 Hi everyone and welcome back to another vlog if you're new to this channel thank you so so much for tuning in and don't forget to subscribe and like if you want if you don't don't worry about it as always my name is Claire Carmichael I'm a newly qualified nurse working as a GP nurse so today I'm going to be doing a Q&A vlog for you all I've been gathering your questions together and I have my laptop ready I've saved them all of screenshot them all so that I can be prepared let's start with the first question so the first question is all about how to make friends at uni because it can be so lonely and people are already in cliques now this is I feel this absolutely especially as a mature student going into uni it can be very daunting very scary and I think I've said this before in a previous vlog but it took me a couple of months to actually speak to anyone and make friends properly um but I think just go out there say hello to people sit with people talk to people if you feel comfortable if you are that person that you can see someone else that's alone talk to them invite them into your group you know it's yeah one of the things that our program directors said to us was surviving uni and staying successful at uni is all about having friends and having that support network and do you know what it's absolutely absolutely spot on if I didn't have my friends in the end I finally did get some friends I don't know where I would be right now because they were just amazing and they have no idea how much they supported me throughout uni so I think just trying to make friends is always a tough one because it's hard to judge people's reactions and what sort of person they are what sort of sense humor they are but just sit next to people start talking to people make polite conversation maybe ask for some help um like if there's an assignment going on there's a revision ask for some help um maybe post in your university groups as well if you're on a facebook group or something just say does anyone want to get together and do a revision session I think that those little things are going to really really help you bond and make friends hopefully are there any areas you wish you had developed more in oh what a question I think do you know what thinking about it I think I would have even though it terrified me the thought of it I would have liked to have experienced A&E I think I think just for that fast pace that assessment and things like that but then I have had acute surgical wards to have that sort of thing but I think I would have liked to experience that and not only that but a lot more wound management I'm very good at wounds I can dress wounds aseptic technique and all of that I've got my little chart that I follow that are printed out about um what type of dressing to use for which wound and I don't feel like it's enough for some people I'm just like I'm looking at wounds and I'm thinking I have no idea how to manage that and I felt like that as well on my just district nursing placement as well so I definitely feel like I would have liked to have seen a lot more wound management at uni but that's just for me and the area that I'm in so yeah what was the job application like in a nutshell so it was okay I applied to so many jobs I got a lot of knockbacks I got a lot of people just writing me off before even offering me an interview which was really really tough to see on your NHS job applications but the right one came along in the end so I'm very very fortunate of that but you just have to go out there even if they say experienced nurse required apply if it's something you think that you can do you've got the skills to do apply for it that's the biggest tip I can give for that one overall the application process was okay I am we have a careers team at Birmingham City University they were amazing using abuse your careers teams and also the RCN careers teams are just fantastic if you're with the RCN as well go and use them because that's what they're there for and there's such a benefit to help you write your personal statements to write your CVs your covering letters things like that they're fantastic so please use and abuse them was it a scary moving trust from where you studied yes as exciting as it was like I was really excited to move to a different area start a new job and all of that but there was that nerve there because I haven't got I've from Birmingham as some of you know I've moved down south to Portsmouth and I'm just like I've got no idea how it works down here I've got no idea about the CCGs I've got no idea about safeguarding teams who to refer to so I had to look all of this up and I'm still learning now um three weeks into my new post and I'm still learning I'm still googling things about where things are so yeah so it is a little bit scary but you'll get used to it is my tip for anybody else that's going to be moving trust you will get used to it research the area look into it look where to refer people to and you'll be fine can you fail placement due to a lack of knowledge and skills oh what a question so very very fortunately I didn't fail a placement thank god but you do have your most unis I know every uni works differently every placement works differently but most unis have a set criteria you have your placement documents or some some people have changed over to the pad now and it's just a book full of all your skills that you need to get signed off as long as you're signing those competencies off and showing that you are knowledgeable in those areas I don't see how they can fail you on knowledge and skills but it's okay not to know something I've said this before it's okay and even the most qualified nurses will not know it all so I think it's okay not to know things but also you do have that set of competencies and skills that you do need to get signed off and that you do need to know