2nd Day - Mental Health placement

~
I have been paired with the facilitator for most of my placement, and she is quite interesting, so I am happy with that. She has Wednesday's and Thursday's off each week, so I will be with another nurse on those days :-(.

Today we had a busy day. We had to swap one of the men's and women's wings over, so it was a case of moving all of their gear out of one room and into another. Some of the clients became quite distressed with all of this, and that contributed to an already hectic day.

We had one man, who we had been keeping sharp objects away from, got hold of a razor and slashed his left wrist. I don't know how many times he did it, but it was all up the forearm. Deep slashes too. He then sat on the edge of his bed and watched the blood dripping onto the floor. It was not a true suicide attempt, as he knew we were coming to his room to get him, and he did it just before that. So it was noted that he was self-harming, but that it wasn't an actual suicide attempt. When asked, he said the 'voices' told him to do it.

We had another woman, with anxiety, who we spent some time calming her with breathing techniques because she isn't coping with a recent miscarriage very well. Unfortunately, the miscarriage has brought to the surface alot of feelings of guilt from an abortion she had many years ago. I feel for her and her family, as her husband does not understand what she is going through (she hadn't told him about the previous abortion) and he has not brought her 3 kids (all under 6) to visit either. He has visited, but not the kids.

I have also been learning very quickly to tell clients to find their nurse to ask for things. They ask for cigaretts, coffee, biscuits etc all the time, and if I spent my time fulfilling all of their requests, I wouldn't get any of my own work done.

Now I spend Wednesday, Thursday & Friday on late shift - which means starting work at 2:30pm and finishing at 11pm.

On a side note, I found out that one other girl I know DID get a grad position, but three that I know DIDN'T. So it was sad, as two of them are on placement with me, so I didn't really feel I could be happy knowing they don't have a job yet. There are another three that I can think of that I don't know if they have a job as yet.

~

I have a Job!

~
It seems that I did not stuff-up my interview as much as I thought I did. I have been offered a Graduate Nurse position at the local hospital for when I finish my exams. As previously posted, my exams finish 22nd June, so allowing time for marking and registration, I think the position starts around 25th July. I am very happy at the moment, but have to keep in mind that having a job lined up means nothing if I don't pass my exams next month.

So now I have a bit of extra pressure to pass my exams - A JOB!

:D

Very non-productive day for the first Mental Health placement day today. But that is usually the case on all placements. The first day is orientation, meeting nurses and clients and it is from the second day that things start happening.

More to come when there is more to say :D!
~

From one blog to another

~

Shamelessly taken from another friend's blog:

Star Wars Horoscope for Virgo

You show efficiency when working for a good cause. But you tend to be a bit fussy when it comes to doing something out of the ordinary. Like many Virgos, you want to stay out of the spotlight. You do well at picking up the smallest details. Star wars character you are most like: C3P0

What is Your Star Wars Horoscope?

AND.....


You're a Cappicinno!


What Kind of Coffee are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


Thanks Toria (see left for her blog) :P

~

One placement finished, one to go

~
Finished my four weeks last Friday. On Monday will start my final 2weeks placement.

I am now feeling alot better about passing this semester. My marks have come out for all of my assignments.

Research: 38.5/50 = 77%. To pass the whole subject, I now need to get 11.5/50 in the exam - and I feel that is certainly attainable :D.

Integrated Nursing: 84/100 & 94/100. As the 2 assignments had different weightings applied, the final result was: 21% + 18.8% = 39.8%. To pass this subject, I have to pass the exam (which is to get at least 27.5% of the remaining 55% total possible marks). If I pass the exam - ie just get 27.5% in the exam, I will gain a credit overall for the semester. Again, I feel passing the exam is attainable (just have to study hard). So the exam situation is looking healthier from my point of view.

I received some nice comments from my facilitator, and she has agreed to be a referee. That is good - at this stage in the degree, it is all about getting that job.

If I am not successful in gaining a graduate position, I plan to start working on a selection criteria for the 2 private hospitals in the area. But that will be after exams.

