I’m first year student on my first placement, I got feedback from my assessor yesterday which was mostly good but I was told that I sit around too much. I’ve been thinking that myself but I’m just unsure what I should be doing when there’s nothing for me to do? We had 3 patients to start off with, one went off to theatre and the other two were stable, so I was left with nothing to do.

I’ve been going around when medications are due, I’ve prepared and given them but that only happens three times a day. All the nurses have a student, so it’s not like I can really go and help another nurse out as they already have someone. I’ve taken to googling different things relevant to my ward but that’s all I’ve got. Other stuff that I’ve also done is nursing notes, handover sheets, calling other wards, porters and transport. Obviously I volunteer whenever they need someone to go get something, I’ve been quite a few places around the hospital but yet I still find myself with nothing to do.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I’m loving placement so far but I’m finding that I sit around too much.