October 15

A learning opportunity about bullying at GP clinic on 14-Oct-2022.

The aim of this activity is to bring awareness to the student and educate them on how to manage and where to get help when they encounter bullying in the workplace.

I created a document which contains some useful information, which graphics, video clips and useful links, which I hope may help students to get more aware of bullying, how to address it and where to ask for help if needed.

[embeddoc url=”https://eportfolios.roehampton.ac.uk/chengw3/files/2022/10/Awareness-of-bullying-Anson-and-Jessica-14Oct2022-1.docx” download=”none” viewer=”google”]

Category: Self reflection | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 3

Reflection on stress management (KEC Learning 03-Oct-2022)

Title: Reflection on stress management

Date: 3/Oct/2022

Introduction

The aim of this essay is a reflection on stress management. Potential stress triggers include academic, social, financial, medical, and environmental challenges. The level of stress tolerance varies depending on individual personality and life experience. Although stress cannot be avoided, understanding the causes, and poses of danger, helps better coping and manage stress more systemically and constructively.

Understanding stress and its cause

“Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain’s use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues. Cortisol also curbs functions that would be nonessential or harmful in a fight-or-flight situation” (Mayo Clinic, 2018). Generally speaking, the disrupted natural changes in our built-in autoimmune system cause stress and protect us from threats or danger. In contrast, this flight-flight-freeze (FFF) response also benefits us to be more focused and helps us learn more effectively. Improve our performance until we reach our optimal level. It also protects our well-being physically and mentally.

Unmanaged stress and its dangers

Unable to cope and manage stress causes physically and mentally harm to us. Physical harm, e.g., anxieties, keep you awake during sleep and disrupt the quality of rest, affecting your skin and causing skin problems like acne, psoriasis, alopecia, eczema etc. Research studies also provided evidence-based proof that patients with chronic stress get sick more frequently and require a longer time for wound healing. Stress also activates our autoimmune system, which affects our brain to send out signals which causes increased secretion of adrenaline into the bloodstream and cause an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, posing damage to the heart. Additionally, it also simulates and affects hormone responses that cause gastrointestinal problems, e.g., heartburn, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.

Coping and managing stress

Based on the fact that stress cannot be avoided, and evidence-based harm caused related to accumulated and chronic stress developed, systemic and constructive coping and managing skills are essential for stress management. Doctors and health care professionals advised that consuming a regular healthy diet, e.g., fruits and vegetables, regularly exercising, and achieving at least seven and half hours of sleep daily, help reduce stress levels. Mentally prepare yourself, e.g., get well-organized your task based on your energy level, better time planning and managing tasks ahead, take a regular break between tasks, set a manageable goal, take things slowly and reward yourself with achievement, and avoid procrastination, which can also minimise stress. Develop hobbies and interests, e.g., listening to music, drawing, dancing, etc., and maintain a healthy social network, talk to someone, e.g., friends, family members, social workers, specialists, or GP, when feeling overwhelmed or stressed out of control. Lastly, acknowledge and accept that no one is perfect, forget yourself, face fear confidently, and try to attempt. Take these opportunities as a challenge to develop better coping and managing stress.

Summary

In conclusion, stress is not avoidable, but it is also not fearful if we understand that it is a natural cause of our autoimmune and hormone responses when we face uncertainty and things get overwhelming. Acknowledging the importance of keeping a work-life balance, regular exercise, acquiring quality sleep, and sharing feelings with others helps reduce anxiety and stress systemically and constructively.

Reference

Mayo Clinic, Healthy Lifestyle Stress Manage (2018). Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037#:~:text=Cortisol%2C%20the%20primary%20stress%20hormone,fight%2Dor%2Dflight%20situation(Accessed on 2nd Oct 2022)

Category: Self reflection | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 3

A fundamental exercise (The eye – KEC placement 3-Oct-2022)

IPL Eye conditions (KEC IPL student led 3-Oct-2022)

Label the diagram-

  1. Cornea
  2. Anterior chamber
  3. Pupil
  4. Iris
  5. Scleral venous sinus
  6. Ciliary zonule (Suspensory Ligament)
  7. Lens
  8. Ciliary body
  9. Sclera
  10. Choroid
  11. Retina
  12. Macula lutea / Fovea centralis
  13. Optic nerve (artery and vein)
  14. Posterior segment (contains vitreous humor) the cint
  15. Blind spot

