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!