hmm...

never be afraid to ask questions, its how you will learn!

Take any chances you can while a student to go and watch procedures/do something you haven't done before while you have the support of working with a senior nurse.

Jump at the chance while in third year to plan a patients care for the shift, take on one or two patients as your own in conjunction with the RN and make them 'your' patient/s for the day, this is invaluable for learning time management and prioritising skills!! plus you have the added bonus of working alongside another RN who can give you pointers/reminders if you forget something etc, once you finish your degree you will be on your own for that sort of stuff!

once you finish, make use of the seniors whose judgement you trust to ask questions, and do a new grad year if possible as you get more support...

never be afraid to say "I don't know", but then know how to find out!

But most of all, have patience, respect people's dignity at all times, be an advocate for your patients, and don't be afraid of having difficult conversations. Make use of resources you have available so you can continue to learn/update your knowledge and skills, and most importantly, make sure you have a decent sense of humour, you WILL be in situations where if you didn't laugh you would cry, so develop those positive coping strategies/debrief skills...

Let's discuss people! :-)

Can you give us one thing you can advice to our student nurses on what they need to know about nursing or what skill they should have as nurses?

I can think of one...common sense! :-)