Well, after a year out I haven't been able to find another child minder.
My youngest son has some learning difficulties (we are in the process of having him assessed) and so I felt that I couldn't put him in an after school group with 60+ children when he has struggled to settle in his class of 30 children.
So with this in mind I have withdrawn from my place at university.
I plan to re enroll in the future but for now I have decided to pursue a childhood and youth studies degree with the Open University. If I achieve a 2:2 pass or higher I can apply to undertake a shorter, 2 year nursing diploma course. I have also begun to volunteer at my local children's centre, as I know as a nurse I need good communication skills. I believe I can gain these skills running groups at my children's centre.
I wish anyone who is planning to undertake a nursing course and current nurses the best of luck and hope you have a long and fulfilling career
Regards
Sarah xx
12 February 2010
23 March 2009
Plans on hold
Well I passed my final placement of year one and then went on a well deserved break to Manchester. But when I returned I was informed of the sad news that my poor child minder had suffered a stroke and was now in hospital!
I have tried desperately to organise care for my children but without success. Therefore I have had to leave the course for a year and hope that there will be better child care in my area in March 2010.
So now I have a year of nothingness and as nice as being with my boys is, I can't help but feel disappointed. But, never one to procrastinate I have already gathered together a huge pile of books and nursing magazines. I also rang my nearest hospital and requested to speak to the volunteer manager (I didn't know a name or staff extension number). Once I was put through to the right person I explained my circumstances and said that, as my husband works 9-5 Monday to Fridays could I possibly volunteer as a healthcare assistant during weekends. The lady was very kind and said she would actually speak to the nursing bank to try and get me some paid work! Lets hope it pans out as I would love to keep my knowledge up to date and continue to build both my confidence and skills as I've been a student nurse for a whole year and feel I still have so much more to learn - perhaps more than can be fit into a three year course.
I have tried desperately to organise care for my children but without success. Therefore I have had to leave the course for a year and hope that there will be better child care in my area in March 2010.
So now I have a year of nothingness and as nice as being with my boys is, I can't help but feel disappointed. But, never one to procrastinate I have already gathered together a huge pile of books and nursing magazines. I also rang my nearest hospital and requested to speak to the volunteer manager (I didn't know a name or staff extension number). Once I was put through to the right person I explained my circumstances and said that, as my husband works 9-5 Monday to Fridays could I possibly volunteer as a healthcare assistant during weekends. The lady was very kind and said she would actually speak to the nursing bank to try and get me some paid work! Lets hope it pans out as I would love to keep my knowledge up to date and continue to build both my confidence and skills as I've been a student nurse for a whole year and feel I still have so much more to learn - perhaps more than can be fit into a three year course.
28 February 2009
End of year 1
Well, that's the first year over with!
I can't believe I've completed the first year of the course already.
During my placement I was able to make the most of the opportunities there by letting my mentor know who I was interested in meeting (such as social workers etc.) to follow cases we were working on. My mentor was good enough to provide me with contact numbers so that I could arrange to visit members of the multidisciplinary team, which has really given me a flavour of how care is provided. I went out on visits to:
A child and family social worker
A nursery nurse
two difference nurse prescribers
A mental health worker
A children's community nurse (the equivalent of a district nurse)
A women's refuge health visitor
A school nurse
two district nurses
A midwife
CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health) nurses
SCBU (special care baby unit)
I would advise anyone on a community placement to bring a diary wiuth them to keep track of everone one they are going to spend time with.
Before I went on each visit I wrote a list of what I would like to find out about. I took a witness statement and then after the visit I wrote a reflective diary entry where I was able to explore how the care I witnessed fit into the picture, this also provided me with evidence to meet my placement competencies.
I must have done something right on the placement as I got a good pass mark and my mentor wrote some lovely comments in my placement book.
Anyway I've finished the first year. I got a mark of 70% for my final essay giving me an average assignment scores of 60% across the year. This means I will be doing the advanced diploma. Which means I will have two extra units to study in my final year, I'm disappointed as I can't choose to opt out of this and I think the extra work will make my work/family life balance even worse. I must admit I've found this year very hard in places particularly when I'm required to do 12 hr shifts and complete essays and placement evidence on my days off, rather than being free to spend spare time with my family.
But it'll be worth it in the end.....