like medications and things so as long as you know those little bits I think you're going to be okay what's the hardest topic you found when studying oh okay so I mean nursing's tough I know I've made it look really easy and it's amazing but it is tough you have to put in so much hard work to get the grades guys you really really do have to knuckle down so the hardest topic for me was mp4 I think that was the final exam I know I did a vlog about it and the revision in in that exam was just so intense it was ridiculous and the amount of depth of knowledge you needed to know for that exam was ridiculous and I just felt like I was just swamped in revision oh I studied I revised daily for that exam hardest topic I think was research purely because I didn't like sitting there listening to research however when it comes to my dissertation I enjoyed actually doing the research I enjoyed that side of it so someone has asked a really good question that I really wanted to cover in another vlog but I'm gonna just briefly mention it here would you work in a nursing home absolutely like I started out in nursing homes the elderly patients have my whole heart I absolutely adore it and I think that's why I like GP so much as well because it is an older population in GP and I just love it I love nursing homes and people are nursing homes are so underrated honest to god you need to experience working in a nursing home if you haven't already because I learned the pure fundamentals of my nursing and my skills in a nursing home that's where I started and I've learned so so much about so so much in a nursing home it's just amazing and you are going to have tough days like everywhere everywhere you're going to have tough days the bad days the the days that you're stressed and your short staffed and all of that but you know what I I just I loved it so yeah so anyway it's too long I love nursing homes please if you're thinking about working at it go and experience it volunteer ring them up have a look into it is amazing but I'm going to do is come in the nursing homes the nursing home side of nursing is coming in a completely separate vlog it's something I've wanted to do for a while and I completely forgot about it until recently and yeah just wait for it if you miss some time after your replacement how do you make up your hours this is quite a common question actually a lot of people are so worried about the hours because the nmc require you to do 2,300 hours over the three years whether you like it or not you have to do those hours so if you're missing time off uni some well I know our uni over compensated a little bit with the placement hours so that if you did miss a day here and there it was okay it didn't really matter so much but if you're having weeks and weeks and mums off then you're going to have to make up those hours I know at Birmingham City University we had a period called the cap period and that's where we made up all of our hours so there is every uni should have their own way of doing things so just inquire with your own university what they do and ask that question with the placement team what routine did you adapt with exams and content so the way I eventually got into it was you break it all down you think about it logically you look at an exam and you think okay what's important what are they realistically going to ask me because you've only got so many questions but they teach you so much so I sort of I looked for clues when they were teaching if they sort of pointed in a direction of a certain thing I would write that down and star it then I would look at the most important things that I thought that doesn't even make any sense but I would look at as a whole I would sort of filter out the bits that I knew so there'll be some things that you know and there'll be some things that you really don't know the things that you really don't know that's the bits that I would revise because I already know the other bits so I kind of don't need to revise it if that makes sense so that's the way I sort of broke it down I then made flashcards and just put bullet points diagrams used all these colors put them all over my walls everywhere I could see them and it just kept looking back at them and refreshing my brain also I've said this before but using all of the lobes of the brain so watching videos speaking so quizzing each other in a group or with your friends and family and writing it down using colors using diagrams all these different ways to visualize it and the theory behind that is if you're in the exam and one part of your brain goes blocked and forgetful the other lobes are going to back it up because you've reached those other lobes by the different techniques that you've used and it and honest to god it works it worked for me it'll work for you I'm sure just have to revise in the right ways oh this is such a common thing and I do it as well so I put pressure on myself to know everything to do with nursing do I need to know it all no stop it you're putting so much pressure on yourself I do the same I felt horrendous the last last week about not knowing enough and there's things that I didn't know and it's made me feel so bad about myself but we can't know it all we can't know it all guys nobody knows it all and nobody likes to know it all anyway so even top consultants I've had top consultants ask me advice about something because they don't know a particular thing because that's not their specialty and I was just like after that point I was like that just shows that literally nobody knows it all you can't physically know it all you will specialize when you're qualified you will specialize in your area and you'll get so used to that area that you'll forget about maybe teaching about cancer at uni because you don't work there you'll forget about sexual health if you've had any teaching on that because you don't