Before a first nursing placement, students often imagine that the difficult part will be taking observations correctly, remembering clinical terminology or seeing a procedure they have only practised in a simulation suite. In reality, the first shock is often much less dramatic. It is arriving at 6.45am without knowing which entrance is open, trying to follow a handover full of unfamiliar abbreviations, working out whom you are supposed to stay with and wondering whether everyone else can tell how nervous you are.
A placement is unlike an ordinary university module because the setting does not exist primarily for your education. Patients still need care, staff are still working under pressure and the day can change within minutes. You are learning inside a real service rather than entering a controlled teaching exercise. That can make the first few shifts feel chaotic even when the placement is well run.
It helps to know what should be happening around you. You are not expected to arrive as a nearly qualified nurse, and you are not there as free labour. You should be supervised according to your knowledge, proficiency and confidence, given opportunities to learn, receive constructive feedback and be assessed using evidence rather than one person's vague impression. The exact rota, documentation system and assessment process vary between universities and placement providers, but the underlying standards do not disappear because a ward is busy.
Your first placement is one part of a very large practical commitment
Under the Nursing and Midwifery Council standards in force at the time of publication, a pre-registration nursing programme must include 2,300 practice-learning hours. Up to 600 of those hours may be approved simulated practice learning, but the remainder involves learning in real practice environments. At 37.5 hours a week, 2,300 hours is equivalent to more than 61 full-time working weeks.
That scale explains why placement is not an optional extra attached to a nursing degree. It is roughly half of the professional preparation through which students learn to communicate, assess, plan care, manage risk, work with other professions and gradually become capable of practising safely. It also explains why one difficult first week should not be treated as a verdict on whether you belong in nursing. You are at the beginning of a long sequence of experiences, not sitting a one-day audition.
Your first placement may be on an acute hospital ward, but it could also be in a care home, community team, mental health service, learning disability setting, GP practice, hospice, rehabilitation unit or another health or social care environment. A placement that does not resemble the hospital-based nursing shown on television is not necessarily less valuable. Students have to learn how care works across different settings, ages and needs.
National data also shows why preparation and supervision cannot be taken for granted. In the Council of Deans of Health analysis of the 2025 National Student Survey, 77.7 per cent of adult nursing students gave a positive response when asked about appropriate supervision on placement. That is a clear majority, but it still leaves a substantial minority whose experience was not positive. The lowest-scoring placement question across nursing, midwifery and allied health courses concerned receiving enough preparation time before placement.
The first day may feel administrative because safety comes before excitement
A well-organised first day often includes more forms, passwords and local instructions than clinical activity. You may have an identity check, tour, induction, uniform discussion, IT set-up and explanations of emergency procedures before you spend much time with patients. This can feel disappointing when you have been waiting months to begin, but a placement that checks whether you know how to summon help is doing something more useful than immediately placing you beside an impressive procedure.
By the end of induction, you should know or be able to find out:
- where and when to report for each type of shift;
- who is coordinating the area and who to contact if your named supervisor is absent;
- how to summon emergency help and where essential emergency equipment is kept;
- how sickness, lateness and unexpected absence must be reported;
- where the fire exits, toilets, changing facilities, lockers and staff rest area are;
- how breaks work and which parts of a shift count towards placement hours;
- which documentation and electronic systems students may use;
- how to report an incident, near miss, safeguarding concern or personal safety issue;
- which procedures students may observe or undertake and what supervision is required;
- how your practice assessment document or electronic portfolio will be completed.
You will not remember every extension number and policy on the first morning. Write down the information you actually need, using a small notebook that contains no patient-identifiable material. A sensible first-page list is the placement telephone number, absence procedure, names of your supervisor and assessor, location of the emergency call point and the date of your initial assessment meeting.
If there is no formal induction, nobody knows who should supervise you or you are immediately left to provide care you have not been prepared for, do not assume that this is simply how clinical learning works. Ask the nurse in charge or placement education contact for clarification. An unusually busy morning can delay an induction; repeatedly working without one is a different matter.
You may have three important people, not one traditional mentor
Students are sometimes told to "find their mentor", even though the current NMC framework separates supervision and assessment into distinct roles. The titles matter because the person supporting you during a shift may not be the person who makes the final assessment decision.
