I have just come home from a very demoralising shift where, after 2 weeks of trying to cultivate a thick skin, I have been reduced to tears by a senior midwife in the delivery suite office. It was over something very minor and quite petty but it was the final straw!!!

I have had great placements with wonderful mentors but this one is a killer because of the cliquey attitude of the senior midwives. They don't respect my mentor never mind me and have undermined both her and me in front of women.

If you compared the report from my last placement about the confident and capable student who was a valuable team member to the student on shift today you wouldn't believe they were the same person . . . and I can't believe I have let them do this to me.

Students need to be nurtured and given learning opportunites to allow them to grow into confident and competent practitioners but unfortunately on this placement I feel too frightened to take any learning opportunities in case I make a mistake - I really wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of sister :0(

I think what makes it worse is not knowing where to go for help, I get the feeling that at uni I would just be told to suck it up and get on with it - the whole attitude that you need to develop a thick skin for when you qualify . . . well if we were all a little nicer to each other we wouldn't need to develop the thick skin so lets all try to be a little nicer and remember when we've qualified what it felt like to be a student.

rant over :0)