I can't believe I've completed the first year of the course already.
During my placement I was able to make the most of the opportunities there by letting my mentor know who I was interested in meeting (such as social workers etc.) to follow cases we were working on. My mentor was good enough to provide me with contact numbers so that I could arrange to visit members of the multidisciplinary team, which has really given me a flavour of how care is provided. I went out on visits to:
A child and family social worker
A nursery nurse
two difference nurse prescribers
A mental health worker
A children's community nurse (the equivalent of a district nurse)
A women's refuge health visitor
A school nurse
two district nurses
A midwife
CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health) nurses
SCBU (special care baby unit)
I would advise anyone on a community placement to bring a diary wiuth them to keep track of everone one they are going to spend time with.
Before I went on each visit I wrote a list of what I would like to find out about. I took a witness statement and then after the visit I wrote a reflective diary entry where I was able to explore how the care I witnessed fit into the picture, this also provided me with evidence to meet my placement competencies.
I must have done something right on the placement as I got a good pass mark and my mentor wrote some lovely comments in my placement book.
Anyway I've finished the first year. I got a mark of 70% for my final essay giving me an average assignment scores of 60% across the year. This means I will be doing the advanced diploma. Which means I will have two extra units to study in my final year, I'm disappointed as I can't choose to opt out of this and I think the extra work will make my work/family life balance even worse. I must admit I've found this year very hard in places particularly when I'm required to do 12 hr shifts and complete essays and placement evidence on my days off, rather than being free to spend spare time with my family.
But it'll be worth it in the end.....
16 January 2009
The results are in...
Well it's my second week of my health visiting placement and I love it. The staff are great and my mentor is fantastic, she's been helping me to reflect on situations we have encountered and the communication which took place. She's also arranged for me to visit other professionals. This week I spent a day with a nurse prescriber and a social worker, next week I will be joining a midwife on her visits and also attending a conference about children with special needs. This will be useful as I am becoming increasingly concerned with regards to my own son.
Because of the hours I have worked this week my mentor insisted I had a half day today - something I was quite happy to miss as I enjoy this placement so much. However I used the afternoon to travel to my campus as the results of my exam and an assignment were ready for collection. I had thought that by collecting the results in the afternoon there wouldn't be such a big que, unfortunately everyone must have had that idea as the que was very long as it usually is on results day.
Anyhow I received a mark of 55% for the exam which I am a bit disappointed with, which is silly as the pass rate is still 40%. For the essay I received 71% which is my highest pass mark to date. I have one last set of results to get, next month and that will be this year completed.
If we receive an average mark of 50% and above we automatically begin the advanced diploma which is two extra units of work in the final year. So far my average is 61% so it's more than likely I will be working towards the advanced diploma. Which means I need less CATS points to top up the diploma to a degree (though I'm not sure how this will work with a health visiting degree).
Because of the hours I have worked this week my mentor insisted I had a half day today - something I was quite happy to miss as I enjoy this placement so much. However I used the afternoon to travel to my campus as the results of my exam and an assignment were ready for collection. I had thought that by collecting the results in the afternoon there wouldn't be such a big que, unfortunately everyone must have had that idea as the que was very long as it usually is on results day.
Anyhow I received a mark of 55% for the exam which I am a bit disappointed with, which is silly as the pass rate is still 40%. For the essay I received 71% which is my highest pass mark to date. I have one last set of results to get, next month and that will be this year completed.
If we receive an average mark of 50% and above we automatically begin the advanced diploma which is two extra units of work in the final year. So far my average is 61% so it's more than likely I will be working towards the advanced diploma. Which means I need less CATS points to top up the diploma to a degree (though I'm not sure how this will work with a health visiting degree).
06 January 2009
Community placement
Today was the beginning on my 3rd placement with a health visitor after a 1 week study break and 2 weeks of holidays.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting parents in their own, home environment and being able to assess the holistic needs of the parents and their children. I was also able to attend a child protection meeting and witness the multidisciplinary team working together. The hours of 9-5 are more sociable than working on the 12 hr ward shifts. But it is Monday to Friday rather than 3 days a week so what I gain in sociable hours I lose in free time as it's almost impossible to study during the weekend with the boys needing attention. But that's okay, on my last placement I was able to provide evidence and therefore pass a lot of the competencies meaning this placement will not be so intense.
