Today we got shown this video to demonstrate how as nurses we should wash our hands.
Oh dear, its all very fun though especially when the tutor had 30 odd mental health students acting out the washy washy dance, I just hope to god that in practice we don't have to wear the funny outfits to wash our hands :P
Its been an interesting week, I got to take a group of people to a live concert on Sunday afternoon. I still cant quite believe that Ive landed on my feet with this job, I get paid for taking part in activities that I absolutely love. So far it has involved taking clients out for walks, to the cinema, shopping and to a concert in hilly city, amazing :)
Ive been loving our lectures this week as they are preparing us for the practice based side of our course. We have been learning about psychiatric drugs and I was quite interested that apparently it is not always in the best interests of someone even with quite severe schizophrenia to medicate. As nurses we have a duty of care to stand up for our patients views. Often doctors will push people on a section into taking certain drugs without really taking into account the debilitating side effects these drugs can have on someones life. I was quite surprised but also relieved to find this out, as it would be my worst nightmare to have to insist someone takes their medication, when the reason they didn't want to was because of the side effects. Maybe I'm too soft on this though as I am aware that people on sections are often restrained and given depots against their will, but then if they are a danger to themselves does that make it okay? Hmm its a bit of an ethical minefield, Ill have to do some research into this I think.
They have also started to teach us some of the physical health care stuff that as mental health nurses we need to know. I think the mental health lecturers have been good about this as it was so badly taught in the CFP module, they expected us to get it after one cut short lecture with no extra practice. The module team for mental health seem to have picked up that we are all moaning about the way physical health care was taught and they are teaching it too us as well, even offering themselves up as guinea pigs so we can practice our skills before practising on patients.
I keep thinking I need to get myself a bit organised, Ive been taking it a little bit too easy really and not really reviewing my studies, I'm trying to rectify that a little bit now so that I can keep on top of stuff. I suppose with the mental health stuff it can be a bit hard to keep on top of it all, They say that for every hour in lectures we need to be putting in an equivalent hour at home. However I cant really see that happening especially when we are in 4/5 days a week for 7-8 hours at a time. I will do some work over the coming holidays and when out on placement, but I think as long as I have enough references in my assignments I should be okay.
My coming assignment is also really worrying me. I have to write an assignment based on a patient I meet in practice. I was hoping to get a placement in any area other than elderly dementia care. But that is exactly what Ive got. Not only am I going into practice absolutely terrified I am going to take bad practice in with me, I'm also not enjoying the reading around it. I curse my experiences in the care home, it really has tainted my expectations of my ability to be a good nurse and my fears about placement. My mentor seems like a lovely guy and I'm sure ill get on great with him as I go about learning to be a nurse, but I cant think of anything worse right now than doing an older adult placement. I'm trying to keep an open mind and reading all of the literature around nursing clients with dementia, but its a shame I cant be excited about it, as before things went crazy at big scary mansion care home I really used to enjoy working with older adults.
bye bye peeps
just me x
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