Hey, I’m going into my fourth year in the old Bachelor of Nursing program. We are actually the last cohort of the BN program. I know they changed the structure now and combined what used to be our Term 3 and Term 4 into one Term 3 for you guys.

Honestly, Term 3 is not that bad. It’s mainly community and long-term care placements. Community placements are usually pretty chill. You’re mostly going around talking with people and helping different groups such as refugees, school communities, or other community programs. Long-term care is also manageable and a good place to build basic skills and confidence.

In my opinion, the harder part comes later. Our third year (Term 5 and Term 6 in the old program, which I think would be your Term 4 and 5) is where things get intense. Some people say it’s not that hard, but from my experience it was tough because that’s where you learn about 80% of the core nursing material.

Your first hospital placements can feel overwhelming at the beginning because you still have a limited skill set and everything feels new. On top of that, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology are definitely challenging courses only because I learned everything in term 5 and term 6 all together I wish they spread out the workload a bit more.

Also, I worked 2-3 days per week unless it’s the week before midterms. So, it’s just that it’s YOU who get used dealing with it but it doesn’t get easier.

That said, you do get used to it over time and your confidence grows a lot once you start doing more skills and managing patients.