Category Archives: Year 1

Reflection

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Today is my third week at the placement and I only have two days left before Christmas break. Overall the journey has been very bumpy, with up and down rides. My first week at the placement was mainly getting familiar with the placement, relevant forms and documents but also being able to keep up with the designated senior nurses. That had been a challenge although I think I’m getting better at it.

As a person who for the first time have experienced the extreme speed under these amazing nurses work, it has made me realise and appreciate them even more. The long hours, the commitment, putting the patients in front of themselves. They are really amazing people and are undervalued. In my first week at shadowing, I also experienced something that had made me appreciate life a little more than I did. I experienced a death of a patient for the first time. I experienced seeing a dead person, which never happened to me before. We nurses had taken care of the body, gave the lady deserved respect and all needed to be done in order for the body to be sent further. This situation had made me realise that this will happen to me again, and I was proud of myself how I handled the situation. I am proud of myself that I realised what sort of nurse I want to be in the future. The nurse I want to be is the nurse that will make sure that patients will get the best care I can possibly give to them as you never know if my care, will not be the last thing that they experiencing. I want to be the nurse that will try to put a smile on their faces, even in hard times and show them that I care.

Overall I believe I have been giving my very best at getting the experience ‘hands on’. I hope that I am seen as capable, keen and I hope that I will manage to keep up with all, even though some days are harder than other.

The place I believe I would like to get some improvement is working together on my epad as I have not had a chance yet, to sit down with anyone to discuss and work through things. I am being very understanding that hospital is a fast pace although I am getting worried that these things are left until very last.

Reflection

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At the placement on Laurel Ward as part of my learning was to understand how the patients are being diagnosed, taken care of and supported in getting better and being able to go back to life in the community.

Laurel Ward is the place for formal and informal patients when they require to be treated after they recognise that there are no longer able to look after themself on their own in society, patients can be moved from the other ward when they are stepping down from more secured ones or patients can come from the Accident and Emergency when they serve a risk to themselves or other people.

One of the objectives I have learned at the placement was how the patients are assessed on their diagnosis and how different multidisciplinary teams work in collaboration with each other to help them to manage their illness and help them go back to the society. Some of the professionals included the doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists and the nurses themselves. I was able to understand what they roles are and how they work together for a patient.

Another objective was for me to understand how different medication works. In Mental Health the main medication that we are looking at are mood stabilisers, anti-depressants, anti- psychotics and benzodiazepines (benzos) and how all these medication work for a patient. Throughout the time at the ward, I was able to see how patients who follow up with their treatment, get better and are able to get back to their life in the society and are able to function again.

Skills

 

I would like to mention how important is the act of clear communication. During the placement on Laurel Ward I got to meet different patients, all with different illnesses and needs. I realised how important is to respect them, and communicate with them in a way, so they can understand me. Everyone is different, has different needs and listening to them and their needs, talking with them has been crucial in making them feel involved and valued. Additionally communication between the staff members, passing over the information, has significant role in working together for a patient.

Attitudes and values

 

In reflecting on my experience when working on Laurel Ward I also have realised how important is to have positive, non-judgmental attitude. I have seen patients whom find it really difficult to do the basic things in life and I have realised that they all have different needs but also that we all as humans have different needs. They all have different journey and its important to do one step at a time and respect everyone’s individual progress. I have also realised that everyone goes through something and showing the respect, understanding them and showing non-judgmental attitude, can better connect us with our patients as they are more willing to trust us and also we can help them to get better. Being respectful and non-judgmental is crucial, as all patients that come to our services have unique needs and different personalities, they are all different culturally, and there is not the same diagnosis. We all need to be respectful to everyone individual needs and to their individual backgrounds.

Being resilient. Every day in the Mental Hospital is different. There is no the same day. Being exposed to different situations, aggressive or complicated behaviours I have expanded on my skills to be more resilient. I have learned that there are healthy ways to deal with stress and how important is to have these ways. I also have learned how much de-briefing is important when we work in environments where we are exposed to stressful situations. As nurses, our mental health is also very important and looking after ourselves is the key to providing healthy environment for the patients but also being able to treat them in holistic, therapeutic way.

Reflection

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Autism Week

This week has been a real eye opening to many of us. We thoroughly enjoyed the lectures and the practical days. It was interesting to work and speak with the autistic people themselves and hear their insights to their story.