work there if you're going into sexual health you might forget the management things like that so it's absolutely okay not to know something as long as you're safe and you're keeping your patient safe that's the main thing and you can rationalize and justify all of your actions if that makes sense and go on evidence-based practice always what has been your favorite part of nursing so far including your time at uni placements oh so I've loved if you've been through my journey from day one I've loved every single minute even the bits I didn't like like research I like I loved it it's really hard to narrow down my favorite part but there's been light bulb moments that have really affected me and changed the way that I am if that makes sense and I think I have to put those down as my top favorite so in first year it'll be the staying successful event because that was my turning point for me that was when I was like do you know what I need to do more I need to be more and I need to be my best self on this course and not have any regrets when I finish and that was a massive turning point that's when I started my vlogging and blogging and doing more for other students and I just didn't want to leave with any regrets and that that's just it's got to be my favorite part it's got to be because it was life changing but my other favorite part if I was going to talk about placements it'll be when you make a difference to your patients that has to be top because if you've done something and it can be the slightest little thing like someone's um maybe got feces on them or clean them up and afterwards and they're just so grateful to what you've done for them and it's just the little tiny things that really make a big difference to some people's lives and it just it it touches me so much and I get really emotional about it so I'm not going to go into it because I don't want to end up crying again on this vlog but just those little moments with patients are just the best oh this is a very good question so opinion on trainee nursing associates and would you have chosen the path if given a choice so they just brought out the nursing associate when I got into university so I'd already got into universities so I thought let me just take this path but if I'd known about it before I think I might have chose that route because you get paid for it you're doing a lot of the nursing sort of skills as well as the healthcare assistant skills you're that sort of in between sort of person you've got all this knowledge as well so I think it's an amazing and I'm not just saying this I think it's an absolutely amazing route I think it's fantastic it's only a two-year course as well which is even better although saying that I don't regret doing the nursing degree because I really love I've loved every single minute of my nursing degree the three years has been amazing and I wouldn't be where I am now without that so I don't regret it but I think I might have chosen it if I knew about it at the time and my opinion on them as you can see is they're amazing nursing associates are fantastic they are so knowledgeable they are a massive massive help to the team I have never had any poor experiences with nursing associates and I think anyone that's got that negative opinion needs to stop it because nursing associates are fantastic and they're a massive massive asset to the the healthcare system big love to all my nursing associate friends oh god this is a really long-winded question so I'm going to try and answer it as fast as possible so what's the difference between a gp nurse and working in hospital gp is very much primary care it is that first contact with the patient you are preventing them from the hospital point you're doing everything you can to prevent them from hospital and you will see a whole variety of different ages different conditions different things you see literally everything small long-term conditions asthma, COPD, diabetes, hypertension, you've got wound management, travel vaccines, baby vaccines all the sexual health contraception all these different things like gp you just do everything you are wearing many hats you're not just one type of nurse you are like many types of nurse if that makes sense and that's why I love it however in the hospital nine times out of ten it's more specialized down to certain areas so you'll have orthopedics and then you'll have the renal you'll have respiratory wards and they're just very specific areas you might have um like general medicine wards you might have amu but that is more to me no offense to anybody because I have enjoyed every single time of my placements and I've learned so much from my ward experiences but I was not a ward nurse and I felt like when I was on my placements I was treating the symptoms sending them home treating the symptoms sending them home it was very much like a conveyor belt and I didn't like that I didn't like that I didn't see the patient again and that really troubles me I still think about patients now that I saw in hospital and I always wonder what's happened to them are they okay but with gp you see your patient over and over again you're building that rapport and it's just amazing do you have a morning or evening routine so I'm going to do a whole vlog about a day in a life of a gp nurse and it's going to show all of that how to make the most of placement and first year and finding it hard at the moment oh so sorry you're feeling this I oh big love to you because I know this feeling and I think most of us know this feeling you're not alone I absolutely promise you and if anyone else is feeling like this comment below to show this person because it's hard when you first I went on my first ward placement I hated it and it wasn't the staff or anything like that and I just hated it I hated the layout I hated the routine I hated just everything and I knew from