I got my first choice of grad years! I am so happy and feel like all the hard work and time I put in these past two years has paid off. What a great way to finish the uni semester! I still have to pass all my subjects and get registered but I'm sure that will not be a problem.
My grad year will start on January 30 so until then I'm going to be doing some teaching, some aged care nursing home work, and have a bit of a holiday until then.
Handed in two more assessments and had my last day of clinical placement yesterday. Also got my mark back for the oral presentation - 12.5/15!! wow, was not expecting that.
I also got my clinical appraisal back from my nurse buddy who had to rate me in about 40 different aspects of nursing, and he rated me "independent" for EVERYTHING!! That means I'll get a perfect mark of 50/50 for the placement which is actually graded this semester, not just pass or fail, and is worth 50%. My final piece of assessment is for other 50% of that subject and is my portfolio. I have to proofread and edit what I've already done and also write up a 700 word management plan for the symptom of uncontrolled nausea. I've done the research for it and will do it when i get back from my holiday. It's not due for about another 10 days after I get back, so no stress there.
So good to have all this off my shoulders, finish a week and a half early and now going on a mini-break to europe to visit my brother and be a bridesmaid for one of my best friends! wooohoooooooo!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
This blog will be ending very soon
Sorry I have been so slack updating my blog . . . I don't have long to go now. I feel like I'm about 98% finished.
Tuesday is the last day of clinical placement.
Tomorrow I find out where I'm going to be working next year.
I have finished all my assignment but one, which I'll do when I get back from a one week holiday in Europe (for a friend's wedding) that I'm about to embark on this week.
The assessments I've done recently:
Got my Managing Chronic Conditions Essay about schizophrenia back and the mark was 40/50 which I am very pleased with. Recently finished the final piece of assessment for that subject which was an education pamphlet about the non-pharmacological aspects of managing schizophrenia in the community. I'm expecting to get quite a good mark in this subject, either an A or B.
For my communication subject, in the last two weeks I have done all three assessments. First was my oral presentation which was about male/female cultural socialisation and how that affects professional communication in nursing. I overprepared and planned to talk about biological differences in the communication styles (a la Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus), religion (eg Muslim and orthodox Jewish), professional boundaries, appropriate use of touch, disclosure of self, talking about sexuality with your patient and a few other topics . . but as the presentation was only 5 minutes I ran out of time quickly. I also have a tendancy to ad lib which doesn't help, but although I was disappointed in myself my teacher gave me good feedback and said she thought I seemed confident and that my presentation was really interesting. It was worth 15%
My second assessment for that subject was an online multiple choice exam of worth 30%. I did all the reading preparation and was pretty happy with it, although I didn't get to find out my score straight away. The third thing was an essay I just completed about a challenging communication encounter I've had on placement, 2500 words and worth 55%. I've just finished it, and will hand that in today. It was about a patient and the patient's full time carer who both had mental illness and drug addiction issues and were quite demanding with staff, especially about what drugs they wanted the patient to get (opioids and benzodiazepines - basically morphine and valium). The medical team restricted them and that made the patient and carer really angry. The essay isn't due for another week but I've been trying to get it done so I can hand it in before I go on my trip. So that's two subject now completed.
My final subject is my Clinial Practice Consolidation subject and the assessment is made up of how I perform on placmenent and a 4000 word folio of about ten different topics. That is 80% completed and not due for another 10 days after I get back so I'm going to finish that off then. As for my placement I think I've done well. I've had a really great buddy who is very experienced and has worked in several different countries. He's given me good feedback and taught me a lot, and there haven't been any issues. He's very cool, calm and collected, knowledgable, loved by the patients and lightning fast so it's been great to learn alongside someone like that.
