It is three years since your (soon to be new nurse workforce) began their journey as a student nurse, at the start of a global pandemic.
I wonder if we ready to step foot into the real world of nursing. We might be ready and itching to get out there, but are we equipped for our first newly qualified nurse (NQN) post?
“I wonder if my era of student nurses will have a double helping of imposter syndrome”
Pre-Covid trained nurses have said it is normal to have imposter syndrome prior to starting your first NQN post.
But I wonder if my era of student nurses will have a double helping of imposter syndrome due to the disruption the pandemic had on our nursing course?
I am certain, I will not be the only student nurse right now from this era who has concerns about the interruptions the pandemic has had on our learning, and could have on our future practice as registrants.
Some ward areas find it challenging to accommodate supernumerary status for student nurses during normal times, but during the pandemic staffing was stretched beyond normal to meet isolation and social distancing measures.
This meant that student nurses found themselves thrown in at the deep end and covering rostering gaps which didn’t allow for quality learning time with practice assessors and supervisors.
This put a significant amount of added pressure on to our practice mentors. In some placements you could see they wanted to teach us new skills, but they just didn’t always have the capacity to do so.
There were several times as student nurses we sought to help take the strain off practice mentors, but it was sorely impossible because we had not learnt the skills needed to, yet.
Our practice lab classes were limited, again due to Covid restriction measures. Being powerless to help these hard-working people made student nurses feel inadequate, which had a huge toll on our mental health.
On the positive side maybe, this experience has developed our autonomy, reliance, and ability to adapt to anything!
Placements were also cut short to meet the social distancing measures. In some cases, this meant there was little time for extra opportunity’s, or spokes as they were formally known as.
I am sure many students will have felt they were just grasping the daily routine of their placement area on the last week of their placement, by which time it was time to leave and learn the ropes all over again in a new ward area.
While short placements posed disadvantages, they also offered us the opportunity to get a flavour of other areas.
“I hope practice settings are ready for this generation and do not have huge expectations of us”
Much of our theory was delivered online, so if we were not experts in technology before starting our nursing course, we certainly should be technology gurus by now!
Online learning may have suited some students. We were protected at home behind our screens and were able to be flexible with our time.
Some may have used this time flexibility to spend with family, or work extra shifts as health care assistants.
We saved money on traveling to university, which was a god send to some student nurses! However, online learning posed some social disadvantages that may be noticed in due course.
Peers were unable to meet each other, making it an isolating time for many. It also abridged our time to develop communication skills in person and we all know how important in person communication is in nursing.
I acknowledge universities and placement practice areas worked tirelessly to adapt and redesign their teaching to meet the NMC’s education recovery standards during the pandemic and introduce innovative methods to ensure that we met the necessary proficiencies, platforms, and skills.
However, I cannot help but wonder if the reduced number of hours spent on placement and the university skills labs might have posed a disadvantage to our skills set. Time will tell.
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I do hope we will not be labelled as the “Covid generation of nurses” who have come from a world of virtual placements, screens and less time in practice and the skills labs.
I hope practice settings are ready for this generation and do not have huge expectations of us.
There should be no surprises, there will be times we need to seek clarity because our learning experience has not been the same as previous generations. A little patience will go a long way!
What I do know is you can expect a very resilient future nurse workforce soon!
Chloe Jackson is a final-year adult nursing student at Robert Gordon University