About Me

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Funky, colourful person. Mother to my 3 year old daughter, love going out and having a drink with friends and dancing to music of all sorts, living a very stressful life which is unlikely to change any time soon, doing the best i can with what i have. Im a very loyal person and am well known for chatting the hind legs off a donkey as well as being a great listener. If you need to offload your troubles then im your woman. Tell me anything it will never go any further. Im a giver and a sharer and care a lot for people and im open minded to the point if im not careful my brain will fall out of my head.... I make spelling mistakes, but im busy, forgive me.... Everything happens for a reason, we just don't always know what that reason is..

Sunday 31 October 2010

Feeding, dressing and washing + HOMEWORK!!!!!

Friday was our skills day, We had to feed another person and let them feed us, bought some yoghurt on the way to class as we were told prior as this is what would be fed to us. Emily and I worked together, feeding each other 1st with facing each other, taking it in turns, this felt really weird and I think it must make a patient feel quite uncomfortable to be fed like this, rather intimidating. Then we had to sit next to each other feeding from the side, it also felt weird but not as much, but much less intimidating than the other way.

Then we had to do the same but with our eyes shut (patient) while being fed, this was strange but I suppose we have to understand what it would feel like to a patient in this position. After that the next part of the class was to in groups of 4 to deal with a scenario, there were dummies placed in situations where we had to either change their bedding while they were still in it, give them a bedbath, or help a patient with only one arm wash herself and put her nightie on and take her hospital gown off. We had to pretend they were real people and talk to them and do everything as if they were real. Gave me an insight that everything is not as easy as it looks, I did feel a little stupid as they we dummies but well its the next best thing I suppose.

We also got more chance to practise taking each other's blood pressure, I am getting the hang of it and am waiting for my spygmomanomiter to arrive in the post from ebay so I can practice on my family at home, we are going to be tested on this so got to get it correct. Finding the pulse can be quite hard sometimes, I know in one arm my pulse feels quite strong and in the other its quite weak, so will make sure my partner for the test does it on my strong arm, just to help.

We also did some class work on skin, so many notes to take but I noticed my anatomy and physiology book has everything in it so decided only to take a few notes and refer back to my book.

Went to a halloween party that night and decided that Sunday will be dedicated to continuing my uni work, I have to hand my essay in by next Monday which I still have a little bit to do including one reference plus an annotations piece of work which is due in in just over a week, I am not even sure what this means, but will speak to my teacher and get some advice. Plus I have a group work presentation due to be done in front of the class in January which is 20 minutes long and includes a powerpoint and presentation, this is about a scenario that we were given and we have to decide who the main people involved in the person's care is and then talk about what they do, then choose one of the 3 main people and go into a complete breakdown of their role and how they would participate in the care of the patient in our scenario, this involves us meeting up as a group and working out how to do this, who will say what, who is involved in our care plan etc.

I also till have to do the various bits of work we need to do for preparation for each lesson, my lessons are Monday and Friday, so today is a busy day indeed. I don't have much time to do my group work either even though it is due in January I will be on placement from 22 Nov till 19 Jan and so it has to be started ASAP...

Oh and somehow I have to fit in playing with my daughter and having dinner and getting everything ready for uni and the childminder tomorrow. So not that much then..... Happy Halloween.....

Friday 29 October 2010

Noisy students and uniform day again..

Went into uni yesterday, nothing unusual about that but it was not the day I am usually in. I am going out tonight so I decided to go into uni and continue doing some more of my essay and finish off the case work we need to to do for today's lesson. Met Beth as she came out of her LDU 2 hour appointment (learner development unit) at the uni campus and got some lunch (have decided that the food in this campus is actually rather good) got my self a jacket potato with cheese and bacon with radio active salad (green leaves with bright red covered in some strange sauce red cabbage) it did look illuminated..

Then we went to the library, this campus is supposed to be the best one from our uni as it has the best nursing books, well there were not computers free, the computers areas that they have were small and badly spaced, not so good. So we went to another building where there is another computer room (not so good, not near the library) but found some computers, sat down and started to get work out. All of a sudden the fire alarm went off just GREEEAT!!! Thankfully it went off again after a few mins and we did not get escorted off the building (this does not leave me with much hope if there is a real fire though) Back to work and then BANG, BANG, BANG, it seems that they have an electronic stapler which everyone seemed to be using and my gawd it made such flipping noise, every time someone wanted to staple something it shook me to the core!

