As you develop into your first role as a registered nurse, continue to note and plan your professional development. Review your preceptorship plan and make sure you are on target. Continue to discuss your professional development needs. Keep a portfolio to record development and prepare for revalidation.

		✓
3 weeks	Preceptorship plan agreed and monthly updates and achievement of tasks. Discuss your personal development needs. Identify competencies/areas of development specific to the post/ service/area of practice. Create/maintain an e-portfolio that collates and records learning and development through preceptorship. Meet team members. Have a buddy and agreed arrangements with them.
End of first complete month	Check your payslip. Are all your details correct? Has your personal tax code been applied? Does this reflect your new allowance? Have you paid into a pension?  Have you received your shift allowance? (This may not be paid until your second month.)
2-3 months	Preceptorship plans being achieved. Recorded progress on competencies. Planned and booked some annual leave as per your employers guidelines and allowances. Reviewed RCN forums – identify those that are of relevance to you. Make contact with local RCN activists, such as reps and your local branch.  Review your role as a practice supervisor for students.
6-12 months	Preceptorship plans being achieved. Recorded progress on competencies. Engaged with networks and forums of choice and considered how these inform and support your current role and ongoing professional development. Consider more engagement with RCN activities and branch. Understand role of practice supervisor and discussed with preceptor about development of skills and understanding of the role. Plan opportunities to develop practice supervisor skills. Prepare for first appraisal - preview preceptorship plan, e-portfolio and achievements. Identify goals for the next year of your practice. Complete your first reflection on practice for your NMC revalidation.

Get to know your team well

You’ll have a preceptor and an amazing preceptorship team, so pester them! They have lots of combined knowledge and experience, and if they don’t know, they’ll help you find what you’re looking for.

Get your competencies out of the way!

It’s nerve-racking for us all, but the sooner you get your competency the quicker you can get any fears or worries out of the way, because you’ll be practicing independently.

Don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t go to plan

Sometimes the vein blows, or you can’t find the right “landmark”. Keep your patient in mind; they’ll often know if you feel defeated, so get some secondary advice and use it as a learning opportunity – your patients will understand.

Stand your ground

It’s easy to feel like the new kid on the block and sometimes you might doubt your gut instinct. Don’t. If there’s a difference of opinion, go and find the actual answer in a policy, or get a second opinion. Regardless of if you were right or wrong, use it as another learning opportunity and rest in the knowledge you did the best by your patient.

Get a small notebook

Fill it with hints and tips, bleeps, extension numbers, whatever you think you might forget, and keep it in your pocket.

Honesty is the best policy

We can’t know everything – if you’re asked a question and don’t know the answer, be honest and say you’ll find out. The more you ask, the more you’ll understand and in turn you can explain it to patients and co-workers. People have respected me for that; and with respect often comes trust.

Look after you

Make sure you have a really nice, comfy pair of work shoes.

Drink lots of water, your brain function improves no end when you’re hydrated.

Take your breaks, even if it seems impossibly busy, it’s 24-hour care and it’s okay to hand some jobs over.

Be prompt in booking annual leave – I quickly learned to take annual leave about every six weeks.

Because if you don’t look after you, how can you look after anyone else?!

It’s ok to cry

We all have down days, and it’s not a bad thing to get the emotion out.

But also remember to laugh

Try and find the positives in every day, and take every shift as a clean slate.

DON’T GIVE UP!