One of the major things I experienced on this placement happened just last week. One of my patients died. He was palliative, so not for resuscitation and it was only a matter of time, but it was still a shock because I was the one who walked into the room and found him dead. He was an old man and had kidney failure, heart failure and a bad diarrhoea infection, but he kept in good spirits right to the end. I had been doing his care for the previous two hours and had just left the room to prepare everything to give him a wash. I told him I'd be back in 5 - 10 minutes and he cheerily said "ok". Then when I walked back in I saw he had vomited something on himself and he was very pale, and I couldn't get any response from him. I knew then that he was dead and went to find my buddy and the nurse in charge. I was upset about it for a little while and took a break to collect myself and have a cup of tea and talk to my colleague. Then when I went back I had to talk to the family and after that clean up the body and prepare it for the morgue, put in a plastic body bag and so on. Tough day.
I'll update this blog a couple more times as I finish up everything and find out my results but then it will come to an end. I've already sent off my nursing registration application and very soon, in a couple of months, I will be a registered practicing full-time nurse!
Tuesday is the last day of clinical placement.
Tomorrow I find out where I'm going to be working next year.
I have finished all my assignment but one, which I'll do when I get back from a one week holiday in Europe (for a friend's wedding) that I'm about to embark on this week.
The assessments I've done recently:
Got my Managing Chronic Conditions Essay about schizophrenia back and the mark was 40/50 which I am very pleased with. Recently finished the final piece of assessment for that subject which was an education pamphlet about the non-pharmacological aspects of managing schizophrenia in the community. I'm expecting to get quite a good mark in this subject, either an A or B.
For my communication subject, in the last two weeks I have done all three assessments. First was my oral presentation which was about male/female cultural socialisation and how that affects professional communication in nursing. I overprepared and planned to talk about biological differences in the communication styles (a la Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus), religion (eg Muslim and orthodox Jewish), professional boundaries, appropriate use of touch, disclosure of self, talking about sexuality with your patient and a few other topics . . but as the presentation was only 5 minutes I ran out of time quickly. I also have a tendancy to ad lib which doesn't help, but although I was disappointed in myself my teacher gave me good feedback and said she thought I seemed confident and that my presentation was really interesting. It was worth 15%
My second assessment for that subject was an online multiple choice exam of worth 30%. I did all the reading preparation and was pretty happy with it, although I didn't get to find out my score straight away. The third thing was an essay I just completed about a challenging communication encounter I've had on placement, 2500 words and worth 55%. I've just finished it, and will hand that in today. It was about a patient and the patient's full time carer who both had mental illness and drug addiction issues and were quite demanding with staff, especially about what drugs they wanted the patient to get (opioids and benzodiazepines - basically morphine and valium). The medical team restricted them and that made the patient and carer really angry. The essay isn't due for another week but I've been trying to get it done so I can hand it in before I go on my trip. So that's two subject now completed.
My final subject is my Clinial Practice Consolidation subject and the assessment is made up of how I perform on placmenent and a 4000 word folio of about ten different topics. That is 80% completed and not due for another 10 days after I get back so I'm going to finish that off then. As for my placement I think I've done well. I've had a really great buddy who is very experienced and has worked in several different countries. He's given me good feedback and taught me a lot, and there haven't been any issues. He's very cool, calm and collected, knowledgable, loved by the patients and lightning fast so it's been great to learn alongside someone like that.
One of the major things I experienced on this placement happened just last week. One of my patients died. He was palliative, so not for resuscitation and it was only a matter of time, but it was still a shock because I was the one who walked into the room and found him dead. He was an old man and had kidney failure, heart failure and a bad diarrhoea infection, but he kept in good spirits right to the end. I had been doing his care for the previous two hours and had just left the room to prepare everything to give him a wash. I told him I'd be back in 5 - 10 minutes and he cheerily said "ok". Then when I walked back in I saw he had vomited something on himself and he was very pale, and I couldn't get any response from him. I knew then that he was dead and went to find my buddy and the nurse in charge. I was upset about it for a little while and took a break to collect myself and have a cup of tea and talk to my colleague. Then when I went back I had to talk to the family and after that clean up the body and prepare it for the morgue, put in a plastic body bag and so on. Tough day.
