2023-2024, F2, Yorkshire and Humber Foundation School
Overall I have enjoyed my foundation training and now feel much more confident managing the sick patient, considering and managing differentials for a breadth of presentations, and knowing when to escalate. I found the learning curve to be steep especially in F2 but I found that talking to my peers was helpful – they were usually feeling the same.
I think the most important things are to stick to your A to E approach, escalate early, ask lots of questions, keep learning and developing yourself (and enjoy that journey), and take time to look after yourself too.
Keeping an up to date jobs list and getting to know the people you are working with will help you settle in faster, be more efficient as a team and will help your learning. The nurses often have a lot of experience in their specialty and can often help with a variety of questions.
Use your SDT (self-development time) time to work on your portfolio and consider doing a project, for example audit, QI, research or teaching in this time.