The practice supervisor
A practice supervisor supports and supervises your learning in the placement environment. You may work with more than one supervisor, and the person may be a registered professional from nursing or another relevant health or social care profession. Other members of the team, including experienced support workers, can teach you useful skills and give feedback, although they may not hold the formal supervisor role.
The practice assessor
The practice assessor evaluates your overall achievement in practice. They use evidence from records, direct observation, your reflections and feedback from supervisors and other relevant people. They do not necessarily work beside you on every shift or even spend every day in the same setting.
The academic assessor
The academic assessor is based within your education programme. They consider your academic and practice achievement and work with the practice assessor when recommendations are made about progression. Your personal tutor or link lecturer may also support you, but local job titles differ.
During the first week, ask four direct questions: who is my named practice assessor, who can supervise me on ordinary shifts, when is my initial meeting and what evidence must be completed before the midpoint and final assessment? Do not wait until the final week to discover that one section of the electronic practice assessment document needed observation by a particular person.
Supernumerary does not mean invisible, idle or available to fill a vacancy
Pre-registration nursing students must be supernumerary while undertaking practice learning. The NMC defines this in staffing terms:
"Students must be supported to learn without being counted as part of the staffing required for safe and effective care."
This does not mean standing at the nurses' station waiting to be entertained. Students can make a genuine contribution to care, and that contribution should increase as their knowledge and proficiency develop. On a first placement, useful learning may include helping a person wash and dress, observing skin condition, measuring and reporting vital signs, supporting nutrition and hydration, communicating with relatives, joining handover, following a patient journey, learning documentation and noticing how registered nurses prioritise competing needs.
Personal care is not the dull work you complete before being allowed to do "proper nursing". It can reveal pain, breathlessness, confusion, pressure damage, continence problems, reduced mobility, fear, changes in appetite and whether a person understands what is happening. A student who rushes through basic care because they are searching for a technical procedure may miss more clinically important information than the student who pays close attention.
Supernumerary status is being undermined when the service would become unsafely staffed without your presence, you are routinely allocated work solely to replace an absent employee, or learning opportunities are repeatedly refused because you are needed to complete ordinary staffing tasks. Helping during a pressured shift is not automatically exploitation. The warning sign is a continuing pattern in which your educational needs and level of supervision disappear.
Your rota may bear little resemblance to a university timetable
The NMC requires nursing students to experience the range of hours expected of registered nurses. It does not prescribe one national student rota or a fixed number of night shifts. Local programmes decide how the requirement is met. Many universities describe placement as an average 37.5-hour week that can include early shifts, late shifts, long days, nights, weekends and bank holidays. For example, the University of Birmingham's placement information tells students to expect an average 37.5-hour week and a mixture of those patterns.
A 12 or 12.5-hour presence at the placement does not necessarily produce the same number of recorded practice hours because meal breaks may be unpaid and excluded. Community services may mainly operate during conventional daytime hours, while inpatient services cover 24 hours. Some programmes introduce nights in the first year; others sequence them differently. Your own handbook and confirmed rota are the sources that matter.
Check the practical details before trying to be flexible
When the rota arrives, check the start time, finish time, unpaid break, total credited hours and travel options. A bus route that works at 9am may not exist for a 7am start or a 9.30pm finish. If parking requires a permit, arrange it before the first early shift rather than discovering the restriction in the dark. Test the journey at the relevant time if the location is unfamiliar.
Do not swap shifts informally and assume somebody else will update your record. Follow the placement and university process, particularly where a change affects supervision. Working four long days in order to finish a placement early is commonly prohibited, and extra hours should not be accumulated without approval.
If you are ill, follow both reporting routes required by your programme. This may mean contacting the placement and the university separately. Record the date, shift and missed hours, and ask how they will be managed. Turning up with vomiting, diarrhoea, a contagious illness or severe fatigue because you are frightened of losing hours may place patients and colleagues at risk. Conversely, simply staying away and explaining days later can become an attendance or professionalism concern.
Reasonable adjustments should be arranged, not improvised
NMC standards require education providers to take account of individual needs and personal circumstances, including reasonable adjustments for disabled students. An adjustment might concern advance notice of rotas, access, assistive technology, dyslexia support for documentation, a health-related break or the way a learning activity is organised. It does not remove the requirement to demonstrate safe professional competence.