I particularly wanted to reflect on Thursday and our simulation day. I was paired up with another colleague from our class and we were meant to assess Jasmine, our ‘patient’. We were meant to discuss with Jasmine the importance of having a vaccine. Everything went fine, and Jasmine had given us the feedback which was super inspiring. It was so amazing talking with her and her positivity really have stuck in my mind. It was refreshing to see how people are able to deal with their illnesses, how resilient they are and how inspiring they can be for other human.

Despite all the positiveness that we all had enjoyed, there were also some downsides of our performances, which made me realise to how much work we all still need to put to be better people and better nurses in the future.

Overall, it had been a great experience and a really nice way to finish off the school year and I am really looking forward to what the next year will bring.

Reflection

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At the placement on Laurel Ward, there were many objectives to learn but my main were only few that I focused on:

-Firstly, I wanted to learn about sections that the Ward operates and what is the meaning behind them. I was able to learn about Section 2, Section 3, Section 17 leave and Section 37/41 and what they represent.

-I also was ablet to learn what is important and the main focus on building a Care Plans for the patients in Mental Health.

The main objectives that we focus on when building a care plans for mental health patients are:

1) Mental Health problem

2) Physical Health Problem

3) Safety and Risks

4) Recovery Goal 1

5) Recovery Goal 2

-I also was able to do the admissions and discharges and the list of things to adhere to when doing so.

-I also learn on what we focus on when Assessing Capacity (MCA)

  • If the patient understand the information
  • Weighing up- making decision
  • Retaining Information
  • Communicating back- repeating.

Skills

 

This time I would like to focus on Physical Observation Skills (Vital Signs) which is the National National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2), and paying attention to the physical appearance of the patient and the way they patient is presenting. NEWS2 is used to identify adult patients in risk of clinical deterioration. The are six components to this, and our focus as the health care professionals are to stay in range and anything that is not, should be followed up through. They are:

  • Respiratory rate (RR) ( We aim for 12-20 BPM)
  • Oxygen saturation (SpO2) (We aim for <95)
  • Temperature (36.1-38)
  • Systolic blood pressure (BP) (111-219)
  • Heart rate (HR) (51-90)
  • Level of consciousness (Alert) ,

Anything that is not in range, we add the scores and alert.

In my practise I was able to assess patients by the NEWS2 score and was able to act accordingly if anything was not in range and support the patients well-being.

Attitudes and values

 

The attitude I would like to mention here that in my opinion is one of the main objectives that stands out for me in Nursing is about Reflection. During this first year of my nursing studies, my first and second placement in the hospital I needed to reflect a lot on my work, on my personal life, my studies and my attitude in order to grow. I had to expand this attitude in order to be able to move on and succeed at my studies and progress in my learning. I needed to reflect on what works for me, what does not, what is important and what my priorities are. I also needed to reflect on how to behave professionally, how to communicate and how achieve the best results from my experiences in the hospital departments, community and my university and in my opinion that is the core for success.

The value that I believe is a core foundation in Nursing is Human Dignity. Human Dignity is about respecting every human being and treating them they best way possible. Every human deserve to be respected and treated fairly, without prejudice and personal bias. Its about giving individuals the freedoms to pursue their happiness and purpose and treating them in least restrictive manner.

Reflection

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My first placement is over, I was not expecting that I am going to be missing it.

Throughout these six weeks I have gain an incredible experience, met so many amazing people that I never though I will be missing now. By the end of my placement I truly felt like being part of the team. Overall I have learnt so much, starting with taking the vital signs, professional interaction, finishing on assisting with transfers to different wards and discharging. I have definitely gained more confidence and my knowledge has improved.

 

Skills

There are many skills that I have developed over the time and realised about myself. I know now that I can easily adapt to even the most difficult and highly demanding situations. I am resilient and determined and I always want to make sure I do my job correctly and focus on the patients and even in highly stressful situations, I stay focused and remain professional.

 

Attitudes and values

One of the main attitude I would like to mention is communication and thinking before speaking. There are situations when demanding family members can ask multiple questions, and one not thought through answer can lead to miscommunication and confusion, therefore it is very important to be professional, communicate well and not ignore the questions but also make sure to provide only relevant and needed information. In nursing you can only provide facts, and not always all the facts that you know as they might not be the right thing to say.

Another one that I would like to mention is one of the nursing values that is promoting professionalism and trust. Being able to be professional, keeping calm and by doing that, we gain trust in our patients but also their family members. Patients know that they can rely on us and that we are there to help them and support them as much as they need us.