What are placement reflections?
While on placement, you will be expected to complete reflections of your time there.
This requires you to think about an experience, and write down your thoughts and feelings on it.
Think about what went well and why, or what could have been improved.
A lot of the suggestions for experiences deserving reflection are often focussed on things that went wrong – either through human error, or systems within organisations that inadvertently allow issues to go unnoticed until tragedies occur.
A good starting point to understand how and why these can happen are to look up what are called serious case reviews.
However, positive outcomes are also cause for reflection.
The purpose of reflections is to continually develop you into a capable and competent practitioner.
From this viewpoint, it is easy to see why you might want to think about what went well so that you can try and repeat it in future.
You will be expected to write reflections throughout your nursing career (it is one of the requirements for revalidation every three years, for example) so take the opportunity on placement to really try and get to grips with writing reflections.
By writing this way, it will hopefully also develop your critical thinking skills so you end up always thinking – why am I doing this?
Is this the best way?
Some people find a reflective diary useful, jotting down thoughts of each day and how it went.
This is not only useful for drawing on more in-depth reflections later, but also future job applications.
These require you to detail how your experience meets their criteria, and it is easy to forget the wealth of knowledge and experience you will have gained over your three year course.
A reflective diary means you can quickly locate your experiences, and match them to the essential criteria or even talk about them in job interviews.
Study time during your nursing placement
During placement, you should be allocated some hours per week for study time.
This can sound great – an afternoon off each week? Perfect!
However, be cautious how you plan to spend this time off.
It is meant for studying!
You will still have assignments and coursework to complete while on placement, this can be valuable time to get these done.
You could also spend it looking up theories to match what you are doing on placement.
This will tie in to you being able to justify everything you are doing, and lead to good evidence-based practice.
Maybe you have witnessed a procedure or learnt a new medical term you weren’t sure of.
Now is the time to look this up.
You could also ask colleagues on placement if there is anything useful you could learn – sometimes gaping holes in our knowledge completely pass us by, or there are things about to happen that we are unaware of.
Perhaps someone is getting ready for a new admission, and you could learn about their condition in advance.
Don’t forget you will still have access to all that your university has to offer during placement.
This includes library facilities and your lecturers.
If you are struggling in some way, financially for example, have a look at your student union.
You are still a student, after all, even while on placement.
What does 'Hub and Spoke' model mean (and what are Spoke days)?
Hub means your main placement site. Some universities operate a ‘hub and spoke’ model.
This means you will have your main placement site (your hub) and then offered ‘spoke’ days to gain experience in other environments.
Think of it like a bicycle wheel – the centre, then the spokes coming from it.
These can be the ideal time to explore new skills, think of different reflections, and gain a flavour of how it is outside of your immediate specialism.
If you are sure you would like to work in the area your main placement is at, still do not discount the different experiences you will get and the people you will meet.
Even if your heart and mind is set on a specific client group, spoke days will allow you to meet the inter-professional team around you.
These are the people you may be working with throughout your nursing career, whatever specialism you end up in.
For example, as a learning disabilities nurse I needed to have some experience with all the other areas of nursing.
I knew I was not going to go into midwifery, for example.
However, someone with a learning disability can still become pregnant.
In this case, they will still be meeting with the midwife team and I could very well be their access point to these services.
This is just one example of how useful it can be to have experience outside your own field, however limited.
What networking means in a nursing environment during placement
It also builds up your network of professionals.
Networking is sometimes used to mean superficially making friends with people, only if they can do something for you.
However, networking in nursing is important in exchanging ideas, keeping up with research, finding out about conferences or other events, and generally making sure you give service users care that is the most up-to-date and evidence based as possible.
This kind of professional networking is very different – less self-centred, and more focussed on how to support people in healthcare.
On placement, you will meet a lot of different people, at all stages in their careers or life.
Some things may be useful later on, or you may only recognise the value of something a couple of years later.
A small venue running events for people with autism might be useful to someone you meet when you qualify, for example, that you can direct them to. You might want to work at one of your placements after qualifying, and can use your contacts to enquire about vacancies.
Maybe you have a new job, but someone you are supporting would benefit from a service your last placement provided.
All of these links can be made through networking, and being memorable on placement.
Memorable students are ones who get involved in teamwork, treat the placement like a job (although making time for assignments also!), and showing passion for the work you are doing and people you are working with.
What to do after your nursing placement
The end of placement I found, was ensuring all the paperwork had been completed and I had all the testimonies.
Make sure everything is signed and dated.
My university sent us back to find signatures if necessary.
This could be a month after we had left, so save yourself time and effort by making sure everything is done before you leave!
Coming back to university should be a time for reflection, learning, and catching up.
Your peers will also be excited about their placements, and now is a good chance to learn and share your new knowledge.
You will also be focussing on settling back into lectures of course.
Overall, this article has given you some ideas about how best to use your placement time.
Ultimately, your university and placement will provide plenty of support and learning opportunities.
It is up to you to take control of your learning and professional development by taking advantage of them.
"Placement is an exciting time and for some, it may be what they envisage as being a ‘proper’ nursing student"
About this contributor
RNLD (Learning Disability Nurse)
I am a qualified Learning Disability Nurse and Social Worker. I first worked with children who have learning disabilities whilst studying classical civilisation in Leeds. After seven years of working in care, I realised I wanted to take my passion further and qualify at a professional level. I am passionate about giving the people I work with, as much independence as possible.
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