Raise known needs through your university or occupational health process before placement wherever possible. Telling a different busy nurse the full story at the start of every shift is neither private nor reliable. If your health, pregnancy, medication or functional needs change, ask for a fresh risk assessment rather than attempting to cope silently until a problem occurs.
Knowing how to say "I cannot do that unsupervised" is a clinical skill
Students frequently worry that admitting ignorance will make them look incapable. The greater danger is allowing embarrassment to push them beyond their preparation. The Royal College of Nursing's guidance for student nurses says a student should not participate in a procedure for which they are not fully prepared or adequately supervised.
Whether you may perform a particular task depends on your stage of study, demonstrated proficiency, confidence, the patient's needs, local policy and the supervisor's judgement. It is not decided merely by whether another first-year student says they have already done it elsewhere.
Useful phrases are straightforward:
- "I have observed this, but I have not performed it before. Can you supervise me directly?"
- "I have not been taught or assessed for that procedure yet, so I cannot do it independently."
- "I do not understand that calculation. I need to stop and check it before we continue."
- "Can I watch this time, read the local guidance and arrange to practise it with you later?"
- "I am happy to help, but I need to know who is supervising me and what part you want me to undertake."
There is a difference between asking a question and transferring all responsibility for your learning to the nearest nurse. Read the information supplied, arrive with two or three objectives and note questions that can safely wait until after a medication round, emergency or difficult conversation. Safety questions cannot wait. Curiosity about why the ward stores a form in one folder rather than another probably can.
When you are shown a new procedure, try to establish the sequence: observe it, discuss the rationale and risks, perform an appropriate part under supervision, receive feedback and record suitable evidence. Being allowed to attempt something once does not automatically make you competent to repeat it alone.
Patients have not agreed to become teaching material simply by entering a service
A person receiving care has the right to refuse a student's involvement. The NMC's guidance on upholding public protection during student supervision states that consent should not be assumed when a student will observe or participate in care.
Introduce yourself accurately. "Hello, I'm Sam, a first-year student nurse working with Priya today" is clear. Calling yourself "the nurse" because it is quicker removes information the patient is entitled to have. Before personal care, examination, discussion or a procedure, make sure the patient understands your proposed involvement and has a genuine opportunity to decline.
A refusal is not a poor reflection on you. A patient may be embarrassed, exhausted, frightened, in pain or simply unwilling to have another person present. Thank them, step out and find another learning opportunity. Trying to persuade someone because you need a proficiency signed can turn educational pressure into coercion.
Think particularly carefully about intimate care, sensitive conversations and rooms that already contain several learners. The fact that an unusual procedure would be educational does not mean that every available student should observe it. Dignity takes priority over collecting an interesting experience.
Keep a learning notebook, but do not create a second patient record
A pocket notebook can be useful for unfamiliar abbreviations, topics to research and reminders to ask for feedback. It must not contain names, dates of birth, addresses, hospital numbers, bed numbers, distinctive diagnoses or a combination of details from which a person could be recognised.
The same caution applies to reflective assignments, messaging apps, cloud notes and generative AI tools. Do not paste real patient information into a personal account or an unapproved service. Replacing a name with "Patient A" is not enough if the remaining description identifies a rare condition, exact location, age and date.
The NMC Code places privacy, confidentiality, accurate records and professional conduct at the centre of nursing practice. Although students are not yet registered nurses, their education is designed around meeting those standards. A photograph of an empty treatment room can still reveal a whiteboard, label, screen or document in the background. The safest default is not to take clinical photographs on a personal device at all.
Difficult patient interactions are not always evidence that you handled them badly
Some patients will be warm and pleased to help a student learn. Others may be frightened, confused, angry, withdrawn, intoxicated, in severe pain or exhausted by repeated questions. Relatives may be distressed and looking for information you are not authorised or equipped to give. Your job is not to produce a perfect emotional resolution to every encounter.
When somebody is angry about waiting or care
Do not invent an explanation, blame another department or promise a time you cannot guarantee. Listen long enough to identify the immediate concern, acknowledge the frustration without admitting facts you do not know and involve the registered nurse. "I can see you have been waiting and you are worried. I am a student, so I need to ask the nurse looking after you to update you" is more useful than defending the organisation.
