'll take it with me. I know a lot of people sort of meal prep for the week to be honest I don't like doing this, I try and do it but I really struggle because I don't like having the same meals every single day for lunch or every single night I like a variety so I will try and split it like I said if I have a meal in the evening I'll split it and have it for lunch the next day but then I'll make a new fresh batch of something else completely different to have the following day in the following day and so on. I'll also take things like wraps and sandwiches, crisps, sometimes chocolate, fruit, nuts, little things like that sort of dried fruit as well just little snacky things as well so that I've got like a snack for the morning them a main lunch and then a bit of a snack like a small wrap or sandwich is that a snack or is that a meal I don't know I class that as a snack so I have that for my next meal and then when I get home I make a proper dinner before I go to bed unless I get home really really late like I do sometimes and then I don't eat and then I go to bed and that's really really bad for you please don't do that. Just following on from all of the snacks that you're going to take with you your meals everything uniform in your bag make sure you've got a big enough bag to put everything in I've got this absolutely huge backpack it's amazing it doesn't look huge when you put it on your back but it's massive it's got so much room inside I managed to fit all of my meals for the day and my uniform it's absolutely amazing I got mine from Costco it was literally 12 pounds I think it's more like a sort of mountaineering travellers sort of backpack hang on let me show you so this is literally my backpack I don't know if you can see actually it looks massive from here it doesn't look too bad I don't think when you put it on I don't know you let me know no it doesn't look too bad when you put it on I don't think but it's literally it's so big and I can just fit absolutely everything inside it I mean it's not the prettiest of backpacks it's not flowery it's not calf kitten you know keep those for university if you want a fashion show but this is nursing it's not fashion I'm gonna go with the easiest comfortable option that's gonna fit everything in that's just me personally this tip is just for me personally it might not be for everybody and I'm probably gonna get yelled at for saying this but on the morning of your 12-hour shift when your alarm goes off do not snooze literally shut it off get up go get ready because I find when I snooze and snooze and snooze it really affects me and I literally can't do it it makes me so much more tired than I am and it's hell so I literally I set my alarm for five I'm up I'm ready I'm gone out the house by half past five also I tend not to have a full-on shower or bath in the morning before going I tend to have a wash in the morning and I have my shower or bath main sort of washing structure hygiene in the evening after placement and that just gives me more time in the morning to get ready and go because I hate faffing about in the morning I like to just leave the house but I know that's not for everybody and you are that sort of person that needs the slow prompting to get up but I just need that get up and go and just on a final note as always I'm gonna say this I've said it before my little disclaimer only you can decide how you're gonna survive a 12-hour shift and until you get into that routine until you get into that flow of doing things what works for you what doesn't work for you it's just about finding your feet when you go out there on placement and just just making sure that you're prepared for each placement day that you go on or each nursing shift that you are on a 12-hour shift it's just about finding yourself and finding how you work how you do things and what's gonna make you cope because we are all different what benefits me might not benefit you so it is just about knowing yourself knowing how you are on these 12-hour placements and just finding your feet and you're gonna be absolutely amazing