I'll update this blog a couple more times as I finish up everything and find out my results but then it will come to an end. I've already sent off my nursing registration application and very soon, in a couple of months, I will be a registered practicing full-time nurse!
Friday, August 26, 2011
First assessment out of the way - only 8 to go
This week as well as being on clinical for 5 days straight, which made me very tired indeed by the end of the week, I've been focused on preparing for my first assessment task for the semester, an online multiple choice quiz made up of 30 questions based on a set of journal articles that we were given. It's worth 10% of the total mark for the Managing Chronic Conditions subject. Some of the readings I mentioned in my previous post, and these were the rest of them:
• The emotional context of self-management in chronic illness: A qualitative study of the role of health professional support in the self-management of type 2 diabetes
• Evaluation of a primary care nurse case management intervention for chronically ill community dwelling older people
• The patient’s vulnerability, dependence and exposed situation in the discharge process: experiences of district nurses, geriatric nurses and social workers
• Prioritizing Illness: Lessons in Self-Management Multiple Chronic Diseases
• From the sidelines: Coaching as a nurse practitioner strategy for improving health outcomes
• Motivational interviewing-based health coaching as a chronic care interventions
• Nurse Coach: Healthcare Resource for this millenium
• Patient empowerment: reflections on the challenge of fostering the adoption of a new paradigm
• What skills do primary health care professionals need to provide effective self-management support? Seeking consumer perspectives
• Chronic illness self-management: taking action to create order
• Nursing Science and Chronic Illness: Articulating suffering and possibility in family life
• Youth Health - sex, drugs and chronic illness: health behaviours among chronically ill youth
I didn't actually read every word of all the articles because I ran out of time. I read about half of them trying to understand the main gist of them. But the some of the questions in the quiz were quite detailed so for those ones I had to go back and find the answer. Some questions could just be answered by common sense and elimination. Anyway, I just completed the quiz and got 9.67 which means I got 29/30 right! Woo hoo!
One down, eight to go.
Other things I've got done this week:
Lectures
• Communicating around dying and grief
• Advance care planning
Also this week, I attended a 2 hour workshop for Communications in Nursing subject, then met with group to plan our topic and division of work the Managing Chronic Conditions nursing care plan assignment. There are 8 people in the group and we each have to write one nursing diagnoses and interventions. Because there are so many of us we only have to write about 300 words each. We decided to do it on Chronic heart failure, and my nursing diagnosis is activity intolerance.
Next week I need to start and complete a 2000 word essay worth 50%. I've decided to do it on schizophrenia so I can learn more about it in preparation for working as a psychiatric nurse next year. I've already done a bit of research and found some interesting articles. That will be my focus this week along with 3 more grad program interviews. Another very busy week ahead! Need to make sure I get at least 8 hours sleep as many nights as possible.
• The emotional context of self-management in chronic illness: A qualitative study of the role of health professional support in the self-management of type 2 diabetes
• Evaluation of a primary care nurse case management intervention for chronically ill community dwelling older people
• The patient’s vulnerability, dependence and exposed situation in the discharge process: experiences of district nurses, geriatric nurses and social workers
• Prioritizing Illness: Lessons in Self-Management Multiple Chronic Diseases
• From the sidelines: Coaching as a nurse practitioner strategy for improving health outcomes
• Motivational interviewing-based health coaching as a chronic care interventions
• Nurse Coach: Healthcare Resource for this millenium
• Patient empowerment: reflections on the challenge of fostering the adoption of a new paradigm
• What skills do primary health care professionals need to provide effective self-management support? Seeking consumer perspectives
• Chronic illness self-management: taking action to create order
• Nursing Science and Chronic Illness: Articulating suffering and possibility in family life
• Youth Health - sex, drugs and chronic illness: health behaviours among chronically ill youth
I didn't actually read every word of all the articles because I ran out of time. I read about half of them trying to understand the main gist of them. But the some of the questions in the quiz were quite detailed so for those ones I had to go back and find the answer. Some questions could just be answered by common sense and elimination. Anyway, I just completed the quiz and got 9.67 which means I got 29/30 right! Woo hoo!