When a person is confused or repeatedly contradicts you
Confusion may arise from many causes, and diagnosis is not a first-year student's task. Reduce unnecessary noise, use short questions, allow time for an answer and report any new or worsening change. Check with the team whether the person needs glasses, hearing aids, pain relief, toileting or another assessment. Arguing insistently about what day it is may increase distress without achieving anything.
When a patient refuses care
Do not turn a refusal into a contest. Check that the person understands what is being offered, explore the reason without pressuring them and report the refusal to the registered professional. Questions about mental capacity, urgent treatment and overriding a refusal require appropriate clinical and legal decision-making; they are not yours to settle alone.
When comments become discriminatory, sexual or threatening
Being a student does not oblige you to accept abuse as a learning experience. Maintain a clear boundary, move to safety, seek help and report what happened through the local process. The response may depend on the person's condition and level of risk, but that assessment belongs with appropriately experienced staff. You should not be left alone to absorb repeated harassment because somebody says that nursing requires a thick skin.
When a relative asks for information
Do not confirm confidential details merely because the person appears close to the patient. Explain that you are a student and find the registered nurse responsible for the patient. Listening respectfully is appropriate; providing an unauthorised clinical update is not.
After a distressing event, ask for a brief debrief rather than carrying it silently through the rest of the placement. You may be affected by a death, safeguarding disclosure, aggressive incident, severe injury or a situation that connects with your own life. People react differently, sometimes hours later. Seeking support is not evidence that you are unsuited to clinical work.
The gap between classroom teaching and practice needs investigation, not instant judgement
Most students eventually see something that appears different from the method taught at university. It may involve infection prevention, documentation, communication, manual handling, wound care, medicines or the order in which tasks are completed. Sometimes there is a sound explanation. A patient's condition, preference, risk, equipment or local policy may require an adapted approach. Sometimes the difference is an unsafe shortcut that has become familiar through repetition.
Neither "the textbook is unrealistic" nor "the placement is doing everything wrong" is a safe first conclusion. Use a simple sequence:
- Describe what you actually observed. Separate the event from your interpretation of it.
- Identify the source of the method you were taught. Was it a national guideline, local university procedure, skills-lab convention or simplified introductory exercise?
- Ask whether the patient or setting changed the decision. Practice is rarely carried out on identical people under identical conditions.
- Check the current local policy. Habit and policy are not the same thing.
- Ask respectfully. "At university we used this method. Can you help me understand why the approach is different here?" invites explanation without pretending the safety question does not exist.
- Escalate unresolved risk. If you are involved in a potentially unsafe action, stop and seek supervision rather than completing it for the sake of politeness.
Theory gives you concepts, evidence and a safe starting point. Practice teaches you to apply them amid uncertainty, individual needs and competing priorities. Good placements do not ask you to discard the evidence; they show you how professional judgement connects evidence with the actual person in front of you.
Feedback is most useful before you feel ready to ask for it
Students often wait for a supervisor to announce how they are doing. In a busy placement, that can result in a hurried midpoint discussion or vague final comment. The NMC says feedback should be timely, particularly when improvement is needed, so that the student has a genuine opportunity to act upon it.
"Any feedback?" usually produces "You're doing fine." Ask for something observable instead:
- "Could you listen to my handover and tell me one point that was clear and one I should change?"
- "Did I explain that procedure to the patient in an understandable way?"
- "Can you watch my infection-control technique and correct me at the point I go wrong?"
- "I am trying to improve prioritisation. Which task would you have done first, and why?"
- "What would you need to see from me before you could confirm this proficiency?"
Ask several people over the placement rather than relying on one unusually easy or difficult shift. Practice assessors are expected to make evidence-based decisions using multiple sources, which may include direct observation, supervisor feedback, records, self-reflection and appropriate feedback from people receiving care.
When feedback is hard to hear
Do not argue before you understand what is being said. Ask for a specific example, the expected standard and what improvement would look like on the next shift. Repeat the point back in your own words. You may later decide that the criticism was unfair or poorly expressed, but an immediate defensive response can obscure the part that was useful.
If a genuine concern is raised, ask for it to be recorded with a clear plan. The plan should identify the behaviour or proficiency, support available, review date and evidence that will show improvement. "Needs more confidence" is too vague on its own. "Will lead the basic assessment of one allocated patient with direct supervision on the next three shifts and receive documented feedback" gives everybody something to work with.
