The scare mongers are out to confuse us!

There are many times when I have had shifts which have been...how can I put this delecatly...crap.

For one reason or another, be it a bad tempered nurse, an angry patient, loosing equipment, or any other situation where the manure hits the midden, there are shifts where you just long to see the night shift arrive, or get to leave early, change, get out the hospital and on one or two really bad shifts, find the nearest pint of Guinnes to nurse rather then a patient.

Things go wrong. That is life. It is not the best thing and should be the situation which is avoided as much as possible though to bury heads in the sand and deny that things go wrong is to my eyes more unprofessional then to think ahead and be kept on your toes. So, I was rather alarmed to read this report on nurses taking drugs to "get them through shifts".

I am inclined to be a bit sceptical: the person making the accusations was already in trouble, and why are there no adequate controls made to examine the levels of medication in the hospital already in place. Nurses do have a busy, physically demanding job (save for the lazy ones who are glued behind the station). If this is true, then there are a number of worrying things to have considered at the hospital, and really should be proved at other sites to ensure that this is not happening elsewhere. You cannot be considered competant to nurse patients if you are off your tits on drugs, or wasted on alcohol.

*Apparently the RCN has sent ballot papers to nurses employed in the NHS regarding the taking of strike action. 74% of nurses support strike action according to figures collected by the Royal College of Nursing*

Not much

Have been in and had tutorial regarding essays and have generally been cracking on with work so not much to write about. Blogging not really a priority as you can imagine.

Nursing novices

Have been reading through an interesting nursing book which is for an essay of 4000 words length concerning the use of clinical decision making in nursing using an analytical framework. A situation has to be described and written of. The reading I have done is the context of the junior staff nurse who is newly qualified, they are considered a novice nurse and they do not have the experience of dealing with patients to be able to make any intuition which if considered to be derived from acquired skills.

Clinical decision making is to enable the nurse to decide the best course of action for delivering care and treatment to patients and the best way to do this. The type of method which is used can be defined by using the cognitive continuum theory as defined by Hamm (1998). The theory suggests that thinking is neither purely intuition based nor purely analytical based but is based on a continuum somewhere between the two (Hamm 1998, cited in Thompson and Dowding 2005 p12). According to the cognitive continuum, the main determinants of whether the individual practitioner uses an intuitive or analytical approach will be based on the position of the task on a continuum which is ordered from the most rigid, scientific experiment evidence through to sheer intuitive decision (Thompson and Dowding 2005 p12). In the essay, treatment is the choice of dressing for a pressure ulcer.

However, it just seems so odd to think that while as a first and second year student, we very rarely were in a position to make these assertions but learned much from the study that we did in learning contracts for the placements that along with the competencies as set by the NMC that we never seem to have in the two years ever appreciated the gravity of the choices that we face. After reading and considering my past nursing, it makes me realised that even though we may be novices, that knowledge and interpersonal skills are of the uttermost importance.

Now, I am 3 weeks away from being on a ward (first time since January 2006 mind you), and suddenly feel very apprehensive about all of it. Novice? Crikey yes! Knowledgeable? Well, anatomy and physiology check, nursing code of conduct, check, general nursing theory check, self belief in being able to not become a quivering wreck for the first shift... oh dear.

Found: Nurses fob watch, circa 2005

Back when I first started the university, I was given a fob watch. I quietly managed to loose the watch after first placement and did not resister this until needing at for the second placement.

A friend of mine gave me a spare one which worked for all of a week, then I got myself a new one, then found another one that another family member went and got for themselfs a while back.

I managed through wearing only one watch misplace the others.

Now I have found them all, and have a room which is getting cluttered up with all my old equipment and bits and pieces from the past 2 years placements. The most embarrasing one is finding a photo taken during my first placement: Ahh, simpler times. Its amazing how you can feel a bit nostalgic after only 3 years.

Back in (in more ways then one)

Ah, yes.

We went a bit quiet back there for a bit, did'nt we

The last post was about the "30" mark. Yes, well I was withdrawn on the grounds, though I launched an assessment review and thay concluded that due to my personal circumstances at the time that I would be reterospectivly awarded mitigating circumstances for the module and re admitted.

So, that was a total of 27 days on the dole (well, from the 6th June).

So, what have I learned?
1) Appreciete what I am doing even more (though I love my job even more then ever now)
2) Always have a bit of self beliefe
3) A bit of fear is sometimes a good thing
4) You never write as passonatly as when your entire life rests on it
5) Im nearly £12500 overdrawn (Opps)
6) Boredom results in you making a website (www.freewebs.com/ambulancegallery)
7) That the most progress you can make with administration is in face to face meetings which are far more effective then the computerised/non contact system.
8) Deciding to join the St John Ambulance brigade was a good idea.

So, there we go. 3rd August for 2 essays to go in, and to start on the 6th August on a new placement in infectious diseases.

When it all went wrong, yesterday

Oh Buggery buggery f**k f**k.
Ah. Read the last post
Then consider the mark.
30.
30!
Bloody 30!
What in the name of steam powered buggery d'ya mean 30?

Thats what the essay got. The same essay which was referred twice before. That was awarded 30 before, though this time had a load more references. The complaint was the rational not clear. Not clear. I wanted pain management in palliative care to compare syringe drivers to subcutaneous morphnine to deterime the superior method as research. I was told to change it to "family involvement" and to use 3 papers from the part 2 essay (which passed).
Then the feedback complaned about the papers [already bouhnd to use as they were part 2] and the rational was "not very clear". Too bloody right it wasn't clear matey, thats generally what happens what you are left bewildered by conflicting information.

Soooooooooooooo...what to do, what to do, what to do.
Have compulsory withdrawl- Hope not
Re-do the work in a different form- Maybe (fingers crossed)
Re-attept (with MITS being in could be allowed)

In response, I have been to the local PCT to see what HCA jobs they have. One. In the community. Which needs a car. I have only this morning applied for the driving theory test. The deadline is tomorrow. Bugger.

Finally bothered to write, this week

Ok,

I have done the tutorial of the essay on clinical decision maiking, had a bad dream the other night I failed the essay and was kicked out of the university, met my old mate from the ambulance, and have my old vehicle back on the road.

Stayed at my girlfriends the other night, and have been to the hospital twice to see her where she was working. Not sure when I will see her next as she's on 12 hours on a neonatal unit.

Tomorrow, I have been told its our CPR exam, though I have it down as cannulation. Odd.

So, thats it for the last few days.