that moment that I wasn't a ward nurse and it made me doubt myself it made me think oh my god I feel so guilty because I'm a nurse I should want to care for patients when they're at their critical times why do I feel like this and I question myself and I thought can I be a nurse can I do this and I honestly I had to push myself through that pace placement I'm not even joking I used to go home crying I know this luckily I didn't vlog then because you would all be put off nursing I hated it but as I went on and my placements went on and it was okay you do get into a routine and you do sort of you have to remind yourself do you know what it's only a placement I don't need to work here if I don't want to I can go and work in GB I can go into the community and go to sexual health I can go into research I can do all these amazing things you don't have to work in that area that you're on placement and it's only for a set period of time so just remember remember that just remember that you're not there for that long just get your head down work hard get your book signed off and make the most of it however if you're having problems bullying harassing anything like that please report it get support if you really really need it don't suffer in silence because it is not nice when should I start applying for positions and where to look so this is dependent on the area you want to work in when I was applying to GP I started applying sort of middle of my third year start of third year sort of time and they said it was way too soon they because they want GP's a very small clinic they want someone to start now so you have to apply for GP at the end of your third year that's my tip for GP however I did get a community job offer and that was sort of middle of third year so they were happy to wait for that and the same with wards as well so wards a lot of my friends got their jobs in second year wards are more than happy to keep that position open for you everywhere's desperate for staff so a lot of places are willing to hold the post for you what qualities do employers look for this is a really good question the six C's care compassionate courage all of the buzzwords they want you to be that person so yeah so they're looking for someone that's got good communication skills can be a team player but you can also work on your own initiative you can also use evidence-based practice you're knowledgeable all of those sort of little qualities and also look at the if you're applying for job look at the person spec and the job description because that will tell you everything you need for your interview because whatever's on there they're bound to ask you what are your long-term goals oh so I really want to be an advanced nurse practitioner which I keep saying however just recently this past week I've really missed students I really really miss helping students out and it feels like since I've left university I don't do that as much like I do my blogs and do my blogs and a comment on social media and stuff but I used to do so much at university to help students and I used to do open days and things like that and I really missed that side of it so now I'm thinking what can I do to help more students and that's just long term I'm thinking maybe lecturing or working at university I think I'm going to enjoy that a lot as well as doing clinics obviously keep my patients in clinics this question is all about reflection so what sort of events should be reflected on just started a new module on reflection everyone gets so confused about reflection I don't know why because you do it all the time the way that it was put towards which helped me understand which is what I'm going to tell you now is you reflect daily if something say you have an argument with your partner or your child something happens with your child you and you sort of reflect after the event and you sort of think oh have I been too tough haven't I been too tough should have done this should have done that that's reflection but just because they're bad events doesn't mean that you can't reflect on the good events so something went well you want to reflect on okay what's gone well and how can I make this go well next time how can I keep doing this so it keeps going well and how can I build on that to improve and that's literally it don't overthink it guys oh someone knows that I don't like wards if you had to work on a ward what would it be it would you know what I'm going to say orthopedics because I've been on a couple of orthopedics wards and I've learned so much from that ward they are where I've got my most of my acute skills from I would say because I saw so many patients that deteriorated suddenly from having a hip operation or knee replacement and I've responded accordingly and luckily got it right so I would say orthopedics because yeah just it was really really good for my skills so can you discuss absences and managing your own health as a student there I've briefly talked about absences so I'm going to talk about the health side of things now even the most positive motivating people like me I'm positive I love life I enjoy life to the fullest but that doesn't mean I'm not human it doesn't mean I'm a robot I will feel things I will have a down day I've been on a vlog before and I've just sat there and just cried because I've just had a day and a half and that's normal it's okay to have those days it's there's the hashtag it's okay not to be okay and I think we feel so guilty when I know I do so I'm just gonna talk about something briefly I'm not going to go into too much because I want to do a whole separate vlog on mental health but I have been feeling a little bit low lately and it's a lot of things have just been getting to me and I've felt a bit down but I had to remind myself that that's okay it's okay to feel like that you know a lot has happened I've had a