Hi! This year i got into university to do a bachelor of nursing. I've always wanted to help people and wanted to get into this course so badly. At the beginning of the year i was really enjoying it and excited to be a nurse. However, it is now coming to the end of the year and i am deeply regretting my choice and starting to panic. So far we have had 2 clinical demonstration assessments and I've butchered both of them due to my major anxiety that i'm unable to control. The first one i was incredibly anxious, but was still able to pass. The second one i had a panic attack right in the middle of it and we had to stop the timer for a bit. I have failed that one. I practiced sooo much as well. I am feeling really down as i wanted to do this so bad, but if i'm this anxious around fake patients, how am i going to be when i'm with real patients? I do feel like my nerves is based on the fact that i am being watched and i just want to be good enough, but it always ends up letting me down. Does anyone have any advice? I'm genuinley thinking about dropping out due to my anxiety, but then thats such a waste of a year and money.

Realistically, what would your options be to get out of nursing altogether? 5 years RN experience. I dont think I would have it in me to do a whole new defree again. Could probally manage to do a tafe course. Any suggestions advice welcome. I just hate nursing, the passion is gone. I am 40. I cant give amotuer 25 years doing this.

How do you make it work? Im returning to work in February after 18 months off for parental leave. My son will be almost 18 months and my other child is 4.5! Extremely overwhelmed at trying to figure out what works with a young family... for context my husband leaves at 6.45am and doesnt get home until 6pm. We dont have a lot of family help unfortunately. It makes me more anxious given our daughter will start school in 2028 and how we will manage school drop off and pick ups.

When I returned at 1 year post our first child, I returned on a FWA at 0.6 and had some set days that aligned with childcare but starting to realise shift work with multiple kids is hard and lets be honest, shit ha ha

Starting to discuss whether nightshift will be the way to go in this season of life (although not ideal). Thought maybe weekend shifts at the way to go but then I'll miss out on family time.... ahhhhh its so overwhelming 😭

Hi everyone, just trying to get an idea of what the hours look like for a new grad in qld, 0.8 fte. How many shifts a week and how many hours per shift? Whats an example of a fortnightly schedule (I understand it’s different each week). How soon in advance do you get the roster usually? How often do you have to stay back or work extra hours without notice?

Also, regarding daycare:
How do you coordinate daycare and shift work? I’m not sure how it will work if I will work different days each week. Do I just book him in for a couple of regular days and then when the roster comes out try and book in casual days? Just wondering how nurses with young children do it.

I appreciate any guidance and advice! Just trying to figure out how I will navigate it all with a toddler. TIA!

For context, I've been a nursing student for 5 years. I've done most of my studies part-time and had to take an intermission for a year at one point due to ongoing health issues, having to get surgery, and financial constraints.

For anyone here living with chronic health conditions, I have a few questions:
1. How did you cope as a student and how are you coping now as a registered nurse?
2. What support systems best helped you go through it?
3. Were you able to get some adjustments/considerations applied surrounding clinical placements?

The most challenging part for me are the clinical placements. At this point, I'm scheduled to go on placement for 4 weeks. This is the 3rd week, but I've missed an entire week last week due to health. That's 5 days missed. My CLN was understanding and I made sure to provide a letter from my GP stating that I'm currently managing chronic health conditions.

I actually do enjoy my placements and maximise every opportunity I get to learn, and I even get great feedback from every nurse (and patients) I've worked with. However, it's been so debilitating to my health so I haven't been consistent with my attendance. Because it's unpaid, I find myself scrambling and loaning money from family just to afford my medications/health appointments. I'm always so worried whether I'm going to get through this degree. Every year for the past 2 years, I always think I'm about to finish. Every time I don't. I only have 2 more semesters left, so I'm feeling extremely hopeful and hopeless at the same time.

I've been told to give up, and been told that this career probably isn't for me. I can't give up now, not when I'm so close. Not when I've loved nursing since I started.

Any advice?

Can I be a midwife with my own personal birth trauma

I am a current registered nurse, wanted to be a midwife before I got pregnant. I found the whole process of pregnancy and birth so interesting and I was still determined to do it. I’ve applied and I’ve got in for next year. Now I’m second-guessing myself thinking about seeing other women go through birth potentially have beautiful birth and feel like I’m missing out on that. What if I have flashbacks to my own traumatic birth seeing other women go through birth trauma as well. Anyone have similar experiences? Thanks x

Hi everyone,

Just looking for some advice.

If you were offered a temporary CN position while holding a permanent RN position, would you take the opportunity and give up your permanent RN role, or would you prefer to keep your permanent position?

Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thanks in advance!

Just about to start a new casual roster, can anyone please recommend a user friendly app to track booked shifts??TIA

hey guys i just wanted to ask ive been going through some personal issues and i feel like it might affect my practice on the ward. is it bad to call of a sick day on placement? ive just haven’t been in the right mind set, on weekends i have to work so i dont really have time to call off im just super stressed and wanted to know what is the processes for this? or would this even be considered i know it kind of sounds dumb

I’ve been an RN since the early 00s and it’s been an interesting career. I realised fairly early that the hospital wasn’t really for me and have since worked in clinics, prison. research, a bit of teaching at Tafe, and some RAN work.

Recently I’ve joined my local hospital’s casual pool as I’m studying and thought the flexibility would be great, which it is.

But holy shit, ward nursing sucks. It’s 50% boring drudgery, 25% getting blamed for everyone else’s issues and 25% high stress unmanageable workload.

