DO NOT GET BEHIND

Okay, so maybe the title of this post is a little bit dramatic... 

Getting behind with whatever it is that you are doing is important, whether it's fitness, house work, homework, but when it comes to work in nursing school it is crucial. I am talking from first hand experience here. 

I have never been particularly organised but until now it has never really been an issue. When I started my nursing degree in September last year, I have jumped right in with great enthusiasm and along that, great expectations of myself. It was't long before I realised; having 12 different classes and lectures, all on different times and days, different tasks to do at home for different modules and most of them sounding exactly the same; i was getting lost, baffled and overwhelmed. I've confused myself writing this out never mind actually having to keep track of it all in real life!

I am sure if you are anything like me and have experienced first week of university before, you know what I'm talking about. I thought that despite the total chaos in my university work, I could get away without getting organised. I used to giggle to myself when some of my friends were carrying around diaries, noting things down, crossing things off... 

Well, how wrong was I?! I have quickly got in the habit of forgetting to do homework tasks for seminars and lectures, turning up at wrong classes and not being able to find my class without checking the online timetable again, it was a nightmare. To top it all of at the beginning of this year I started my first placement and any plans of catching up on my work went out the window. I was coming home tired, not even wanting to wash my face before hitting the pillow... there was no talk of university work! 

You can see that I ignored all the red warning signs telling me that I was going to get behind. Yep. Oh boy do I regret it now. 

Let me tell you how this is now going to affect the whole year and maybe even more of my time at university. 

I am at the end of my last first year placement, I should be finishing everything and handing it in ready for summer exactly 10 days from now. My situation is a little different. Before I finish for summer, I still have to write 2 essays (2,500 words each!!!), make up around 70 hours of clinical placement time and organise my portfolio where I basically have to brag about how good of a nurse I am.

So here I am, sitting here writing this post instead of doing at least one of those things. I am going to have to do so much catching up over summer! While all my friends are going to be going on holiday, working to save some money for next year of studies, I am going to be stuck in a box little office, trying to get all this done. 

Oh how I wish I bought a diary in September!!!

However bad this situation is, the only thing I can do now is catch up and learn from my mistakes so that this does not happen again. So I thought I would come up with a few pointers which I wish I had when I started, and hopefully it can help one of you too. 

1. Before starting the year, get a diary! Even if you are not going to write down everything, you'll be amazed how even a single word can trigger your memory.
2. Print out your timetable, and get in the habit of doing it each weekend. If your university is anything like mine you'll soon realise they like to change things around each week, just because you're not confused enough already.
3. Don't party too hard on school nights. You might be able to wake up after just 2 hours sleep, roll into that lecture theater and even stay awake for the whole thing but trust me, you will miss most of the information they give you. All nurses know you can't concentrate as well when dehydrated! 
4. Don't start watching a series unless it's summer holidays. Honestly, I'm not joking. I've started watching Grey's Anatomy in November. It was the main thing I did when I though my work could wait. I probably wasted around 200 hours...
5. Go to study groups with your friends. You may think they're lame, but they make you work! No making cups of tea every 5 minutes, especially if your friends are hardcore nerds like mine ;) 
6. Get enough sleep. Nursing school is like going back to primary school; bedtime is 10pm and you only get 6 weeks summer holidays. 
7. Never say "I'll do it later". Obviously, if you're organised and know what you're doing then leave it as long as you like, but for most of us... do it before you forget it or find a reason why drinking 12 cups of tea is necessary and therefore you have no time to do work. 

Hope this helps at least one of you reading this, and if not... well, I was able to vent! 

Lots of love

Student nurse UK