Being a Nurse

Lauren Philpott qualified as a registered children's nurse in 2014. She initially rotated between a children's ward and Special Care Baby Unit before resuming a permanent position on a general children's ward for six years. In 2020 she decided to step into education, and now delivers simulation based education to a variety of healthcare professionals.

Me and my book Chapter One: First day nerves Your first days Am I ready? Going it alone A shaky start On a positive note Common worries answered Chapter Two: Teamwork The importance of teamwork The nursing team Finding your role within the team Lone working The multidisciplinary team Communication Team building Teamwork in an emergency Chapter Three: Patient relationships Therapeutic relationship Building relationships Boundaries A positive relationship Establishing a good relationship What if I don't strike a relationship with a patient? Social media Chapter Four: Difficult situations Emotional difficulties Uncooperative patients Dealing with challenging people Politics Disagreements with colleagues Breaking bad news The death of a patient When mistakes are made How to cope with difficult situations Chapter Five: Good days and bad days Good days What makes our shifts good? What do you think? Bad days Why do bad days happen? How to help yourself have a good day Sick patients How to recover from a bad day Chapter Six: Progression and confidence Preceptorship period Confidence Study days Learning 'on the job' As your confidence grows Caring for sick patients Becoming a mentor Chapter Seven: Work/life balance Work/life balance What is burnout? How to avoid burnout Hobbies Leaving work at work Saying no Take your breaks Take time to rest Annual leave Look after yourself Supporting your colleagues through burnout Chapter Eight: Revalidation, and everything in between Revalidation Everything in between Acknowledgements

'Being a Nurse is a great resource for anyone starting out in their nursing careers. It offers sensible down to earth advice, drawing on the author's real life experience of what it is like to work as a Registered Nurse for the first time. The author tackles some really challenging topics, such as dealing with difficult situations/people, burnout, having a bad day (and importantly how to get over it!) as well as emphasising the many positives that nursing brings. She takes the new graduate through their nursing journey, from the first day on the job, to developing in confidence and how to work towards revalidation, taking a pragmatic, yet very readable approach. This would make a great gift for any soon to graduate or recently qualified nurse.' Liz Williams, Assistant Professor, Year 2 Clinical Skills, University of Nottingham 'What I like about Being a Nurse is that it is a first-hand guide to being a newly registered nurse; it gives helpful information about all those things you didn't learn about when you were a student nurse. To name a few; annual leave, revalidation, finding your role within the team and CPD. The content of Being a Nurse is written in such a way that it very much feels like an informal chat with Lauren herself, and this makes for a comforting read. Its easy layout is set with bullet points and 'top tip' sections which can help you easily summarise each chapter. There are also quotes of real-life situations and cases, which always helps put theory ideas into reality. Although Lauren is a children's nurse, the topics discussed in the book are easily transferable to other branches of nursing. I would recommend this book to any student nurses, especially students about to qualify.' Nursing blog, Diary of a Chief Nurse Junior Fellow 'Lauren writes in a way that is like talking to a friend or mentor, making you feel comfortable and supported. The book contains sections on how to cope with a bad day and first day nerves. As a third year student nurse, I worry about first day nerves especially as I am going to work in a trust that I haven't had a placement in and this section of the book really resonated with me as I'm sure it will other third year student nurses. The book is written in an informative way without using jargon and confusing language, containing hints and tips from Lauren herself on each section. My favourite section is how you know when you're ready to progress, I have a career plan which I would like to stick to and this section was really interesting to read. This is a book that would be good for all student nurses to read, especially third years who are close to qualifying or newly qualified nurses!' Student nurse blog, studentnurseandbeyond.co.uk Amazing talent 'Amazing read, highly recommend for any newly qualified nurse (whatever field of nursing) and also students, I'm just over 2 years qualified and wish I'd had this to help guide me through, there are aspects of it that are still applicable...talented writer with great sense of humour.' Amazon reviewer