I can't wait for the next eight weeks as the health visitor team I met today all seem very open and friendly. It was lovely to hear my mentors opinion on systems and current practices and it will be interesting to work alongside other members of the multidisciplinary team.
Plus, this month i will find out the results of both the essay I submitted in December and the exam. I have already received the results of the workbook I submitted - I achieved 63% which i am obviously happy with.
Yesterday I submitted another essay, about care recieved by a service user from another branch. The results of this should be available in February but to be honest I will probably wait until the end of my placement to get my results as the assignments office shuts at half past four and I don't want to miss any of my placement.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting parents in their own, home environment and being able to assess the holistic needs of the parents and their children. I was also able to attend a child protection meeting and witness the multidisciplinary team working together. The hours of 9-5 are more sociable than working on the 12 hr ward shifts. But it is Monday to Friday rather than 3 days a week so what I gain in sociable hours I lose in free time as it's almost impossible to study during the weekend with the boys needing attention. But that's okay, on my last placement I was able to provide evidence and therefore pass a lot of the competencies meaning this placement will not be so intense.
I can't wait for the next eight weeks as the health visitor team I met today all seem very open and friendly. It was lovely to hear my mentors opinion on systems and current practices and it will be interesting to work alongside other members of the multidisciplinary team.
Plus, this month i will find out the results of both the essay I submitted in December and the exam. I have already received the results of the workbook I submitted - I achieved 63% which i am obviously happy with.
Yesterday I submitted another essay, about care recieved by a service user from another branch. The results of this should be available in February but to be honest I will probably wait until the end of my placement to get my results as the assignments office shuts at half past four and I don't want to miss any of my placement.
02 December 2008
End of a hectic two months
Wow what a crazy two months it's been and very stressful.
First of all I had a tutorial about the workbook. I take direct quotes but my marker explained that although this is technically correct it spoils the flow of the essay - almost as if reading a story rather than a fluid piece of writing. My marker explained that I need to put the quote into my own words and then give credit to the original author, to show I understand the work so it would be like...Communication in healthcare brings together social, psychological and also the physical aspects of care to ensure care provisions are holistic (Lister and Dougherty, 2008) rather than taking the words straight out of the text.
So I changed that and submitted it. Then I looked at the clinical skills essay I had prepared and suddenly hated it. I changed the quotes following my previous tutorial and then realised I had missed a reference - NOT GOOD and some of my spelling was off. Thank heavens I re checked it. So that was another day spent on improving it but that's okay, it just shows the benefits of leaving work for a while and proof reading at a later date.
On top of these we had a two hour exam on skin assessment, communication, health promotion and genetics. It was nerve racking but we all gave each other moral support and I'm sure I did okay, I read through Andrew Northedge's the good study guide, to give me some guidance.
So now the exam is over I have another tutorial for the last essay I need to submit this year and then I can enjoy the Christmas holidays before my community placement in January 2009.
Today we had a practical session on giving injections which was really good and useful. I enjoyed it more since the stress of the exam is over. The last practical we had, on catheter care was not as enjoyable 'cos everyone was so stressed out, which is silly really because in nursing the pass rate is 40%.
First of all I had a tutorial about the workbook. I take direct quotes but my marker explained that although this is technically correct it spoils the flow of the essay - almost as if reading a story rather than a fluid piece of writing. My marker explained that I need to put the quote into my own words and then give credit to the original author, to show I understand the work so it would be like...Communication in healthcare brings together social, psychological and also the physical aspects of care to ensure care provisions are holistic (Lister and Dougherty, 2008) rather than taking the words straight out of the text.
So I changed that and submitted it. Then I looked at the clinical skills essay I had prepared and suddenly hated it. I changed the quotes following my previous tutorial and then realised I had missed a reference - NOT GOOD and some of my spelling was off. Thank heavens I re checked it. So that was another day spent on improving it but that's okay, it just shows the benefits of leaving work for a while and proof reading at a later date.
On top of these we had a two hour exam on skin assessment, communication, health promotion and genetics. It was nerve racking but we all gave each other moral support and I'm sure I did okay, I read through Andrew Northedge's the good study guide, to give me some guidance.