I was starting to get slightly fed up and could not concentrate, then another guy decided to take a call on his phone on loud speaker, "I mean is he serious?" I said to Beth, I promptly complained to the woman at the desk who gave me a wimpish excuse about why she couldn't do anything!!! Back to work, decided to not do any more essay and do some more maths, but everyone was so load it was impossible to work out drug calculations in that room, gave up and decided to have a look something else. In the end the noise was just too much, we decided to call it a day and go home.

Great library but might not go there again...

Today we are back in our uniforms, we will be feeding each other, oh this should be fun, got to remember to buy some kind of yoghurt on the way to uni, no shops on my route wish I had the sense to pick something up on way home yesterday! Well better start getting dressed and will report back how the feeding went later on. Oh we are learning about skin today too...

Happy Friday :)

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Drug Calculations Tests....ARGH!!!

Today was a day for maths. Maths has the ability to turn my brain into spaghetti junction.

I spent the afternoon with Emily and we worked through our drug calculations tests, my god, its enough to to turn anyone's brain to mush. but together we managed to work quite a few things out and got through some of the tests. These tests were like practice ones, we don't get officially marked on them, but they can see our attempts and where we are putting in the incorrect answers etc.

When I came home I had my dinner and then decided to continue with the drug calculations, I was going at a nice stead pace, or so I thought, but there is always a question to stump me!!!

Here is a list of the tests I did tonight when I got home:

38 drug_calculations_introduction_5_rights
39 time_24_hour_clock
40 configuring_drug_calculation_software
41 Oral medicines
42 drug_calculations_oral_1_tablets
43 drug_calculations_oral_2_liquds
44 drug_calculations_oral_3_measure
45 Injections: equipment & materials
46 injections_syringe_labelled
47 injections_ampoules_vials_1
48 injections_ampoules_vials_2
49 injections_syringe_insulin
50 Injection volumes
51 calculating_injection_volumes
52 injections_volumes_pethidine_1
53 injections_volumes_morphine_1

Some of these tests were filling in the blanks in a paragraph, some were just normal sums, some had only a few questions some had loads of questions, if you got a question wrong then it would tell you which ones you got right and the ones you got wrong so you could do it again. My head is hot right now, my brain on fire, I have worked hard this evening. Time for a rest!!!

Who ever said nursing was just looking after patients?! My god it is so much more and a cherry on top!!!!!

Monday 25 October 2010

Health promotion, prevention, injections and being a wimp.

Today was spent in small groups during class discussing health promotion and health prevention "prevention is always better than cure" This last class has really helped to give me much more of an insight into how to continue my "different ways of looking at health" essay.

Tomorrow I am going to go to uni for the afternoon to the uni campus there and get stuck into my essay and some other uni work, got to be home though by 6pm to go to my appointment at my GP to see the nurse for a Hep B injection, I have to have this before I can go on my placements, I can categorically say I do not want to be injected with it, but that's cos I am a wimp and so I am def not going to want to have my MMR jab which I have since found out from a blood test they did at occ health at St Pancras Hospital that I am not immune, ARGH I hate injections... Time to man up though, if I am going to be a nurse better get over this fear quickly...

Took the evening off from studying tonight as what with the next 3 days being used to do lots of uni work I thought I'd treat myself with an early night. So I'd better get off this computer and go to bed soon....

So tired..Yawn

Well it's Monday morning and I am knackered, I have not slept a wink all night, I don't know why, it seems to be a recurring thing this past week, but now as I start to get myself ready to go to uni I know that the feeling of wanting to snooze off all day is going to be lying right beneath the surface and I will spend the day fighting it off.

But at least I managed to get up, alarm was set for 6:40am as usual and I did the usual snooze 2 times and got up at 6:50am, it is definitely getting harder now its winter. Brrr. OK better finish off my toast and get dressed, got to leave in 50 mins.

Sunday 24 October 2010

Sunday, Sunday

It is Sunday evening, I would love to sit here and do absolutely nothing other than have a bath and watch TV, but there are things I need to do in preparation for tomorrow's class and also going over my essay amongst other things.

1st I have to get my child to bed so I can have peace and quite to be able to read and take it in and it is impossible to attempt to try writing or reading when you have a child around that wants your attention every second you are not paying them any.

suffice to say I am itching to get started so I can then finish and relax...tick tock 8 o'clock...