One down, eight to go.
Other things I've got done this week:
Lectures
• Communicating around dying and grief
• Advance care planning
Also this week, I attended a 2 hour workshop for Communications in Nursing subject, then met with group to plan our topic and division of work the Managing Chronic Conditions nursing care plan assignment. There are 8 people in the group and we each have to write one nursing diagnoses and interventions. Because there are so many of us we only have to write about 300 words each. We decided to do it on Chronic heart failure, and my nursing diagnosis is activity intolerance.
Next week I need to start and complete a 2000 word essay worth 50%. I've decided to do it on schizophrenia so I can learn more about it in preparation for working as a psychiatric nurse next year. I've already done a bit of research and found some interesting articles. That will be my focus this week along with 3 more grad program interviews. Another very busy week ahead! Need to make sure I get at least 8 hours sleep as many nights as possible.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Group interview experience
The semester is well under way now. In the next four weeks I have 3 more job interviews (already had one this week), one online exam, one 2000 word essay and one group assignment, as well as 2 or 3 days a week of clinical placement. From Saturday to Wednesday I will have five days in a row of clinical placement and then work at my teaching job on Thursday and Friday, AND do an online exam by Friday. In that time I also have to study the material that the exam will be based on because I've only read about a quarter of it so far. I'm getting stuck into that tonight and will continue over the weekend whenever I get a chance. Hopefully get some of it done while I'm on the ward as I still only have to look after 1-2 patients at this stage in the semester.
So the grad year interview I attended earlier this week was with my current number one choice. It was a group interview and I wasn't sure what to expect with that. There were 6 of us doing the interview together and we had to introduce ourselves, interview each other a bit and handover to the rest of the group and the panel about the other person and go to a table to select cards which represent our strengths and 'things we want to work on' and then explain them to the group. I chose reliability and kindness for strengths, and capability and bravery for things I want to work on. There were a few clinical questions about time management and prioritisation of care of a newly admitted suicidal patient. Then we each were interviewed individually which wasn't too harrowing or very long. I felt good about how the whole thing went and I like the 3 people who conducted the interview. For now I will keep them as my first choice, but I still have 3 to go.
Study done so far this week (not much) . .
Lectures
• Chronic Conditions and Models of care
• Psychological aspects of chronic disease
• Culturally appropriate communication
Reading
• Assertiveness skills
• Conflict resolution
• Clinical Practice guidelines for communicating prognosis and end-of-life issues with adults in the advanced stages of a life-limiting illness, and their caregivers
So the grad year interview I attended earlier this week was with my current number one choice. It was a group interview and I wasn't sure what to expect with that. There were 6 of us doing the interview together and we had to introduce ourselves, interview each other a bit and handover to the rest of the group and the panel about the other person and go to a table to select cards which represent our strengths and 'things we want to work on' and then explain them to the group. I chose reliability and kindness for strengths, and capability and bravery for things I want to work on. There were a few clinical questions about time management and prioritisation of care of a newly admitted suicidal patient. Then we each were interviewed individually which wasn't too harrowing or very long. I felt good about how the whole thing went and I like the 3 people who conducted the interview. For now I will keep them as my first choice, but I still have 3 to go.
Study done so far this week (not much) . .
