Support as a Nursing student on campus and placement

Support services on campus

At the University of Birmingham, we are lucky to have lots of support on offer. Each year you are assigned a personal academic tutor (PAT) and an academic assessor (AA). These can be your points of contact for support. Your PAT will arrange meetings to get to know you, look at your goals and aim to help if you have any problems. I found this helpful to know that there was someone I could directly contact if I had any concerns. As they got to know me better, I felt I could build a good relationship with my PAT which made them more approachable. Your academic assessor is useful for support with placements as they sign off your ePAD (online placement work). If I had any queries or worries I knew I could contact them for help which was always reassuring.

There are also wellbeing officers, and the team can offer counselling sessions if you feel you need help. I know many people that have engaged with the wellbeing services and found it incredibly helpful to enhance and improve their mental health. Due to nursing being intense with becoming invested in your patients, who could be very poorly, it means it is highly important to look after yourself and seek support if you feel overwhelmed. 

During my first year, I engaged with the buddy system. I got paired with a fourth year nursing student, whose role was to be a point of contact and mentor. We interacted by email and she offered me helpful guidance and support. This was nice to be able to have a role model with the reassurance that I could get through the course.

The library offers academic support with one-to-one meetings where they can look through a section of your work and provide guidance. I found this highly useful to engage with as they can share their resources which can help with future assignments. You can also book meetings with your personal academic tutor or your course lead if you feel you need extra help or clarification with your work.

I have found it really beneficial with how the lecturers explain and tell us in advance about assignments and exams. They release a course plan at the beginning of the year which signposts you through when you have lectures and when you will be on a block of placement. This has helped to relieve some of the pressure and anxiety. Everything is clearly set out on canvas (the online system the university uses) and we are alerted by email for any notifications that are important. This has really helped us to feel organised and manage the workload effectively.

Placement support

Whilst on placement, you are assigned a supervisor and an assessor who help with your progress. Usually, you are assigned to work with at least one of them on your shifts which is helpful to get to know them better so you can feel more comfortable accessing support. They can guide you through expectations, your proficiencies and how to start building your nursing skills.

Additionally, there is the practice placement team that students can access when on placement if you have strong concerns or worries about the ward you are on. Some of my friends have accessed this and found the results beneficial for helping to get issues sorted.

Make sure to meet up with your friends to check up on each other. As nurses, you are lucky to be surrounded by like-minded friends who are empathetic and caring. This is helpful as we will understand the pressures and struggles you may encounter during placements. Despite placement blocks being a busy period of time, your mental and physical health are still important to be prioritised. Make an effort to keep in contact with your family to keep up your support network.