Being a third year student nurse out on placement at the moment is both terrifying and exciting.
I am told I am working on the ‘frontline’, but I am in exactly the same place that I have been for the last three years, a children’s hospital.
Working with children during this pandemic makes it so worthwhile, yet so sad. Although we don’t have many confirmed cases at this point with children, I am working on a respiratory ward so we do have some covid patients and I’m not going to lie, it is hard. It is relentless, exhausting, and overwhelmingly sad. Some of these children don’t have anyone with them; babies on their own as their family cannot visit them without leaving again, children potentially dying without seeing their family. For us it is a scary time, just imagine how they must be feeling. That is why we do it though, because they need us to, as much as I am tired and stressed, with both uni work and placement, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
I do fear that we may run out of PPE due to improper use by some, so we need to be sensible with this or we are going to endanger ourselves, we really need to work together as a team. But one thing that I cannot stress enough is that I couldn’t do it without the support of my amazing mentor and the ward as a whole. The staff have come together as a family to look out for one another, as well as the support from my friends and family.
I understand that no one really knows what to say to me right now, but a little positivity and love goes a long way.