A serious negative judgement that appears only at the final meeting, despite no earlier warning or opportunity to improve, should be raised promptly with the practice assessor and university. That does not mean the judgement will automatically be overturned, but assessment should not be a surprise assembled after the learning period has ended.
Turn ordinary shifts into evidence instead of chasing dramatic cases
Your practice assessment document or electronic portfolio may require proficiencies, episodes of care, observations, feedback, hours, reflections and formal meetings. The exact system varies, so follow your programme rather than copying another university's method.
Strong placement evidence does not require an exceptional emergency. A routine interaction can show communication, consent, assessment, safety, dignity, documentation and teamwork. What matters is connecting the experience to a professional outcome and showing what you learned or changed.
A useful same-day record contains:
- a brief, non-identifying description of the situation;
- what you observed or did and the supervision provided;
- the relevant proficiency, professional standard or learning outcome;
- the clinical reasoning, policy or evidence you need to understand;
- feedback received from the patient, supervisor or team where appropriate;
- one specific action for a future shift.
"I was nervous but learned a lot about communication" says very little. A better reflection might explain that you used several questions at once with a breathless patient, noticed that this made answering difficult, received feedback to use one short question at a time and then successfully changed your approach later in the shift.
Reflective work and case studies also require academic judgement. Students have to select relevant evidence, preserve confidentiality, distinguish description from analysis and connect practice with professional standards rather than rewriting the shift as a perfect story. Those needing support with reflective writing, placement-based case studies or linking practice to evidence can use specialist nursing assignment help as part of developing those academic skills.
Never alter the facts to make a reflection more impressive, ask somebody to sign an activity they did not observe or record hours you did not attend. Placement documentation is a professional record, not an informal workbook that can be tidied into accuracy at the end.
The financial and physical strain begins before the first clinical task
Placements can create costs that ordinary campus timetables do not: travel at unsocial hours, parking, temporary accommodation, extra childcare, food during long shifts and fewer opportunities for predictable paid work. A 2026 Royal College of Nursing survey of 2,504 nursing students across the UK found that 61 per cent reported a monthly financial shortfall above £250. Another 69 per cent said they were working alongside their studies, while 70 per cent reported that financial pressure had contributed to considering withdrawal.
That evidence matters because tiredness and money problems are sometimes treated as failures of personal organisation. A student completing an early shift after a long journey and then working a paid evening is facing a structural workload problem, not simply using the wrong diary.
Claim the placement support that applies to you
Funding arrangements differ across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England, eligible students receiving the NHS Learning Support Fund Training Grant may claim certain excess placement travel and temporary accommodation costs through Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses. The scheme compares placement travel with the normal cost of travelling to university; it does not simply reimburse every journey.
For 2026–27, the published English rates include 42 pence per mile for driving, 30 pence per mile for cycling and capped temporary accommodation payments. An advance-payment option is also available for some eligible students who would struggle to meet costs before reimbursement. Eligibility, rates and deadlines can change, so check the current national rules and your university's authorisation process rather than relying on an older student's claim.
Keep the rota, mileage record, parking receipts and accommodation evidence from the start. A pile of unlabelled receipts at the end of a ten-week placement is much harder to reconstruct. Students in the other UK nations should use the relevant national bursary and university guidance because the English scheme does not apply universally.
Prepare for the shift you actually have
For a long day, bring enough food for more than one short break, a drink bottle permitted by the local area, spare pens and any essential medication stored according to policy. Do not assume the canteen will be open before an early shift or after a late one. Wear the approved footwear before placement begins rather than discovering ten hours into the first day that it rubs or provides no support.
Find out where you may safely store your phone, wallet and keys. Uniform pockets are not a secure filing system, and a personal phone should not be carried into areas where it creates an infection-control, privacy or distraction problem.
A busy placement is not automatically a bad placement
Clinical areas can be pressured, and a supervisor may occasionally have to postpone a teaching conversation. The test is not whether every shift runs smoothly. Look for the pattern across several shifts and the response when you ask for help.
