Things I Wish I Had Known...

Before going into Nursing...

• You will be tired (all the time)
• Your feet will hurt
• You will get constipated (fact of 12 hour shifts, sorry)
• Everyday you will experience that inexplicable feeling of "What the heck are they on about!?"
• It's not easy
• You realise that if you were sick you wouldn't want your friends looking after you

Before Placement...

• It can be considered normal to laugh and cry and get pissed off all in one shift
• You will act like a prairie dog every time an alarm goes off, until you get used to it and become indifferent
• no patient ever goes into a totally flat asystole, it means some twat has disconnected the monitor or leads
• O2 sats crashed? Check probe, face mask/ nasal cannula, O2 supply and monitor connections before panicking!
• No matter how cynical you are, there's always gonna be someone who knows that the system is out the screw you
• There are no good-looking doctors, this ain't Holby City or ER

Lastly...

• It can be the best thing you've ever done
• It can be the hardest thing you've ever done
• It's true, you know; once a nurse, always a nurse