Lectures
• Chronic Conditions and Models of care
• Psychological aspects of chronic disease
• Culturally appropriate communication
Reading
• Assertiveness skills
• Conflict resolution
• Clinical Practice guidelines for communicating prognosis and end-of-life issues with adults in the advanced stages of a life-limiting illness, and their caregivers
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Called in sick
I called in sick for my second night duty tonight. I'm not grossly unwell, just feeling rather run down with a sniffle and sore throat so I thought it would be best to stay away from the patients and try to recuperate at home. I slept from 9:30am till 5:30pm today. I heard about research that has shown that even if you are getting sufficient sleep during the day, working nights is not good for you. The body needs to be asleep during the wee hours (2am to 5am) to tap into the universal energy that assists the body to heal and recover. There is a higher incidence of diseases like heart disease, common colds, and depression amongst people who work nights or early morning shifts. Something to be aware of . . .
I've got a good chunk of study done in the last couple of days:
Lectures
• Time Management and prioritisation of care
• Delegation
• Managing Chronic Conditions: Arthritis
Reading
• Awareness of the other
• 'Other’-centred communication
• Non- verbal communication
• Ethical communication
• Assessment of Digestive and Gastrointestinal Function – upper gastrointestinal tract imaging, lower gastrointestinal tract imaging, CT scans, MRI, positron emission tomography, scintigraphy, gastrointestinal motility studies, oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (try pronouncing that one!), proctoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, fibreoptic colonoscopy, small bowel endoscopy, endoscopy through ostomy, defaecograpy, gastric analysis, gastric acid stimulation test, pH monitoring, laparoscopy, and psychological considerations.
Tonight I'm going to relax and probably watch a movie, drink lots of fluids and eat some nutritious food then get to bed by about midnight so I can back onto normal rhythm tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm planning to get a half hour massage. Hopefully that will be what I need to be fighting fit once more.
I've got a good chunk of study done in the last couple of days:
Lectures
• Time Management and prioritisation of care
• Delegation
• Managing Chronic Conditions: Arthritis
Reading
• Awareness of the other
• 'Other’-centred communication
• Non- verbal communication
• Ethical communication
• Assessment of Digestive and Gastrointestinal Function – upper gastrointestinal tract imaging, lower gastrointestinal tract imaging, CT scans, MRI, positron emission tomography, scintigraphy, gastrointestinal motility studies, oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (try pronouncing that one!), proctoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, fibreoptic colonoscopy, small bowel endoscopy, endoscopy through ostomy, defaecograpy, gastric analysis, gastric acid stimulation test, pH monitoring, laparoscopy, and psychological considerations.
Tonight I'm going to relax and probably watch a movie, drink lots of fluids and eat some nutritious food then get to bed by about midnight so I can back onto normal rhythm tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm planning to get a half hour massage. Hopefully that will be what I need to be fighting fit once more.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Night shift
End of week two . . .
This week I did two night shifts on Monday and Tuesday night. They're pretty long shifts, from 9pm till 7:30am so I needed Wednesday to recover. At this stage in the semester I only have to take one patient, but it will increase gradually up to a full load as the weeks go by. One patient on a night shift is very boring! Because there's not much to do between 10:30pm and 6:00am. However, I made good use of time and got heaps of reading for uni done and got a couple of tasks out of the way for my clinical learning portfolio which will be worth 55%.
This week I also finished my job applications for next year. I've already heard back from two of them for an interview in the next couple of weeks. I've applied to four different psychiatric grad nursing programs. It was so hard to narrow it down to just four places, and also choose whether I wanted to do general medical/surgical or psychiatric, or community. In the end I chose psychiatric because it's what I'm most interested in and enjoy doing, I can increase my qualifications during the program, and there are opportunities to work in acute inpatient care, community, teenagers, emergency, drug and alcohol . . . there's a lot of choice within psych so I don't feel as though I'm limiting myself by choosing that path.
Here's a summary of what I've been studying this week:
Lectures
• The impact of chronic conditions
• Promoting comfort_and managing symptoms
Reading
• The social construction of chronicity: a key to understanding chronic care transformations
• Healthcare providers’ perspectives : estimating the impact of chronicity
• Chronicity and complexity: is what’s good for the diseases always good for the patients?
