I'm just coming to the end of my community placement which has been a good one. See my reflective diary for details of this and other clinical placements. I'll then have a week in college before 2 weeks annual leave. Sounds like good news, but in fact I'll be spending most of that time revising for the final exam which will be on 6.7.99. I also have yet to finish my dissertation - it's in the pipeline for completion by the end of this week - which is on the nurse's role in spiritual care. I hope to publish details of this (if not the whole thing) on this site once the essay itself is completed. In researching the topic I noticed a distinct lack of in depth info on the internet, so maybe I can redress the balance. Meanwhile I'm also applying for jobs for when I finish in September (details of my future plans will also follow soon all being well). So all in all a busy time - and I'm trying to learn to drive too ...
Old News
Well, I've just finished a hellish ten weeks on a general surgery ward, and I'm glad it's over. I have learned a lot, and seen a lot of interesting things, but come home physically and mentally exhausted from virtually every shift. Ward 33 is rightly known as being the busiest ward in the hospital. It takes upto 28 patients of mixed gender and mainly deals with vascular and bowel surgery, both list case and emergency admissions. The physical care is good, with some highly skilled and knowledgable nurses, but I felt the psychological care to be extremely lacking. On a ward where patients are having mastectomies, limb amputations, formation of stomas and other image-changing surgery, the psychological consequences can be greatly significant. However, on a ward as fast-paced and as understaffed as this one, that psychological care was largely neglected and I for one found this heartbreaking. During this ten week placement I also had the oppertunity to spend some time learning about other aspects of surgical nursing including a week in theatre and a day with the Acute Pain Management Nurse. I hope to gather my thoughts on both of these experiences and report back soon...
My next clinical placement starts at the beginning of November and will be ten weeks on ward 5 which is acute male medical.
We had our part 4 exam a few weeks ago. It wasn't as bad as it might have been, but revising for it whilst on placement was very stressfull. Results come out the first week of November... We've got one full week in college before the end of part 4 when we get two weeks break (Hurrah!) Then it's a week in college to introduce part 5 - the final part of the course - and then placement taking us upto January 1999...
