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).
16 January 2009
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!
11 October 2008
End of my 5th week
Well my tutor came out to see me in practice and it has forced me to think about the work I need to complete before Christmas:
One workbook containing 4 500word essays
a reflective essay
an essay on the care given by a different branch of nursing
and an exam
I have almost completed a first draft of the reflective essay using Kolbs learning cycle and my reflective diary pages.
I have finished a first draft of the other essay.
I have yet to begin revising for the exam, which I am worried about but have enough time scheduled into my timetable once my placement is over.
I just have the workbook essays which I plan to do over these next four days.
Phew.
After the meeting with my tutor in which my mentor and co-mentor were both unable to attend I looked through my competencies and the evidence I have gathered to pass them. I began to write page numbers on them i.e my reflective diary pages are numbered R1.21a (R=reflective, 1=year 1, 2=placement two, 1=the week number this this will go up to eight, and a,b or c to relate to what shift it is that week since I do three).
After this I looked at what competencies I did not have evidence for. I then thought about what skills I had learned so far and was confident in, what skills I felt I needed more practice in, what skills I would like to begin practicing and what skills I had not yet witnessed. This sheet can then be a discussion point for the next chat I have with my mentor.
The types of evidence I have gathered are: observation charts I have wrote in, fluid charts, witness statements, mini reports, information sheets I have found and my reflective diary pages.
One workbook containing 4 500word essays
a reflective essay
an essay on the care given by a different branch of nursing
and an exam
I have almost completed a first draft of the reflective essay using Kolbs learning cycle and my reflective diary pages.
I have finished a first draft of the other essay.
I have yet to begin revising for the exam, which I am worried about but have enough time scheduled into my timetable once my placement is over.
I just have the workbook essays which I plan to do over these next four days.
Phew.
After the meeting with my tutor in which my mentor and co-mentor were both unable to attend I looked through my competencies and the evidence I have gathered to pass them. I began to write page numbers on them i.e my reflective diary pages are numbered R1.21a (R=reflective, 1=year 1, 2=placement two, 1=the week number this this will go up to eight, and a,b or c to relate to what shift it is that week since I do three).
After this I looked at what competencies I did not have evidence for. I then thought about what skills I had learned so far and was confident in, what skills I felt I needed more practice in, what skills I would like to begin practicing and what skills I had not yet witnessed. This sheet can then be a discussion point for the next chat I have with my mentor.
The types of evidence I have gathered are: observation charts I have wrote in, fluid charts, witness statements, mini reports, information sheets I have found and my reflective diary pages.
25 September 2008
3rd week
I can't believe how quickly the time has passed by. It's taken me a while to get settled into the ward routine and even longer to stop feeling so scared and useless all the time (though I do still have my moments). So I wanted to do something positive to help other would be nursing students. So basically it's advice:
1. Learn what the ward routine is.
2. Keep a reflective diary of one occurrence every shift.
3. Get to grips with the equipment, look at what nasogastric tubes, cannulas, catheters, central lines, infusion (drip) pumps, intra venous lines, blood glucose monitors, needles, syringes etc are used for (VERY important). - I bought this kit before I started university and have found it quite useful
4.Learn what conditions you are most likely to see on the ward.
5. Take a bottle of water with you for your shift - you'll need it.
6. Plan what you would like to learn each week but make sure it is relevant to your competencies, accompanying a stoma nurse is a good idea but only if you can get quite a few competencies fulfilled for it.
Your mentor is not there to teach/train you by spoon feeding you what you need to know. Your learning is entirely up to you, no one will tell you you need to do better until it's becoming too late but do ask for feedback regularly.
It sounds scary but if you can get your head around all of this you'll do fine!
1. Learn what the ward routine is.
2. Keep a reflective diary of one occurrence every shift.
3. Get to grips with the equipment, look at what nasogastric tubes, cannulas, catheters, central lines, infusion (drip) pumps, intra venous lines, blood glucose monitors, needles, syringes etc are used for (VERY important). - I bought this kit before I started university and have found it quite useful
4.Learn what conditions you are most likely to see on the ward.
5. Take a bottle of water with you for your shift - you'll need it.
6. Plan what you would like to learn each week but make sure it is relevant to your competencies, accompanying a stoma nurse is a good idea but only if you can get quite a few competencies fulfilled for it.
Your mentor is not there to teach/train you by spoon feeding you what you need to know. Your learning is entirely up to you, no one will tell you you need to do better until it's becoming too late but do ask for feedback regularly.
It sounds scary but if you can get your head around all of this you'll do fine!
11 September 2008
A busy shift
Well today was my second shift. They are 12 hour shifts excluding time out for breaks. But I have experienced a whole range of learning opportunities,.
For instance, today I was given permission to accompany a patient to the operating theatre. I have heard some scary stories of students fainting and I was nervous that I too would faint and embarrass myself. When I asked the operating nurse about it she said it is healthy people who are very concerned for the patient, who have not had a drink or something to eat and who have a normal to low blood pressure who experience syncope (fainting). But luckily I was fine. I found the scrubs comfortable but I don't think the hat or mask suited me :) . I was standing right beside the surgeon and could see everything. I was fascinated. I was especially lucky as the registrar was happy to explain the procedures that were being performed and the reason behind it. I was able to ask the staff members questions in between operations and just get a general feel for the theatre.
I left my placement today and yesterday with renewed determination (not that it has wavered since I started the course). My placement is an absolute pleasure to work in and the staff are lovely. I know I'll be sorry once these next seven weeks are over.
For instance, today I was given permission to accompany a patient to the operating theatre. I have heard some scary stories of students fainting and I was nervous that I too would faint and embarrass myself. When I asked the operating nurse about it she said it is healthy people who are very concerned for the patient, who have not had a drink or something to eat and who have a normal to low blood pressure who experience syncope (fainting). But luckily I was fine. I found the scrubs comfortable but I don't think the hat or mask suited me :) . I was standing right beside the surgeon and could see everything. I was fascinated. I was especially lucky as the registrar was happy to explain the procedures that were being performed and the reason behind it. I was able to ask the staff members questions in between operations and just get a general feel for the theatre.
I left my placement today and yesterday with renewed determination (not that it has wavered since I started the course). My placement is an absolute pleasure to work in and the staff are lovely. I know I'll be sorry once these next seven weeks are over.
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