• Clinical Practice Consolidation subject guide
• Ward Orientation
• Journal article case study: An 81 year old man with massive rectal bleeding – this was related to one the patients I had on the ward.
• Journal article: Nurofen Plus misuse, an emerging cause of perforated gastric ulcer – again this is related to a patient on the ward who had been abusing a packet a day of nurofen plus, which is ibuprofen plus codeine. They abuse it for the codeine and you don’t need a prescription to get it. The problem is because it has the ibuprofen it wears away the lining of the stomach over time.
• Assessment of Digestive and Gastrointestinal Function – anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract, chewing and swallowing, gastric function, small intestine function, colonic function, waste products digestion, age related changes in the gastrointestinal system, assessing pain, indigestion, intestinal gas, nausea and vomiting, changes in bowel habits and stool characteristics, physical assessment, foods and medications that alter stool colour, stool tests, breath tests, Australian guidelines for colorectal cancer screening, abdominal ultrasonography, genetics and gastrointestinal disorders.
This week I have two more nightshifts again so I'm going to get as much reading done as I can while I've got the chance.
This week I did two night shifts on Monday and Tuesday night. They're pretty long shifts, from 9pm till 7:30am so I needed Wednesday to recover. At this stage in the semester I only have to take one patient, but it will increase gradually up to a full load as the weeks go by. One patient on a night shift is very boring! Because there's not much to do between 10:30pm and 6:00am. However, I made good use of time and got heaps of reading for uni done and got a couple of tasks out of the way for my clinical learning portfolio which will be worth 55%.
This week I also finished my job applications for next year. I've already heard back from two of them for an interview in the next couple of weeks. I've applied to four different psychiatric grad nursing programs. It was so hard to narrow it down to just four places, and also choose whether I wanted to do general medical/surgical or psychiatric, or community. In the end I chose psychiatric because it's what I'm most interested in and enjoy doing, I can increase my qualifications during the program, and there are opportunities to work in acute inpatient care, community, teenagers, emergency, drug and alcohol . . . there's a lot of choice within psych so I don't feel as though I'm limiting myself by choosing that path.
Here's a summary of what I've been studying this week:
Lectures
• The impact of chronic conditions
• Promoting comfort_and managing symptoms
Reading
• The social construction of chronicity: a key to understanding chronic care transformations
• Healthcare providers’ perspectives : estimating the impact of chronicity
• Chronicity and complexity: is what’s good for the diseases always good for the patients?
• Clinical Practice Consolidation subject guide
• Ward Orientation
• Journal article case study: An 81 year old man with massive rectal bleeding – this was related to one the patients I had on the ward.
• Journal article: Nurofen Plus misuse, an emerging cause of perforated gastric ulcer – again this is related to a patient on the ward who had been abusing a packet a day of nurofen plus, which is ibuprofen plus codeine. They abuse it for the codeine and you don’t need a prescription to get it. The problem is because it has the ibuprofen it wears away the lining of the stomach over time.
• Assessment of Digestive and Gastrointestinal Function – anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract, chewing and swallowing, gastric function, small intestine function, colonic function, waste products digestion, age related changes in the gastrointestinal system, assessing pain, indigestion, intestinal gas, nausea and vomiting, changes in bowel habits and stool characteristics, physical assessment, foods and medications that alter stool colour, stool tests, breath tests, Australian guidelines for colorectal cancer screening, abdominal ultrasonography, genetics and gastrointestinal disorders.
This week I have two more nightshifts again so I'm going to get as much reading done as I can while I've got the chance.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Final Semester!
Long time, no blog post . . . well here I am, it's my final semester already. By the end of october I will be FINISHED! I am very busy right now, with getting stuck into the lectures, reading and assignments for my new subjects, as well as working 2 - 3 days a week, and applying for graduate nursing positions.
