"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. ... The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime."
Today, was the last day of my time working with the district nurses Team. I must say, I had the best experience as a student nurse with this team. The amount of support and learning I have had working with them was amazing. I could not ask for a better team. I Probably say this to any placement I have been but every journey I had I have been so lucky to have had new experiences, new challenges, and new learning.
Along the way, I met loads of people and I established good working relationships. I found new friends who I knew I can come to and ask for support when I needed to.
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| My two Lovely mentors |
My placements in the past has been great. I was lucky to have had some lovely mentors and worked with some lovely team. Which really helped me to make this journey enjoyable and fun.
I think when you are in this journey, It makes a lot easier to have great people that understand you, support you and help your learning process more relax and enjoying. That when you need help in anything in the learning process, you can count on them and they are willing to extend their best effort to help you. My two mentors and the team in the community certainly did that for me.
Looking back from my experience in the last 2 1/2 years, I just realised few important thing s in life.
1. Loving what you do will resonate on how you perform on your job. People sometimes could be caught and stuck in a wrong job. You would hear them moan and complain all the time but doesn't do anything about it. As a student, what we do and how we do things reflect who we are and how we love our training. People that we work with and patients we look after often notice that and sometimes this become the basis of what they think about us. We have to make sure that we are in the right job. Smile-work-smile. That's my formula.
2. Respect is Earned. I think for students, sometimes it is difficult because we have to work in different disciplines, different types people, different types of patients and often times we have to prove ourselves first. We have that worry of "would I like this placement?" or "will my mentor like me?" or "will my colleague be nice to me?" because we hear horror stories of other students had to leave the course because they have had problems at their placements and have problems with mentors. But I think if we want to have a great time in any placements we come to, we need to show up on time, we need to prepare ourselves to learn and do the work,we show interest, we need to listen to what our mentors are saying and prove them that we are worthy of their time. We are added responsibility to them, we should learn to respect that. I think when we do that, we are not only going to have the best time in our placements, but we will find friends and good mentors forever.
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| Sister Katie & Dannie |
3. Resilience is developed. The journey to be a nurse is not easy. There will be sleepless nights doing your 4000 words assignments or revising for the upcoming exams or need to complete your portfolio for the coming tripartite. On top of all of these, you need to do bank ships on the weekend, or help your family with child care, or running your own business to make little extra money for you to survive the process. But I learned that when you put your heart and soul into it, you will find a way to do all things you needed to do in order to make sure everything are done and accomplished. I don't know how I have done it in the last 2 1/2 years but I certainly managed. I think when you want something, you will work hard to get it for whatever it may take. Some sacrifices had to be made but I am sure it will be worth it in the end.
I am one more placement away from qualifying. I will soon be wearing the blue uniform and it will soon be real. But one thing I am sure, those things I learned along the way will be put to practice. It will not be easy, the challenges will be much more difficult but if we keep the passion in everything that we do we cannot be far off I suppose.
Today is a happy day and a sad day. I am happy because I am moving on to a different challenge. I am one step closer to where I want to be but that means I am leaving the team I have grown to love. The team that made me laugh so much. The team that makes my experience so especial. The team that I made to eat the full fat cake I normally brought in. The team that works so hard for the patients care and tirelessly do the job they do best. The team that works together no matter what the circumstances are wether its busy or quiet. The team that respects each other, loves each other and laughs together and most of all, I am leaving the patients that have been part of my 8 weeks life. The patients that gave game me more inspirations to continue on. The patients that reminds me why I should finish this journey.
I guess things like this happen in order to make room to progress. This is not goodbye but more like "see you again". This is not the end but more like the beginning of a new. In the end, this will all make sense.
I will miss you all and Hope to work with you all again.
To the A team (Tap A if you happen to read this) I can't thank you enough for all the support you have given me. I had the best time working with you. To my Sister Katie and Louisa to my mentors, Rachel and Danni, I am and will be forever grateful. Thank you all.
