 Hi everyone and welcome back to another vlog. As you can hear I'm not very well, so I've got a bit of a sore throat, so I'm really sorry. I hope you can bear with it. So today's vlog is going to be your top essential needs for starting university as a student nurse. Now the very first thing you are going to need is stationery. Depending on what sort of person you are, this is the sort of person I am. I have stationery upon stationery upon stationery. That's only some of it as well, the rest in my bag that I take to university. But I just love stationery, I love writing in different colours, I love doing diagrams, I love doing pictures, I love doing doodles. It all helps with my revision and my memory and all of that jazz. So I love to use like a huge variety of different stationery, different techniques to help me revise. But if you don't like all the colours and things, literally just big pen and paper, that's fine too. Along with the stationery, get yourself a pad. If you prefer just having scraps of paper, that's fine, that's your way of learning, your way of writing things down, so just do that. But I prefer to have one of these and it's just amazing. It's got different sections, so I put different modules in each section. This is my new one for starting today, third and final year, just in case you didn't already know. So I've just literally started to write my first module in the first bit. But these are really handy to separate everything, separate all of your notes and keep them all in one place. This was actually from B&M's and it was really cheap. Have a look on Wilkinson's as well, because I know they do really cheap ones of these. Not too sure how much, but around £3 mark. Or if you just want some paper, just get a notepad of paper. I know I had my last lot of just plain paper that I bought. I think it was like 80p or 99p or something from Wilkinson's. Other supermarkets are available, but it's really sturchy. We are on a student budget, so we need to save money. Some people like to use a dictaphone or you can get a voice recording app on your phone. It's completely free to record the lessons and do your notes later or listen back to it later if you don't want to write and sit and write in lectures. That's fine too, just whichever way you like to do it. Do that. Next tip, get yourself a diary. It's fine if you want to use your phone calendar to put things into your phone calendar, so you've got it all on you at all times. Do that. I really like to keep a diary with all of my plans in so I can write my work commitments, I can write my bank shifts, I can work my placement hours, I can work every lecture, any extracurricular activities. Everything goes in this, so I know where I'm at, what I'm doing. It's the best way to stay organised. One of the top tips for starting nursing is stay organised. Literally prioritise everything, organise your life, just be on the ball and you're going to be amazing. A really, really common question I get asked and that I've seen posts on different Facebook groups, different Twitter posts, things like that, is what books do I need for university? I'm just going to put out a small disclaimer here, as always, depending on what university you are they might expect different things from you, but just from my own experiences and a couple of other universities. They don't necessarily expect you to buy books, but they do give you reading lists and suggestions of books that you can buy to help you with revision, assignments, things like that. But I personally, I'm not a book person, I haven't picked up one single physiology book, apart from this one. This, I've got three books that I've read throughout my first two years, these are the only three books I've read because for me, Anatomium Physiology, I prefer to go over my lecture plans, I revise from the Khan Academy on YouTube is a fantastic, it makes it really simple, easy to understand, but again, with caution with that, they do sometimes go a little bit too in depth and you don't need that extra in depth and they might use different words. So just be careful with that, but I love the Khan Academy. Honestly, they are the best things to learn physiology from, I find. And they've also got a website that you can use, they have online quizzes and things like that. But back to the books. So this one for medications, it's got the physiology of how the medication works in the body in this book, I absolutely love it. Go on eBay, go on Amazon, get a discount, do not buy this, completely brand new because it is quite expensive. I think I got this for £8 off eBay, but it's well worth the money. Next, a freebie. I love freebies. If I can get something cheap or free, we are students, I've just said this, we need to get all the discounts we can. So if you walk into your local pharmacy or any pharmacy across the city, firstly, tell them that you're a student nurse and ask them, have they got any old BNFs that they don't use anymore? The BNF is your Bible of medications that you will use 100% any area, any clinical area you work in as a nurse, you will need the BNF. This isn't even an option, you will need it. I prefer to have the book, I love having the book, but you can also download the free app onto your mobile device, free BNF app, you can access it anywhere you want, any clinical setting, but just err on the side of caution about getting your phone out when you're out on placement, because there's some strict rules about using your mobile phone. If you're really desperate to look something up, make sure it's okay with your mentor and just say, listen, this is what I'm doing, I'm just looking this up on the BNF app, okay. And they shouldn't have a problem with that, but just be cautious with that, but you can download it on your phone, and you're going to need the book, possibly if you prefer reading from books. My next book, this is not a necessity, but I absolutely adore this book. It's the Student Ness's Guide to Successful Reflection. And I'm a little bit biased because this is actually one of our own lectures at university's book, but she's fantastic. And the way this book is set out is just incredible. If you struggle with reflection like I did at the start, this book is going to help you. There's different little tasks inside for you to do, and you just go and work along the tasks, it's really, really, really helpful. And it's got amazing quotes and things inside the book, it's really cute. It's just a really simple, easy to understand, really broken down book on reflection and how to do a real reflection. So that's really, really helped me because as nurses, we have to reflect. It's not even an option, it's mandatory. It's an NMC requirement as part of the re-validation. You have to write reflections. So you're going to need some sort of reflection tool, but it is 100% worth it. Have a look on Amazon for it. It's fantastic. But if you don't want to spend money, if you're trying to limit because we're students, we need our money, we need our pennies, we don't get paid for this. So have a look, just have a Google on