Saturday 23 October 2010

Wearing my uniform

Yesterday was the first day of wearing our student nurses uniform to class. This is something we will have to do every Friday for our skills sessions. I had such a hard time on Thursday night though taking up the dam things, I mean they make them for the tallest people on earth and then the shortest people then have the task of taking them up. What a nightmare!!! (I hate wonderweb with a passion)

Anyway I was given a horrible pure white tunic to wear for my NHS trust placements and am in a minority of people, as the rest of the people in my class get to wear a much more user friendly blue and white striped tunics. I already got a huge tea stain on the front of mine, so you can see how the rest of the year is going to go. I will look like a rainbow by the end of it!!!

Spent the first half of the day writing stuff about different things from stuff we had shown to us on the overhead projector and then the second half of the day was in the skills room and we were back in our groups of 4 and taking each other temperature and also having another go at taking each others blood pressure. I think I have got the hang of the blood pressure taking but to be sure (as we have an assessment on this soon) me and a friend have gone halfs on a sphygmomanometer (blood pressure taking machine)so we can practice on each other, just waiting for it to arrive in the post.

Taking temperature is quite easy, although I couldn't quite get the hang of how to read the little disposable ones. But I might have just been being a bit thick! It is really quite hard to try and learn how to take someone's bloody pressure in a room with 20 other students all there, most of them talking while they are doing it which means trying to hear a pulse through the stethoscope with lots of voices to ass in to the mix (not easy)

I have to say though it was quite nice knowing I had to wear my uniform to uni and not have to think about what I was going to wear, the bonus of it was it was nice and warm so I didn't think I needed to wear more layers to keep warm in this typical british weather...brr..

Now it's time to enjoy a relaxing weekend and then come Monday, it will be back to work :)

Wednesday 20 October 2010

So much reading to do (brainache)

Right now I am sitting at my computer and have been reading some of the stuff needed for Friday's lesson, the 1st thing I read was a long article from the "Nursing Times" called "Measuring Temperature" there is so much to get into your head, I just dont know how I will remember it all, the second article also from the "Nursing Times" is called "Applying the Key Principles of Nutrition to Nursing Practice".

I found the second article much more easier to understand, who knows why, maybe its because I love food?!

There are so many things for this course that have to be read that it looks almost impossible, I love reading, now its a matter of learning to love reading stuff that's not in my normal comfort zone. I have 3 years of this course so lets hope my this learning to love alternative reading material kicks in soon.

Tomorrow I am going to get my printer sorted, there is so much stuff for my modules I need to print out and read and its building day by day, I am from the old school and find reading much more enjoyable on a comfy sofa with a hard copy of something and and not sitting on the battered office chair which the cats of this house have mauled to pieces and reading off my computer monitor.

Well I suppose I should get back to my reading and then go to bed, where I shall get my I-touch out and start reading under the comfort of my duvet something my more to my "normal" taste a nice novel before nodding off to dream world..

Referencing

Why is referencing such a pain in the arse? It's hard enough writing the essay but then you have to make sure every bit of info you have used in there is properly referenced. I understand why etc, but that does not stop it being a prize pain.

I should be grateful that as this is my first essay which is only 750 words only need to have 3 references in it, I am not looking forward to starting one of my much bigger essays and the amount of references I will inevitably use as I can foresee the headaches that will accompany it...sigh...

1st assignment "Different ways of looking at health" almost done. Due date 8th November. I can see the trees through the clouds, if you see what I mean.

Monday 18 October 2010

OMG i am a student mental health nurse!!!

So its my 4th week at university, I am studying mental health nursing, 2 years ago I would have never even thought that I would be doing what I am now, its crazy...maybe that's why I have ended up doing what I am... because everyone has always said I am a little mad.

I start my 1st placement on the 22nd November, yes I am scared and nervous, but if I can get through this and out the other side (its 6 weeks) without too much harm then I can rejoice. Got my student nurse uniform last week, its hideous, its a white tunic and navy blue trousers, bad fitting but that's the NHS for you, god knows how they expect me to keep a white tunic white, what with all the things I am sure ill be doing, nursing is not a clean sport I can tell you!!!

I am worried about my maths, as to be a nurse it is very important to be able to do drug calculations, my first test didn't go too well, must keep practising, it is hard as there is so much to do, what with assignments, homework maths work and researching by reading tons of books, journals and websites, honestly to be a nurse you need a few heads and a couple of extra brains to boot. I hope I can live up to the expectations...

Tomorrow is the first time I will not be going into uni,I have a funeral to go to, its so sad, but I will have extra catching up to do, but sometimes some things just have to take priority and being there for your nearest and dearest is paramount.