I have always wanted to be a nurse. I first applied when I left school, though never finished my training. I became a wife and a mother of three lovely daughters and was happy for 15 years working on the family dairy farm. However, the desire to become a nurse never went away and I applied to the University of the West of Scotland in November 2008 and began my nurse training in February 2009.
I lived on the Isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland. I had to travel down to Paisley every week and back at weekends and on days off for the three years of my training.
My main focus throughout training was to gain experience and skills that I could transfer to nursing back on the island.
At the beginning as student nurses we all had ideas of what type of nurse we wanted to be. Most considered the acute setting, either medical, surgical or emergency and a few thought of themselves as community nurses. However, I never heard anyone discuss becoming a practice nurse. I suppose we all must have thought that it was only an option for a nurse who had experience. I didn't really know what type of nurse I wanted to be. I wanted to try everything.
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