A demanding but educational placement may include busy staff who still identify a supervisor, explain priorities, involve you safely, check your understanding and return to postponed feedback. A poor learning environment may repeatedly show some of the following:
- nobody can identify your practice supervisor or assessor;
- you are left with patients or tasks beyond your preparation without suitable support;
- you are routinely treated as part of the minimum staffing numbers;
- staff refuse all learning discussion while expecting you to complete service tasks;
- you receive no meaningful feedback until the end;
- you are asked to record care, hours or signatures inaccurately;
- bullying, humiliation, discrimination or sexual harassment is dismissed as normal;
- you are pressured to hide an error, near miss, safeguarding issue or unsafe practice;
- reasonable adjustments agreed through the proper process are simply ignored.
The NMC's student supervision framework says students should be protected from discrimination, harassment and behaviour that undermines their performance or confidence. It also requires relevant induction, supported learning time and constructive feedback. These are not extravagant requests made by over-sensitive students.
Raise problems early and in the right order
Students sometimes endure weeks of poor supervision because they fear being labelled difficult. By the time they report it, there may be little placement left in which to repair the experience or gather evidence. Raising a concern does not have to begin with a formal complaint. It can begin with a factual request for the agreed arrangement to be restored.
- Deal with immediate safety first. If a patient, student or colleague is at immediate risk, alert the registered professional or person in charge and follow the emergency or incident process.
- For ordinary learning and supervision problems, speak to the practice supervisor. Explain what has happened, what you need and which part of the placement requirement is affected.
- Contact the practice assessor or placement education lead if the problem continues. They may be able to change supervision, clarify expectations or arrange missed learning.
- Tell the university. Use the link lecturer, personal tutor, academic assessor or placement team named by your programme. Do not assume the placement has informed them.
- Use specialist support where appropriate. This might include a students' union adviser, professional union, disability service, occupational health team or the placement provider's Freedom to Speak Up route.
- Use formal complaints or regulatory routes when internal action is insufficient. The NMC publishes guidance on concerns about approved education programmes and placement environments, although it normally expects the university's process to be used first.
Keep a factual chronology: date, time, location, what occurred, who was informed, response and effect on safety or learning. Avoid emotional labels where a precise description is available. "My supervisor hates me" is difficult to investigate. "On four listed shifts I was allocated no supervisor, and on two of them I was asked to undertake this task after explaining that I had not been assessed" gives the university something concrete to examine.
Do not copy identifiable patient details into personal emails or notes while documenting the concern. Use the approved reporting system and ask how confidential information should be supplied.
A practical plan for the first two weeks
Before the placement starts
- Read the placement profile and your university handbook, not only student social-media posts.
- Confirm the address, department, first-shift time, contact number and where to report.
- Test the journey at the relevant hour and investigate parking or public transport for weekends.
- Check your practice assessment document login before you are standing beside the assessor.
- Choose three realistic first-week objectives linked to your stage of study.
- Arrange agreed reasonable adjustments and occupational health advice.
- Check funding and travel-claim rules before spending money you expect to recover.
On the first shift
- Introduce yourself as a student and state your stage of training.
- Ask who is supervising you that day and who is coordinating the area.
- Learn how to call for urgent help before trying to memorise the stock cupboard.
- Clarify breaks, finish time and how hours are recorded.
- Tell your supervisor one skill or aspect of care you hope to understand.
- Observe how staff speak to patients and how information moves through the team.
By the end of the first week
- Complete or arrange the initial meeting and confirm assessment dates.
- Ask for one piece of specific feedback and record it properly.
- Identify a proficiency that can be developed through ordinary patient care.
- Check that your attended hours and rota agree.
- Submit or organise expense evidence rather than leaving it until the end.
- Raise any uncertainty about supervision, scope or adjustments while there is time to fix it.
What success on a first placement actually looks like
A successful first placement does not require you to finish feeling relaxed in every clinical situation. You may still dislike early shifts, need help with terminology and feel awkward beginning conversations. Confidence often develops later than outsiders expect because the more students learn, the more clearly they see what safe nursing involves.
Better signs of progress are that you introduce yourself honestly, obtain consent, notice changes, report concerns, understand your limits, accept feedback, improve a repeated task and can explain why care was given rather than merely describing what happened. You should become more useful without becoming less willing to ask for supervision.
The students who appear most confident on day one are not necessarily the safest or the most capable by the end. First placement is partly about learning procedures, but it is also where you begin to practise the less visible habits on which nursing depends: paying attention, preserving dignity, documenting accurately, speaking up and admitting when you do not know. Those habits are not preliminary to becoming a nurse. They are the beginning of it.