In the previous post, I mentioned a bitchy RN (S). Well, it seems she has been a problem for the remaining staff for some time now, and on my last day there, they were all documenting the numerous problems they have had with her in the past, as they intend to try to out her. Wow - how about that. They were telling me some of their previous problems with her, and it certainly seems as though something needs to be done. They have alot of staff who simply refuse to work with her.

That is all for this post. Next will probably be about my first day on my Mental Health placement :D
~

Oh the joys of work!!

~
Worked with a nurse (S) who was a bit of a bitch today. I went to lunch with my clinical facilitator (D, who is basically my boss) and we arrived 5-10mins late - and the RN had a go at me for not being punctual. Even though I was with my facilitator, S said "In her RAP, she did not accept tardiness for any reason, even having lunch with the facilitator" I told my facilitator about it, and in retaliation, D is moving me to a different RAP tomorrow. I say it is in retaliation, because S had asked for me to stay in the RAP with them, and obviously Dee has moved me anyway. D asked me if I wanted to move, and I sad it didn't really matter, as I spent most of my time with the Medics - not S.

But that is pretty minor in the whole scheme of things. I have been enjoying this placement immensely and one nurse does not really detract from that. If I let it, then I probably wouldn't get too far with nursing - it happens EVERYWHERE.

I assisted an Doctor (a Captain) who was originally from India, today. He has transferred into the Australian Army from the Indian Army, and he is VERY hard to understand. He kept saying "Soak it, Soak it" and I thought he meant to soak the gauze in Chlorhex. But he meant to dab the gauze in the patients blood that was oozing from the site, to make it easier for him to see. Ahh well, that is life!

~

Bummer!

~
I mucked up the interview - I am sure of it!! And no, it isn't just me being down on myself, as some on my placement feel.

The people interviewing me started each question by sprouting off about the selection criteria. Well that threw me, as I had been under the impression that as I had to send responses to the selection criteria in the application, that part of the process was over. And it took a fair while into the interview before I began to see why they were mentioning the selection criteria before each question. They wanted me to answer based on the selection criteria also - and that exactly what I did not do!! By the time it actually clicked with me what type of response they were after, I was answering the final question.

Immediately after I hung up the phone, I knew it had gone badly. They even re-worded a question to try to elicit the correct type of answer from me, and they had trouble trying to re-word it so they didn't straight out give me the answer - how stupid am I???

Oh well - I now feel like I am armed for the next interview, as I have been told alot of the Queensland hospitals run the same type of interview style.

But gee - I wish I had had an idea that was how the interview is run before this one, as this was the job I really wanted :-(.
~

And the good news is.....

~
I have a telephone interview for the grad program!! :D

It will be this coming Thursday at 11am, and I will be on placement. But my placement is providing an office for me to receive my telephone call in.

The one thing I worry about with that, is that people say you should have a heap of 'stuff' around you to lay your fingertips on when they are asking questions. Well, that will be hard for me, considering I will be in someone's office at my placement, rather than in my own home. But beggars can't be chosers, and I am just happy to be having an interview at all :D. I won't find out how the interview went until after the 30th May, as that is when the first round offers go out from the employers.

When I finished work today, I received a phone call, and it was my husband. He had been a part of a group of trucks that had come back for gear, and called me to see if I was still at work. I had finished, but was still on base, so we caught up for a few minutes. He has this 'sideburn thing' going, which is NOT COOL. He knows I don't like it, but he was already planning to shave it off before he comes back 19th or 20th May. Thank goodness for that!! It was nice to chat to him, and I felt sorry that I couldn't tell the kids about seeing him. But they wouldn't understand why he couldn't come home and stay if I told them about our meeting.

One thing about working at the hospital on the base when my husband is away; each time they mentioned a new admission, that had been injured out field, and was from his unit, I held my breath until I heard it was not him. That is something I haven't thought too much of before - but it is a VERY REAL POSSIBILITY :(.

Well, I guess the next post will be about my interview (the teeth start chattering).
~

End of week one, tomorrow starts week two

~

Well, I have been slack - as usual some might say.

I usually keep a journal on placement, and I am not talking about this blog, but a paper/book and pen journal. That way, I record what I did each day, and any issues with staff/patients/procedures to reflect on at a later date. They can be good for looking back on how you reacted to a situation later, and analysing why you did what you did, and seeing if you would act differently in a similar situation. They are also handy for picking out experiences that fit into a selection criteria ;-).