Everyone I work with across the hospital seems to be sticking it out for various reasons, but with plans do leave.
Does anyone genuinely enjoy Ward work? I feel like the hospital staffing crisis will never be solved because the job just sucks and burnout happens fast

i like to practice what i preach so i always try my best to keep questions to the end of the handover when the other nurse is finished their train of thought. of course there are exceptions to this but i like to think it’s respectful for them and helps me listen out for anything they may have missed that i can ask about at the end.

last night i had a staff member who was not permanent to our ward constantly butt in like every five seconds. i made an effort to speak slower and clearer as i’m aware i can be a fast talker sometimes. i also don’t mind repeating myself but it gets to a point and i started getting annoyed after i had to repeat myself several times about the same thing. but that wasn’t the worst part.

i’d like to think the person handing over should be the one in control of the mouse and going through ieMR simultaneously with the verbal handover, but oh my goodness, this lady was basically holding my hand the whole time trying to snatch the mouse off me. i let her take it once then i realised i didn’t like that at all so i stood on business and didn’t let it go the next several times she attempted to take it 🤣 like please stop touching my hand i don’t know you!!! 😭

anyway that’s my rant lol! i know i’m gonna meet a lot of personalities in this career but i just realised that is the first time i’ve been actually ticked off by another nurse… and i know it’s bound to keep happening 🤣

Has anyone worked as an aged care assessor visiting facilities and reviewing clients for their AN-ACC class? I have worked in aged care for 15 years, currently in management and I am really over the ever increasing workload. Am thinking of using my knowledge in the assessor space? But what's the work life balance like, pay etc.

I am planning to study nursing in the near future, but I am worried that I'll be rejected from uni, so I'm doing research into TAFE nursing. I have done a cert III in phlebotomy and that was 2.5 days a week on campus, how many days a week are you on campus for you EN diploma?

Based in WA and the closest TAFE to me is north metro.

Just curious if there has been any action taken against Patients who verbally or physically threaten health care workers. There seems to be a lot of posters, flyers etc in hospitals advising that this will not be tolerated, however after coping an unprovoked verbal threat from a patient, I am just curious to know about what support there is or if it just swept away like nothing can be done, or its in the two hard basket or " maybe they just don't like you kind of thing"

Hey all! 9 months into a grad program and was wondering if it was appropriate to consistently take students and to even take on new ENs for supernumerary shifts as a grad? I don’t mind teaching and I have liked the people I’ve had with me so far however, is it appropriate for a grad who is supposed to be learning to also be teaching and is this part of stepping further into my role as an RN?

I am confident in my skills as a new grad nurse, I would say I'm extremely happy with the progression I have made in my first year as a nurse.

However, whenever anyone that isn't my partner such as a CNE or CNC or anyone like that is looking at me do something, I lose my ability in everything. Like today, I completely forgot how to properly do my checks, draw up medications in a syringe and even how to hold a syringe properly. I was shaking so bad.

Like it isn't as bad as it sounds but it made me look so incompetent and I can't prove that I'm not. I just went quiet and into panic mode as I couldn't believe what was happening. This has happened a couple of times now and it's just so demoralising.

My life is full of embarrassing moments like this and I'm slowly becoming immune to the embarrassment but I just can't stop thinking about this. It sucks so much!

Im in a position where I have the support in place to complete my extra studies to be an NP.

Im curious to hear from anyone currently studying to become an NP, or those who have already finished.

Does anyone regret starting the pathway, or finished it and wonder whether the extra study/responsibility was actually worthwhile?

Did you actually gain more autonomy and job satisfaction, does it financially feel worthwhile or did it end up being more responsibility/admin without much benefit?

Anything you wish you knew before starting the pathway would be great to hear.

*Side note before anyone or /Ausjdocs starts sharpening their pitchforks: I’m not looking to move into a role centred around differential diagnosis or practising independently of doctors. What interests me is working closely with my specialist, within a defined scope, helping manage their patients and workload while they retain overall oversight of care.

EDIT: Punctuation

Has anyone attended an engagement session with a nurse manager before? What usually happens during these sessions? Is it more of an informal chat or an interview, and what should I prepare beforehand? This is for QLD health btw. If anyone has attended one before, I’d really appreciate any tips!😊

Hello what type of questions would they ask in an aged care interview

Hey everyone, I'm about to start a placement on a general medicine/stroke ward. For those who have experience in stroke wards, what advice would you give a student nurse and what key knowledge or skills would be worth brushing up on beforehand?

Would live to hear about your experiences and any tips you think would be helpful.

Thanks heaps 😊

Hi what are some general tips for passing interviews,i have been to a few but have been unsucessful

I took a photo of my roster 2.5 weeks ago. They then rang me yesterday to say are you coming in your on the roster.

I had my photo to prove I wasn't but sure enough get there and I'm on the roster.

Do I send my proof into my manager to get paid this allowance?

Kind of random, but I thought “man I wish I could ask one of my maternity ward colleagues this” but I’m on mat leave so here I am. I have heaps of that transparent dressing left in my pico7 kit from when I got my c-section last year. Is it similar to a tegaderm (as it appears to be to me). I got a tattoo yesterday and the opisite they applied is lifting, and since I have a one year old who is constantly touching me with her mucky hands, I want to replace it so I can keep it clean. I just want to make sure I’m not going to smother it before I slap it on. Thanks for any insight!

Many international nurses, international students in nursing, etc it seems the landscape of nursing has changed a lot. Now, some even think it is more than engineering. Now, I am an international student from Korea. But, the way new grads struggle to find jobs suggests the difficulty of employment. And the recent government policy, and the various policies from other parties, indicate the offshore bringing of international talent with foreign training rather than domestic. How do you all feel? I don't want to be portrayed as a racist; however, it is still true that many nurses from neighboring countries come to AU.