List the function of each of these structures

  1. Protect the structure inside the eye, contributing to the refractive power of the eye, and focusing light rays on the retina with minimum scatter and optical degradation.
  2. The anterior is filled with aqueous humour, which is a watery fluid that provides nourishment to the interior eye structure and helps to keep the eyeball inflated.
  3. it admits and regulates the flow of light to the retina. Which allows us to perceive images. It opens and closes to control the amount of light that is allowed to enter the eye.
  4. It controls your pupil and helps your eye see clearly. It constantly changes how dilated your pupil is without your control. That is called the pupillary light reflex.
  5. It also called the canal of Schlemm, is a circular channel in the eye that collects aqueous humor from the anterior chamber and delivers it into the bloodstream via the anterior ciliary veins.
  6. Key role in ocular function, centering the lens on the optical axis and transmitting the focus that molds its shape during accommodation.
  7. The main function is to transmit and focus the light onto the retina in order to create a clear image of observed objects at various distances. It is also the main structure of the accommodation reflex which is activated when the eye focuses on close objects
  8. The ciliary body is found behind the iris and includes the ring-shaped muscle that changes the shape of the lens when the eye focuses. It also makes clear fluid that fills the space between the cornea and the iris.
  9. The sclera functions as the supporting wall of the eyeball. It helps maintain the eyeball’s shape and protects it from injury. It is covered by conjunctiva, which is clear mucus membranes that lubricate (moisturise) the eye.
  10. The choroid supplies the outer retina with nutrients and maintains the temperature and volume of the eye.
  11. The retina is a layer of photoreceptors cells and glial cells with the eye that captures incoming photons and transmits them along the neuronal pathway as both electrical and chemical signals for the brain to perceive a visual picture.
  12. Part of the retina is responsible for the shape and detailed central vision (also called visual acuity). The macula lutea, also called the fovea, contains a very high concentration of cones. These are the light-sensitive cells in the retina that give detailed central vision.
  13. The optic nerves relay messages from your eyes to the brain to create visual images. It plays a crucial role in the ability to see. There are millions of nerve fibres that make up each optic nerve. (*damage to an optic nerve can lead to vision loss in one or both eyes.
  14. To protect the round shape of the ball.

Name 3 common eye conditions that would affect the outer eye and the treatment options…

  1. Refractive errors (include myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism (distorted vision at all distances), and presbyopia)

Treatment option

  • can be corrected by eyeglasses, contact lenses, or in some cases, surgery

 

  1. Cataract ( a clouding of the eye’s lens and is the leading cause of blindness worldwide)

Treatment option

  • removal of cataract
  1. Retinal detachment (Natural ageing process, one or more holes on retain which allows fluid pass underneath, separated from the supporting and nourishing tissues underneath it.)

Treatment option

  • Involves surgery. The eye doctor will seal the retinal holes and reattach the retina

Discuss 3 some activities of daily living that would be affected by blindness.

  1. Maintaining a safe environment – need time to familiarise the environment, unable to see hidden hazards, especially moving into a new environment.
  1. Eating and drinking – unable to cook, may familiarise by regular practice, but hard to ensure the quality and healthy of the food consumed.
  1. Woking and playing – may encounter difficulties in getting a sustainable job, unable to participate in certain sports activities.

Q1. Scenario one- Patient is 82 years old. She is blind and has lived alone for the last 8 years after her husband suddenly passed away. She had a fall yesterday and sustained a small wound to her arm, which the nurse is dressing 2 times a week. Lilly has a guide dog and has coped well at home prior to this. What considerations would you make for Lilly? What would you want to check, or what questions would you want to ask? Would you need to refer her to anyone?

Ans: What considerations would you make for Lilly?

Vision loss can affect her physical health by increasing her risk of falls and her quality of life, and it can also have a big impact on her mental health. Loss of vision is always linked to loneliness, social isolation, and feelings of worry, anxiety, and fear. Depression is common in people with vision loss.

Ans: What would you want to check or what questions would you want to ask?

Did Lily able to maintain a safe environment? Did she encounter difficulties in finding a job? How’re her activities of living affected due to visual impairment?  Did she receive enough support? Did she able to access support from social services? Did she know where to get help and support if needed? Did she receive any information which helps her to cope and manage her disability?

Would you need to refer her to anyone?

Ans: refer to the social workers, inspect her living environment and remove any hidden hazards to minimise harm and hazard may cause. Refer her to the available social network group, so that she won’t feel isolated. Maintain socially active.

Q2. Scenario two- Rob is a plasterer- he has attended the GP surgery with a feeling of something in his eye. His vision is blurred, he is in 8/10 pain, his eye sclera is red, and his eye is watery.

What could have happened to Rob?

  • Dirt gets into his eye.
  • Chemical burn

List the first aid procedures for a chemical burn.

  1. Remove casualty from their working environment if possible.
  2. Put on protective gloves if they’re available. Hold the casualty’s eye under gently running water for at least 20 minutes and make sure the outside and inside of the eyelid are washed. Alternatively, flush the eye with 0.9% NS.
  3. Make sure the contaminated water does not splash the uninjured eye. (If the casualty is wearing contact lenses, ask them to remove them if they can.)
  4. Ask the casualty to hold a clean non-fluffy pad over the injured eye and put a bandage in place.
  5. Call 999 or 112. If you know what chemicals might have been involved in the accident, pass this information on to medical professionals.

When do we need to refer Rob on- what would prompt a referral?

If after washing or flushing the affected eye for more than 20 minutes, painfulness and condition remains unchanged or get worse. Should call 999. After being discharged from the hospital, Rob should be referred to an eye clinic or community nurse for a follow-up check-up.

Category: Recap learning GP settings, Self reflection | LEAVE A COMMENT