Hello!

I hope you are keeping well!

I am really excited to share with you the beginning of a new series of blog posts about my new journey as a student nurse at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedic Practice at Robert Gordon University ! I am so thrilled and honoured to be apart of this exciting NEW community! This is a really exciting time to be joining the school as they recently introduced paramedic practice education to the school hence why the schools name has changed.

It will be great to be back at Robert Gordon University as it is such a welcoming University! Robert Gordon University achieved second in the UK for student satisfaction according to the National Student Survey NSS (2020), and have a gold TEF rating for teaching learning & outcomes!

I am honoured to be one of the first among the 2020 intake in Scotland to embark on the brand new Dual Honours programme; where I will work towards achieving the Dual Honours Nursing registration in Adult Nursing and Children and Young People Nursing (CYP). The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) which is the nursing professional body developed new standards of education for the future nurse. So it is a brand new contemporary course within Nursing in Scotland!

What excites me about this course is its innovative nature! The Dual honours programme will prepare me to provide person centred care to people across the lifespan, as I will have the opportunity to gain experience in working within Paediatric and Adult nursing!

For some of you; this news may come as a HUGE surprise given the degrees I have achieved to date are business related; however for the few that know me well this will not come as a surprise as I have a very caring nature and an abundance of inspiration within my family! 🙂 Nursing was always in my minds eye from a young age; but when I left school I felt I was too young and it was too soon to take on the responsibility, hence why I went on to lead the path that I did for some time. I now feel older and mature to take on this amazing opportunity!

As many of you know it is my life ethos to make a difference to people, and within this profession I will have the opportunity to do just that! 🙂 I know that without a doubt there will be so many challenges; like everything in life, however “to keeping going forward” is my moto!

Last Saturday (22nd September) I was delighted to attend the Meet and Greet session delivered by Dr Heather Bain (Academic Strategic Lead at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedic Practice). In recent years this event has been held in person at the University, however due to the current Covid-19 landscape this event was held online; via zoom.

This was a great opportunity to learn more about the course, meet some of the people I will be studying with in September, and ask any questions.

One of the questions I had was around how I could prepare prior to the course. Dr Bain listed a lots of great ideas:

• Delve into the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) website and sign up for a membership

• Read up on anatomy and science

• Delve into the Nursing and Midwifery council website (NMC) where there is lots of resources to look at!

• Follow the schools social media pages @RGUNMandP

• Consider reading the nursing standard
• Follow wee student nurse which is a community on social media
• Recommended a novel; Language of kindness by Christie Watson
• Plan your time wisely prior to the course

I found the meet and greet session and presentation to be very informative and interesting! It has given me a lot of inspiration and encouragement for starting in September!

I was on a role on Saturday after the event and decided to sign up for my RCN membership and purchase the novel Dr Bain suggested:)

For students this membership is only 84p a month or £10 for the year!

I am really looking forward to starting this journey and sharing my experiences with you as a Student Nurse. Heres to the next 4 years at RGU!

Until next blog post, take care!

Chlo Jack!

“A lifestyle blog written by a Scottish lassie 😉 “