lot of changes in my life and nursing is this every day is a new day every day is learning every day something will happen that impacts you mentally we are human we are going to get emotional um but it's really really important that you recognize it and get help when you need it and sort of do things like spend time with family spend time with friends treat yourself go out do all these things to sort of help your mental health and if you find yourself really really struggling please talk to someone say do you know what I'm not okay I need to speak to someone about it and I think that's a really really important thing I think it's when we don't speak about it and we shy away from it and we we sort of hide those sort of feelings that is just going to get worse and worse and worse and we don't want that so just get yourself some help do the best that you can keep yourself hydrated keep a bottle of water on you if people are refusing your water report it because that's not okay it is a tough job you're 12 hours on your feet and I think it's part of the health and safety and manual handling act that you should be having regular water breaks so stay hydrated guys and that's also really important for your mental health it's really surprising if you don't drink enough how it can affect your mental health your bowel habits your wean habits your whole body system so keep hydrated keep nourished eat the right things don't eat a lot of junk and hopefully you'll be amazing can you prescribe as a gp nurse or does medication still go through gp this is a really oh hi Dylan Dylan wanted to say hi Dylan you can say hi he says hi prescriptions that's what i'm learning right now this is what the pgds are all about patient group directives so as a gp nurse as actually as a nurse in general you will you can give certain things without a prescription from the doctor so this is called a pgd which you are signing to say you understand it the side effects contraindications all of that of medications and you are giving that to the patient so if anything happens that patient is all on you all of it on you that's not the gp's fault he hasn't told you to give it it is all on you however medications have to be prescribed by the doctor things like dressings i can prescribe it's not a prescription i'm just issuing it so i it will print out like a prescription it will go on the doctor's name but i just click issue to issue dressings for patients that's all i can do i can't prescribe medications i can't do any of that however if i want to do that i can do a separate course just like any nurse whether you're an award or whatever no one can prescribe medications unless you do the course you need to do that prescribing course you can't just prescribe medications however things like vaccines i can give under a pgd don't need a prescription for that if that makes sense so yeah i hope that makes sense so the short answer is no no one can prescribe without a course so there are a lot a lot a lot of questions on gp which i've covered in a previous vlog so if you go back and just have a look at my gp application process vlog i did one on the specifics as well of applying to gp and what you need if that makes sense so go and have a look at those vlogs because i've already covered them and i don't i just this vlog's gonna be like hours long if i go through all of these hardest part of nursing and why oh that's a great question now nursing is tough like i said there's so many moments that you're just gonna be like i can't do this and those points for me where more when i don't understand something or when i get something not get something wrong but the knowledge base isn't there so i won't know something and i'll be like oh my god i'm such a bad nurse like we've talked about before put impression on ourselves that's when i start to feel like this is really really hard and i can't do this is when i think that i'm not knowledgeable enough also the emotions of nursing is really really hard so it's really hard because we are only human we're gonna get days where a patient really touches our hearts or a patient suddenly dies on us something like that that's gonna really affect us and we need to be open and honest about those things and seek advice if we're struggling but those those days i think have been really hard for me there has been a couple of times where patients have suddenly died and it's not been expected and that's really affected me because i've built that bond with that patient and i'm constantly asking what happened why why is this happened um life can be so so cruel and that's the hard part i think of nursing so this is a good one i've never covered this so how did you feel the first time you did cpr and the reason why i've never covered it is because i've never thank you god never ever done it i've never had to give cpr and a real person and it's something i'm not gonna lie it terrifies the thought of the thought of doing cpr and a real person because of that knowledge i think that actually a lot of people don't make it and i don't think i'm going to be okay with that if i'm given cpr to somebody and they don't make it i'm going to be that person that has a little bit of a breakdown i think afterwards because for me i want to save lives i want to save that person and that's going to be hard but i've never given cpr and hopefully fingers crossed i will never have to give cpr well this is a random question where were you born i was actually born in scotland that's a very very good question so it's a long-winded explanation but i was basically born in scotland moved down the map i went to school in liverpool and then i lived in runcorn for a beer i lived in liverpool obviously i've lived in cheltonam i lived in syrincester and then i moved to birmingham and then after birmingham i'm now down the map so i've gone top to bottom of the map scotland