Struggling on Placement? Read This First.
Are you struggling on your current ward? Feeling like your mentor or assessor isn’t helping you reach your learning goals? Or—my ultimate pet hate—are you simply being treated as an unpaid Healthcare Assistant?
You are not alone. In fact, almost every single student nurse has felt this exact same way at some point in their training. Placement is overwhelming, expectations can feel contradictory, and placement culture can sometimes leave you feeling like a burden rather than a professional in training.
— The NMC Code (Section 2.3)
📖 NMC Supervision & Assessment Standards (SSSA) ↗What does this actually mean for you? It means a structured support system must be in place to facilitate your growth. You are not meant to figure this out in silence. An email to an impartial person or a quiet conversation with a Practice Learning Facilitator (PLF), university link tutor, or equivalent can make a world of difference.
What Should Placement Actually Look Like?
Learning the fundamentals of care is vital for your clinical development. When I take on a first-year student, I pair them with an experienced HCA for their first few weeks. This gives them a feel for basic care delivery and builds a solid foundation.
What this does NOT mean: You are not there to be left independently running an entire bay as an HCA. That is infuriating, unacceptable, and directly against your learning scope.
Yes, you step in and assist with basic care when needed—we work as a team. But your core focus in Year 2 is building clinical skills, managing a small caseload of patients, and having room to reflect on practice under supervision.
You should be actively guided and assessed by your supervisors and assessors every step of the way.
Year 3 is about honing your practice. You should be taking larger patient loads, coordinating care, administering full drug rounds while explaining drug rationales, performing clinical procedures with minimal intervention, and managing complex care cases in preparation for registration.
I get it. In the middle of a chaotic shift, tensions run sky-high and panic sets in. But if I have learned anything in my nursing career, it is this: panic clouds judgment.
When you feel yourself spiralling: Take a breath. Step off the ward for 5 minutes to gather yourself.
Ask a fellow student, another staff nurse, the ward housekeeper, or anyone you trust: “Can I take 5 minutes to cool off?”
Healthcare is tough—really tough. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. But 10 minutes of a bad situation should not ruin your day, your shift, or your entire passion for nursing.
A truly inspirational nurse told me this when I was in your exact shoes. It is something I have carried with me throughout my entire nursing career, and it is the core reason I am so passionate about advocating for student nurses today.
Every single nurse on that ward—including the grumpy one who makes you feel like a burden—was once where you are right now. Remember that.
Placements are hard, fun, challenging, emotional, draining, exciting, and eye-opening all in one shift. Give yourself a break. You do not have to handle a toxic or unsupportive environment alone.
Reach out to your Academic Assessor, your PLF, or your Ward Manager. Ask for advice, take charge of your learning, and remember why you started.