supervisors make u or break u!

I believe at each prac your supervisor either brings out the best in you or is out to break you. I must say I have been pretty lucky to have gotton really good supervisors that really motivate you and guide you when need be and are also really open and pretty approachable. I however did have one supervisor that was someone who was just too difficult to communicate with. She seemed to have this set way of how she wanted things to be done and completely hounded for little bits of information.
She had this look that somehow made me feel really small. She wanted me to rattle off handovers of all my pts without looking at any piece of paper, I found this really difficult not just having to remember information of the patients but also verbalising it. It was like every time she came up to me to ask me things I’d get this massive mental block and feel stuck. My mind would go blank. She kept telling me that if I did not get good at this I would not make it through this prac and I was determined to be competent!

I voiced this out to my CCT and was in dire need of help because I felt I should not have to become incompetent in this prac because I was unable to give good handovers without looking at any notes! So with my encouraging CCT we came up with a “cheat card” it had basic heading just so I could begin to visualise and think systematically. I put this “system” into place and I must say it really helped me to think systematically because I was a bit of a scatter brain. It just put lots more information into perspective and helped me verbalise this information to my supervisor much better.

I did make it through this prac but I must say however it is pretty difficult to develop skills on a prac if you have a supervisor who is pretty harsh and overwhelming! I also got some advice from a fellow student who said every time she had an overwhelming moment with her supervisor she took a step back from the situation and built a “glass wall” around her so she felt safe and was able to think much better. I did try this out and well it worked sometimes but not every time. Overall it was a great learning experience for me and I did get much better at it by the end of the prac!