different reflection tools. There's loads of online stuff, step-by-step guides on how to reflect and different tools that you can use to help you reflect. You don't really need to buy a book. You can access these things online, so save your money where you can. I am obsessed with backpacks. I love backpacks. They're great for placement. They're great for university. I have got four backpacks that I rotate. So my main backpack just for placements is this one because it's absolutely massive because you're going to need to put your uniform in there because you can't wear your uniform travelling to and from placement. You have to get changed at placement. So I need a backpack that's massive to fit in my uniform, to fit in all of my food. It's also got a little pouch to put, if you want, to take your laptop anywhere, to put your placement documents, things like that to keep them safe. This is one of my favourites. I got this from Costco. It was like 10 pounds. It was a bargain. But this is the best bag I have literally ever bought. It's fantastic. It's the biggest, it's the best. It's everything in. My other backpacks are just slightly smaller but I use them for university just to put my pens and paper, lunch, things like that in. But just get whichever bag you choose. Just make sure it's comfortable. Make sure it fits all your things in. Make sure it's practical. My next item for student nursing is get yourself a FOD watch. This, you will need this 100% mandatory. You need this. This is going to be used when you go out and you're doing blood pressures, your count of respiratory rates, your count in the pulse rate. These FOD watches, preferably they like the rubber ones because they're washable and these you can get online. Really, really cheap. Have a look on eBay. Have a look on Amazon. They're like a couple of quid. They're really cheap. Next one is get yourself a notepad. This is actually my uni notepad but I use this to keep everything in. I've even made some like little flashcards. I put them in there because as you go along, your mentor is going to be telling you things or other nurses or the doctor's consultants, healthcare assistants. They're going to be giving you all of this information and it's really good just to jot things down. I also put my medications in there because throughout university you'll be given a set amount of medications to learn. So I literally just write all of my medications in here as well. I tend to keep the front for medications and then the back for any information advice. Just fantastic. It's really good to look back on and just read upon your notes or if you forget something then it's really good to just have those notes in there. While we're on the subject of placements, you need comfy shoes. You need the ugliest, the baddest, the horribleest looking shoes possible and you're going to have to wear them. They have to be leather. They have to cover your whole foot. They can't be like dolly shoes with gaps. They're going to be need to be wipeable because you're going to get body fluids on there. You're going to get blood. You're going to get pee. You're going to get vomit. You're going to get all sorts on these shoes so you're going to want to be able to wipe them. These are the ones I prefer and actually quite a lot of students prefer these. These are from Clarks. They're called the Unlooped and these are just the comfiest things I've ever worn. I just, I can't believe I didn't get them sooner. I got these in second year and these are the best things I ever bought. I treated myself because they are a bit pricey. If you go into the regular shop, I think they're £60 but please, please, please any advice that you take from this, go to the factory outlet. Don't go to the standard store because these are like half the price. I got these for 35 I think in the factory outlet. Save your money, please do that. But also some students have commented saying that they don't like wearing these, that they're uncomfortable, they just, they can't adjust to them and they prefer the sketches. But it's up to you. Just go out there, try on shoes. Look, don't look for fashionable. Look for the ugliest, safest, cleanest, comfiest shoes that you can find. But either way, you're on your feet for 12 and a half hours, you are going to need comfy shoes. Another thing that I have but I can't actually find it because I moved houses and there's some things that are still packed away. So one thing I do have is a manual blood pressure set. I got this really, really cheap on Amazon. It was £5 because as a nurse you're going to have to do manual blood pressure. No one awards that you've got those electric machines and things like that. But there will be times that you might have to use a manual blood pressure. I know in our very first oski we are tested on manual blood pressure. So it's really good to have that at home to just practice on people, practice on your friends, your family, your animals if you want. But it just really helps build your confidence with manual blood pressure because I know some people do struggle to find the pulse and things when they're doing it. So it's really good to have that. But again, you don't 100% need that. That's just something I wanted to practice at home because I loved it and I loved doing manual blood pressure. There'll be things at your university to help you practice that. So don't go spending money that you don't have and it's not a necessity. It's just something that I prefer to have and it's really helped me with my manual blood pressure. And last but not least, when you're out on placement your hands from washing it every single day, all day, every day are going to get very very dry, very very sore. So just have a really good hand cream in your bag. A small one that can go in your pocket is always good as well. But just have that really good hand cream because your hands do get dry, they do get sore. You're going to be using alcohol gel. You're going to be washing your hands every single time you see a patient, every time you see it come out of a patient. All day. Just that is a really big thing because you have to look after yourself and you have to look after your hands. For me personally, I love Lush. Lush is my favourite and they do this really good coconut scrub with the coconut hand cream and it just makes your hands feel amazing. Like they've just been in a spa. It's fantastic. Another one is the hemp cream from the Body Shop is perfect. I don't like the smell of that one and it does make your hands a little bit greasy. So when I use that one, sometimes I use it before I wash my hands. So then I'll use it and then I wash my hands and then it kind of has the same effect but it just stops it from getting so greasy. But either way, whichever hand cream you choose, just make sure it's a good one for your hands. So that's it. That is my top essentials you're going to need as a nursing student. If you are just starting university, if you've already just started university, a massive good luck to you because this is going to be the best journey of your life.