But mine sits looking at me blankly - literally blankly, as I have not written a thing as yet. So that is something I must get onto very soon, otherwise I will put it in the 'too hard' basket, and that isn't something I wish to do.

The remainder of my week was good and uneventful. I had lunch with the Nursing Officer in the Officer's mess both Thursday and Friday, which was very nice. I decided I would pretend to thumb my nose at my husband when he returns from out bush. He will probably reply (and truthfully I might add) that he couldn't give a toss about eating in the Officer's Mess, but what is a wife good for if she can't rib her husband occasionally.

Tomorrow I work on the wards, which starts handover at 7am. That means I will be up just after 5am, to be ready to get my kids up just after 6am to be there on time. But 5am rises are not uncommon for me when on early shift. By getting up that early, I do give myself up to 10mins of 'vacantly staring at a wall trying to wake up time'.

And today was Mother's Day - which meant nothing really. Out of 5 Mother's Days now, my husband has been away for 4, so it is just another day. My daughter is just starting to understand things like Mothers Day, and was upset when the television talked about getting mum breakfast in bed. She was upset that she was unable to do that, and Dad was not here to help her in that regards. It was quite touching. She did give me lots of hugs and kisses to make up for it though.

I had a bit of a surreal feeling this last week. Some of my family and friends have started congratulating me on finishing the degree - or 'graduating' as they have put it. It is weird, as I still have 2 exams to go, and don't officially 'graduate' until the end of the year. So I have begun to feel like a hypocrite, accepting the congratulations when I could fail the final hurdle if I am not careful. So I guess the pressure is starting to build now - exams don't usually bother me, but I have a distinct feeling things will be different for these upcoming exams.

Monday 20th June - 1:15pm, Nursing Research Exam

Wednesday 22nd June - 1:15pm, Integrated Nursing Exam.

Wednesday 22nd June - Anytime after 5pm, CELEBRATION!!!

~

Wow!

Day 2 of my clinical placement.

I am at the Army Base Medical Centre, which is a small, 30 bed hospital, with what would be called a GP's clinic in civilian world.

The hospital is extremely quiet at the moment, so I and the male nursing student were put into the "GP's clinic" side.

What the RN and medics do in this clinic, is cater to 2 of the many units on base, seeing what is called the 'sick parade' until 10am? (I think). That is any of the Army personnel from these 2 units who are feeling 'off' but do not have a prior appt with a doctor.

So what the RN says to the two of us this morning was, "you each can take a file, call the person in, do their initial assessment, and tell me what you have checked/asked about, and what you think we should do"

well, you could have picked my jaw up from the floor. I felt unprepared to be doing this and presenting my info to the RN. I felt she would be judging me and saying, "No, not good enough" and I would feel like a dill.

Anyway, the first was an easy one - I feel bad saying that, the woman had Post Natal Depression and was there for her meds to be increased as per her regime. But what was easy was that she already knew what she needed, and we just had to make sure she wasnt having any ill-effects from her meds, and that they were working before handing her on to the doctor.

The next one, was a man with flu and gastro. I did an assessment, including OBs, checking his throat, tongue, questions about his symptoms and any meds he had taken for those symptoms. Then I presented my info to the RN and she asked what we should do, and I said "rest and fluids". It turns out that was the correct response :P and the nurses/medics are allowed to give up to 2 days off without seeing a doctor.

So, after loading him up with various cold and gastro (over the counter) medication, off he went, and I wrote the notes. *big grin* second patient done, and found it isn't so bad after-all.

First day was very quiet - practiced alot with a plastic practice arm venipuncture and cannulation.

Hoping the rest of my time there is busier though.

And I am very excited. I finally sorted out ONE reference - I called one from 2nd year, and she remembered me (the pregnant student) and she kept a copy of everything she wrote about all of her students, so she has agreed to be a reference for me. I also got an email from the Townsville Hospital to say they are going to start organising interviews for the grad placement shortly, and could I please provide them with my mobile number again, as the one I originally provided is missing a digit O.o!!! WHOOPS! Not the best first impression to be giving them, I am sure.!! So I am now hoping I am going to get an interview!!

.