portsmouth and i've ended at the bottom here i am oh this is a good one because this is another love of mine as well as the elderly is sexual health so how can a nurse get into sexual health apply look on the nhs job site google your local sexual health um gum clinics or the local brook brook brook brook brook um google your local brook clinic sorry google your local brook clinic google sexual health jobs and ring them if there's no jobs online ring them and just say have you got any vacancies they are taking on newly qualified nurses as well so don't think you need experience apply anyway how is it like working autonomously like i really love it i genuinely love being autonomous and that's why i really wanted to be a gp nurse as well because sometimes it can be a little bit much when you've got so many doctors and nurses around you and things going on you can't think i like that i've got my own room it's peaceful i can see my own patience i can do what i want to a certain extent i really like that but i also know when i don't know something which has been a few times in this few weeks i've had to google nice guidelines i've had to go to the doctor i've had to go to the nurse and that's okay so i'm happy working autonomously would you ever be a midwife that's a good question now i did think about midwifery because when i was on my gp placement i spent the day with a midwife and she was amazing and i loved it i loved doing the baby scans and things like that however i i don't want to do the delivering the baby side things i like the um like before care and the aftercare kind of side i don't like the delivering a baby and i say that because i watched my sister give birth and no i know i don't know how people do it i'm really sorry if you're pregnant about to have a baby but it's horrendous no people need to prepare people for these things so yeah it's safe to say i'm never gonna have kids i'm happy with these little fur babies they're enough for me oh someone's asked do you like to meet foreign friends absolutely i've got friends from all over i've got people in canada poland slavakia are canada i've said canada have i i don't know anymore america i've got people i've got friends from all over and i love it i love having foreign friends i love the different cultures i love the different accents oh accents i love accents um i love it so yes absolutely so where were your placements when you were at uni my placements were orthopedics i had a stroke ward i had an abdo surgical ward i had gp placement i had um district nursing and i also had a rehabilitation ward which was amazing again it was mainly elderly and dementia and it was so lovely i a lot of learn i i learned a lot so much at oh yeah it was lovely i needed to decide which direction you wanted to go into so i knew well i didn't know but when i first went into university i wanted to be a sexual health nurse because that's where i'd worked and my head in my head i was like i'm just gonna go to uni get my qualification come back to sexual health nurse because i and i still absolutely love sexual health anything i can do with sexual health and contraception i will do because i just love it it fascinates me and i know that sounds weird but i just yeah it's where my heart is at so yeah and then i got my gp placement and then i completely fell in love with gp and i was like you know what actually i need to be a gp nurse and yeah and then i as the course went on i wanted to do more and more and then now i'm just like i've got so many things that i really want to do it's just a little bit overwhelming sometimes but yeah and it's okay i just want to say it's okay not to know where you want to go a lot of places now do the rotation program so you'll spend so many months in different areas to get a feel for different places but it's just trial or error there's some nurses that have been qualified for years and they still have no idea where they want to specialise and what they want to do so don't panic if you don't know how in detail did you learn a and p oh for the last exam i've said this we needed so much detail in depth to get the marks that was for the final exam as long as you're safe you're keeping your patients safe and you understand what's going on in your patients don't worry about it but for exams you obviously there's a certain depth and level that you need to learn for the exams and understanding so please learn it please pass your exams and understand it that's the main thing they want you to understand the way the body works so that you can put that into practice and i found that really really beneficial doing that as well so all of my revision from uni and understanding the way the body works and the organs work and what does what really really has helped me look at a patient and think oh this is going on in this patient and it's just helped me manage that patient so much better just knowing that little bit of understanding so that is it i've come to the end of the vlog i hope this has been beneficial i'm really sorry if this is like 30 40 minutes long i've tried to narrow it down as much as possible so yeah i hope this has been beneficial if i haven't covered anything that you're really really dying to know inbox me comment below and i will answer it as best as i can i hope you're all getting on amazing i hope that you're not struggling too much please get help if you are there's been a lot of suicide awareness this week with the caroline flak situation and it's just heartbreaking like r.i.p massive love to caroline flak because she didn't deserve that so if you are struggling if there's stuff online that you're not getting on with please speak up please get support and please get help please feel please know that you're not alone and there are people out there that will listen to understand and hopefully help you please don't suffer in silence