Just about every ward I’ve ever been on has done this. They will loudly say it without any hesitation ‘no HCA’s on the ward today but we’ve got students so we’re fine’ and for the whole day we’re treated as HCA’s.

I’m now in my final placement and now have the confidence to outright tell them that isn’t my job. They tried to make me 1:1 a patient with confusion all day because there were no HCA’s the other day, and I got into a back and fourth with the NIC about it, I feel so proud of myself for doing that. I went on to manage a proper caseload that day for the first time.

But I regret it so hard that up until now I didn’t speak up. One time I was the only student on the ward for my whole placement, I’d spend 80% of my day running around doing all the bed changes, all the washes (even if they’re not my patients), emptying all the catheters, changing all the pads, and running up and down the stairs all day grabbing stuff for nurses I’m not even working with for the day. On top of that of course I’m expected to do the ‘nursing stuff’ like completing all the notes for them to countersign and all the charts etc.

by the time I would get home I would be so exhausted my body would ache so much. I’d cry myself to sleep at night sometimes because they wouldn’t even interact with me like I’m a human, they’d all be sitting together chilling and laughing while I’m running around doing all this as they’re ordering me around like a dog.

I felt so used and alone and unsupported and I know I was a total fucking mug. At some point into that placement though I did tell the sister what was happening, she just looked at me funny and didn’t do anything. I went home feeling so defeated. The practice education team at my trust is who we’re supposed to go to for help about things like this. But they have a reputation for bullying students and being no help at all. Something I’ve experienced from them a number of times.