My exchange here in Salford is going well and I’m really enjoying this experience. I’m a third year nursing student and I came here to complete a study module and a 7-week clinical placement.
The module that I’m taking is called becoming an autonomous practitioner and it’s basically helping soon-to-be graduating nurses to transition from student nurses into registered nurses. Although I only have lectures on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it’s a lot of reading since I have to prepare for the exam, which I’m really dreading. The exam is called An Objective Structured Clinical Examination or OSCE and it’s an oral exam where I have to be alone with the teacher. Apparently nursing students here have these kinds of exams often.
I’m doing my clinical placement on an orthopaedic & general surgical ward. Shifts are 12,5 hours long which means that the work week is shorter compared to Finland. Work starts at 7am and I finish at 7:30pm. Although the shifts are long, it’s totally worth having more days off and it allows more time to recover. My mentors and coworkers are all really friendly and helpful and so are the patients.
On my spare time I have been traveling, working out in the gym and exploring the city by going on walks. I also go out with some new friends that I’ve made and chat with my best friend back in Finland almost every night. I go back and forth between London and Manchester because I like to stay at my dad’s in London whenever I have time. I’ve also visited Liverpool with my new friend.
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