First let me wrap up last semester. It was a stressful one but I made it through. My results weren't as high as I've gotten in the past but they were okay:
Complex Care Nursing - 60
Professional Transitions in Nursing - 69
Nursing Older People - 70
I did bang out most of the assignments at the last minute and got between 65 - 75 for most of them. I seem to get the best scores in oral presentations. All in all, I'm not too disappointed because the academic transcript that went out with my job applications had only A's, B's and C's on it, no D's.
I had to make up 2 days of my Nursing Older People clinical placement before my holiday and I did that at an aged care nursing home which was good because I got to experience the nursing side of it, rather than just the caring side.
This semester my subjects are:
Consolidation of Clinical Practice - which includes 240 hours of acute care placement. I requested another ward and this semester I'm going to be on the gastrointestinal ward.
Managing Chronic Conditions - this subject is taught completely online, even the exam. There are several assignments including group assignments and online discussion groups.
Challenging Interactions in Nursing - this subject is about communication which I find really interesting.
So far, I've mainly been listening to lectures and reading for Challenging Interactions in Nursing:
Lectures
• Awareness of Self & Others
• Conflict Resolution
• Managing aggression - De-escalation
• Managing aggression - Professional Boundaries
• Lecture notes: De-escalation strategies
• Strategies and skills for dealing with unprofessional workplace behaviour
• My Experience in Hospital: Interview with a patient who had a negative experience
• Ideal Situation for dealing with complaints
Reading
• Talking with patients
• Common communication issues
• Egan's Three Stage Helping Model: Problem clarification, setting goals, and facilitating action
• Heron's six-categories of counselling interventions – supportive, informative, cathartic, prescriptive, catalytic, and confronting
• Strategies for managing aggressive behaviour
In the workshops so far we have done some roleplaying of difficult communication situations in nursing, including asking probing questions when the patient is reluctant or unable to explain why they are noncompliant, and responding to inappropriate or threatening comments.
I'll write more about my job applications and other subjects in upcoming posts . . . stay tuned!
First let me wrap up last semester. It was a stressful one but I made it through. My results weren't as high as I've gotten in the past but they were okay:
Complex Care Nursing - 60
Professional Transitions in Nursing - 69
Nursing Older People - 70
I did bang out most of the assignments at the last minute and got between 65 - 75 for most of them. I seem to get the best scores in oral presentations. All in all, I'm not too disappointed because the academic transcript that went out with my job applications had only A's, B's and C's on it, no D's.
I had to make up 2 days of my Nursing Older People clinical placement before my holiday and I did that at an aged care nursing home which was good because I got to experience the nursing side of it, rather than just the caring side.
This semester my subjects are:
Consolidation of Clinical Practice - which includes 240 hours of acute care placement. I requested another ward and this semester I'm going to be on the gastrointestinal ward.
Managing Chronic Conditions - this subject is taught completely online, even the exam. There are several assignments including group assignments and online discussion groups.
Challenging Interactions in Nursing - this subject is about communication which I find really interesting.
So far, I've mainly been listening to lectures and reading for Challenging Interactions in Nursing:
Lectures
• Awareness of Self & Others
• Conflict Resolution
• Managing aggression - De-escalation
• Managing aggression - Professional Boundaries
• Lecture notes: De-escalation strategies
• Strategies and skills for dealing with unprofessional workplace behaviour
• My Experience in Hospital: Interview with a patient who had a negative experience
• Ideal Situation for dealing with complaints
Reading
• Talking with patients
• Common communication issues
• Egan's Three Stage Helping Model: Problem clarification, setting goals, and facilitating action
• Heron's six-categories of counselling interventions – supportive, informative, cathartic, prescriptive, catalytic, and confronting
• Strategies for managing aggressive behaviour
In the workshops so far we have done some roleplaying of difficult communication situations in nursing, including asking probing questions when the patient is reluctant or unable to explain why they are noncompliant, and responding to inappropriate or threatening comments.
I'll write more about my job applications and other subjects in upcoming posts . . . stay tuned!
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