Today we have a brand new case study to bring you. We had the opportunity to chat with Nursing student Josephine Ault, who has entered her final year. Let’s go and meet Josephine…
Hi Josie, it’s great getting to chat with you today! Please tell us what course you study & a little bit about what you get up to?
I am Josie, and I am currently working to complete my Adult Nursing bachelor’s degree. Now I am in my third year and have two placements left to complete to achieve the required number of hours to register as a nurse for the NMC. I am also working on my dissertation right now and trying to do it in manageable chunks.
Once I pass my exams this year, I hope to work as a staff nurse initially at the hospital where I have completed all my placements before trying to advance in my career.
How many of our award levels have you completed, and when did you achieve these?
So far, I have completed the activities for my Bronze, Silver and Gold awards and am planning on working on achieving the Platinum award.
I completed the work for the award in my second and third year of university, some of which I decided to do during the lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic.
Out of all the online resources we offer, which of them were your favourite & why?
The resources I found useful were the online tutorials for each award along with the option to have online tutorials with the Centre of Academic success in Numeracy, Critical analysis, and Academic writing.
I think the option to do these Tutorials online are a great option for people that may be nervous to have a one on one appointment with a faculty member face to face, but still gives them the chance to receive individualised help.
I also found the STAR technique helpful as it provided me with a framework, I could take forward to help me write my revalidation reflections once I qualify as a nurse.
You tell us that you have had to complete placements as part of your course? Tell us about what that entailed and what new skills you learned as a result.
So as a part of my Nursing course I completed two placements a year across a hospital. This meant I was required to work closely with a mentor who was a registered nurse and work shift patterns that any other registered nurse would work.
I had to adapt to becoming a member of the team I was placed with and help them out in the daily running of the wards. This gave me a huge appreciation for all healthcare workers across all disciplines and allowed me to become more compassionate and understanding. I learnt many new things on each ward like various clinical procedures and developed my social and interpersonal skills massively.
I have been really lucky and have enjoyed the placements I have completed tremendously.
You’ve also told us during our chat that you spent time during your time at university doing community scoping experience? Tell us more about the experience you had with that.
In my second year I was given the opportunity to complete Community Scoping Experience where I could spend a period of scheduled study time doing volunteer work.
Unfortunately, my CSE time fell during the first lockdown earlier this year, so I wasn’t able to complete any volunteering in person, but I decided to register and complete some online training courses instead. These taught me about different disciplines within Healthcare like Midwifery and gave me the chance to experience what the role of a midwife would be.
This fostered an interest for me in many different specialities of healthcare which I may not otherwise have been able to experience like Palliative Care and Anaphylaxis Management.
We hear you took part in other part time work whilst studying at BCU. Tell us about what work you did and what your roles and responsibilities were.
Well when I was in my first year of university I already had a part time job working at a florist but when I left that job in my second year I decided I really wanted to apply for a job as a healthcare assistant on the healthcare bank so I could work shifts as and when I was able to and earn money while I studied. I also wanted to get my face known around the hospital I worked at so that I would already have connections for when it came to finding a post graduate job in my third year. This meant I could work on wards and build up my confidence and communication skills without the pressure I would have on placement of being assessed.
Working part time in this way helped me structure a healthy work life balance.
If you had to give one piece of advice to a new 1st year student who was interested in starting their Grad+ award, what would you say?
My advice to any first year is that there are a lot of activities that are encompassed within Graduate+ that will not only benefit you for gaining the award but will also help considerably with the rest of your university life and career.
For example, attending Academic workshops and Volunteer work. There is a lot on offer for students and so many resources and opportunities that can help all of us learn and grow as people.
For my fellow student nurses, so much that is encompassed on our course can also be incorporated into Graduate+ and can really give us a strong basis of things to include in completion of this reward. I would say to any first year that Graduate+ is well worth participating in.
Finally, what does the future hold next for you Josie as you progress into your third and final year?
I think the future is looking very bright for me right now as I continue through third year. I am hoping to pass my modules with good marks and to work as a staff nurse in a speciality that I identify with and am interested in, which is Trauma and orthopaedics.
In terms of the more distant future I would say: who knows? Maybe I will even be able to advance further in my career, but either way I have learned so much already and have developed a love for what I do.