So now the exam is over I have another tutorial for the last essay I need to submit this year and then I can enjoy the Christmas holidays before my community placement in January 2009.
Today we had a practical session on giving injections which was really good and useful. I enjoyed it more since the stress of the exam is over. The last practical we had, on catheter care was not as enjoyable 'cos everyone was so stressed out, which is silly really because in nursing the pass rate is 40%.
03 November 2008
an end to my placement
Well it was my last placement day on Saturday. I went through my evidence with my mentor to see what competencies we thought I had passed.
Because of the way I have chosen to catalogue my evidence it was easy to match up my evidence against the competencies and I am pleased that most of my competencies have been signed off by my mentor. There were a few people who I did not get a chance to speak to with regard to their job role which is a shame but at least I was able to speak to the stoma nurse and the play specialist during my placement, both were valuable experiences.
I felt sad to say goodbye to the friends I have made, both patients and staff but I leave feeling more confident in myself and my nursing future. It will be a shame to return to uni, even though I will see my friends there.
During the placement I also had the opportunity to attend a student road show run by the RCN. It was an extremely useful experience and one I am grateful to have attended. Matters such as interview technique, legal issues, student issues and RCN services were discussed and a delicious buffet lunch was provided (along with presentation notes and a cotton bag) the event would have cost £10 but was free to RCN members (very good value considering I paid £10 for 3 years membership to the union). Also at the event, and the most important speaker, was Amanda Sterne. Her husband was admitted to a hospital with diarrhoea and ended up being dehydrated because no one on the ward monitored his fluid intake and out take. This happened on 3 separate occasions, despite Amanda writing to the chief executive of the hospital and her husband's care team. This dehydration sparked off a chain of events which meant her husband suffered: multiple myocardial infarctions, strokes, deep vein thrombosis, had both legs amputated, lost his voice due to a tracheotomy and faced suffocation. Eventually he took his own life rather than run the risk of once again being admitted to hospital.
Amanda had a powerful message to give and you can buy her book, a full account of what happened, here.
Once back on the ward my mentor and I looked at my progress on the ward as a requirement of the mentor is to decide if you were: extremely good, very good, good, poor, very poor- for four separate categories. So I had sat down and thought about how I had done. My mentor and I compared notes and it was decided I had passed the placement.
So now I'm back at uni and trying to prepare for my impending exam - I will probably start to panic next week. At least I have got rough drafts of all my assignments finished!
Because of the way I have chosen to catalogue my evidence it was easy to match up my evidence against the competencies and I am pleased that most of my competencies have been signed off by my mentor. There were a few people who I did not get a chance to speak to with regard to their job role which is a shame but at least I was able to speak to the stoma nurse and the play specialist during my placement, both were valuable experiences.
I felt sad to say goodbye to the friends I have made, both patients and staff but I leave feeling more confident in myself and my nursing future. It will be a shame to return to uni, even though I will see my friends there.
During the placement I also had the opportunity to attend a student road show run by the RCN. It was an extremely useful experience and one I am grateful to have attended. Matters such as interview technique, legal issues, student issues and RCN services were discussed and a delicious buffet lunch was provided (along with presentation notes and a cotton bag) the event would have cost £10 but was free to RCN members (very good value considering I paid £10 for 3 years membership to the union). Also at the event, and the most important speaker, was Amanda Sterne. Her husband was admitted to a hospital with diarrhoea and ended up being dehydrated because no one on the ward monitored his fluid intake and out take. This happened on 3 separate occasions, despite Amanda writing to the chief executive of the hospital and her husband's care team. This dehydration sparked off a chain of events which meant her husband suffered: multiple myocardial infarctions, strokes, deep vein thrombosis, had both legs amputated, lost his voice due to a tracheotomy and faced suffocation. Eventually he took his own life rather than run the risk of once again being admitted to hospital.
Amanda had a powerful message to give and you can buy her book, a full account of what happened, here.
Once back on the ward my mentor and I looked at my progress on the ward as a requirement of the mentor is to decide if you were: extremely good, very good, good, poor, very poor- for four separate categories. So I had sat down and thought about how I had done. My mentor and I compared notes and it was decided I had passed the placement.
So now I'm back at uni and trying to prepare for my impending exam - I will probably start to panic next week. At least I have got rough drafts of all my assignments finished!
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