A short interview with Michelle and Jamie, two first-year students reading for a BSc in Nursing Studies, share their current learning and working experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is it like to be a first-year nursing student?
As first year nursing students, we are currently learning about the cardiovascular system and the various diseases and treatments. Along with the pharmacological and biological aspects of nursing, multiple ethical and legal perspectives form part of the current learning. Our studies include foundations and history of the nursing profession and a means of personal and professional development.
We practice clinical skills and build a knowledge base for our eventual work in the clinical setting.
The remote learning is challenging but thanks to the guidance and support from our lecturers, we feel reassured that we will overcome these obstacles. We have always aspired to have a career in health sciences, and we are very happy to have chosen to study nursing at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta. The nursing career proves to be ideally placed to respond and tackle various health challenges.
You have volunteered to participate in activities such as the charity event at id-Dar-tal Providenza and contact tracing, can you tell us more about these events?
We are offered new opportunities that are enriching both personally and professionally.
We have worked on a voluntary basis over the past few months with the contact tracing team in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. We have learned so much about infectious diseases, transmission, prevention and management and it has been great being able to help out the teams that are working tirelessly during these challenging times.
On 1 January, we volunteered to assist the charity event at id-Dar tal-Providenza. Our role consisted of checking temperatures and ensuring that everyone performed hand hygiene and maintained physical distancing in the premises. We are thankful to have been offered this opportunity as we learned a lot and the experience has helped us to actively engage with people and grow in self-confidence. It was a gratifying experience to be of help at this charity event and we would be more than happy to volunteer in future initiatives.
It was satisfying to know that we all worked for a good cause to help those most in need and we definitely recommend others to do the same.