Busy Bee!

This week has been such a busy week it's been unbelievable, it's been non-stop!
I hit a little milestone of my own this week, i have had 'issues' regarding my eating for around 3years now which has led to me spending some time in hospital but this week for the FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS i went to sleepover!

i know it's nothing to most people but it was a really big thing for me, as I have isolated myself from my friends and family for so long.

I am determined not to let my eating disorder (it's hard to admit but if i want to beat it, i need to accept the fact that i have a problem)  get in the way of me becoming a nurse as nursing is what i want to do with the rest of my life!

On a happier note, i'm going to Yorkshire tomorrow for a family holiday which i have been looking forward to all year :) although i am very anxious about what i will be eating while we are there as it means going to restaurant every night. I still find restaurants very hard to deal with, due to the aspect of unknown, i hate not knowing or having control over the caloric value, fat content, preparation and portion size of my food. So i'm going to play it safe and choose 'safe' meals and foods so i dont overwhelm myself as that generally results in me getting very anxious, stressed, worried and in most occasions me crying over a plate of food or food taking to long to come, or not being in my allocated eating times.

However my 'eating times' have gotten a lot better, as i have been challenging them as i work now and therefore my lunch break depends on who else is on shift and how busy it is, so thats been good.


RELAX LUCY! YOU CAN'T CONTROL EVERYTHING, YOU NEED TO LET GO!
i hope everyone has had a great week especially as Britain's had all this beautiful weather, sadly i havent had the chance to enjoy it as i've worked around 24hours this week :(

Trust the weather to get good just in time for the games! which by the way I'm really looking forward to, i love the Olympics. In actually fact as i write this post i am waiting for the Olympic opening ceremony, i have many ideas whizzing in my head of what it will be like, i heard Mary Poppins and Voldemort will be in it!

WHOOP WHOOP LONDON 2012!
2weeks of Olympic heaven :)

The dreaded personal statement!

It's been a busy week, the last week of term always is. In many ways i can't believe it's been a year since the last summer holiday. Can i still call it the 'summer holidays' despite the fact there will probably be no sun?

Well, back to the point. Today at school we had UCAS session, ohh how i have began to dread the word UCAS.

For the whole hour i was bombarded with lots of information, so of which i already knew due to previous research, as believe me it would be no word of a lie if i said i spend hours many even days searching through university guides, stats websites,  university website, prospectuses.

We talked about entry requiments and university location. However, I have already been to a few open days already and even though this to many people this will make me look like a sado with no life: i have a word document with a number of different sections all of which have rating, then after visiting the university i fill the ratings, simply!

FOR EXAMPLE:

Distance from home:  (1 being very near and 10 being very far)
Accomdation: (1 horrible and 10being  amazing)
Course requirments: (1 very low  and 10 being very high)
Placement options: (1 poor range of placement opportunites and 10 being rich range of placement opportunties)

there are many more sections but you get the general idea.


now the thing that us filling me dread......

         PERSONAL STATEMENT!

i have a couple of ideas of what to put but with everyone telling me its the most important part of the application i have put pressure on myself to ensure that my personal statement is amazing.

I need to sell myself, but be truthful which is going to be hard as in reality im not amazing!
Hopefully, i will have my first draft finished before the end of July and then i plan to get as many people to look at it, as i can, the more feedback the better the result! luckily i dont mind people changing my work or saying that 'this isnt very good, you need to do this' as long as it's constructive and helpful.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Nurses split over shift patterns'

Nurses are divided over the length of shift they prefer to work and the impact of shift patterns on patients, a Nursing Times survey today reveals.

Of the 2,837 nurses and healthcare assistants who responded to our survey, 46% favoured a 12 hour shift while 43% preferred to work eight hours. They were similarly split over which work pattern was better for work/life balance.
However, there were five times as many respondents who believed 12 hour shifts were the worse of the two for patient safety as those who believed eight hour shifts were the worse.
And 22% of respondents noticed they had made more errors during 12 hour shifts compared to 2% who felt the same about a shorter shift.
Almost a quarter of respondents said their trust had increased the number of 12 hour shifts in the past year.
Professor James Buchan, from the School of Health Sciences at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University, told Nursing Times this was to be expected as financial pressure meant managers looked to which shift patterns suited “the bottom line”.
Earlier this year the Royal Berkshire Hospital Foundation Trust, which needed to save £21m, estimated it could save up to £500,000 by extending the use of 12 hour shifts.
Royal College of Nursing senior employment relations adviser Kim Sunley told Nursing Times she was aware of many recent reviews of shift patterns.
She said there needed to be safeguards in place for 12 hour shifts to make sure staff got appropriate breaks and finished on time as evidence showed the patient safety risk doubled when nurses worked beyond 12 hours.
She added: “The fundamental issue is about choice. Staff allowed a choice are happier and better at their jobs.”
Just a quarter of respondents always worked eight hour shifts while 37% always worked 12 hours; the remainder worked a mixture.
Many respondents said they preferred the 12 hour shift because it gave them more days off, reducing travel and childcare costs.
Overall 60% of respondents said they felt more physically exhausted after a 12 hour shift but respondents largely felt sickness absence rates were not influenced by shift patterns. Most nurses felt both types of shift carried the same risk of burnout.
Many nurses told Nursing Times that if they worked 8 hour shifts it often meant meant working up to 10 shifts on consecutive days, leading to tiredness.
Jill Maben, director of the national nursing research unit at King’s College London, said 12 hour shifts had been growing in prevalence over the past decade and were originally brought in to improve continuity across a day.
However, she said 12 hour shifts were often worse for continuity across a patient’s hospital stay as nurses working 12 hour shifts only tended to work three days in a row.
She said more research was needed into the impact of each shift pattern on nurses’ ability to do their job safely.
Professor Maben said: “I understand it’s really difficult for directors of nursing to hold the line with finance directors trying to make savings.
“Perhaps moving to 12 hour shifts means you don’t have to lose staff so I can understand how it can look quite seductive in this era of fiscal restraint but my caution is, do you really know what effect this is having?”

After reading this article i was left unsure weather 8 hour shifts or 12 hour shifts were better, as this article to me states that really there are pro's and con's to both kinds and shifts and in the end it all depends on the individual.

Through my experiences of school and work, i think i would prefer 8 hour shifts as i feel that shorter shifts would suit be best as i find i work better if i do shorter bursts of work even if it means having to do them more times each week, rather than doing lots of hours over a shorter space of time. For me the idea of having more days off doesnt make a difference as if i was working 12 hour shifts all the time i would probably need the first day to recover and relax. In my opinion the shift that is the best is the shift were you feel you can best do your job and look after your patients the best.

I wonder what shift i would prefer, when i become a nurse?
(see how i say 'when' not 'if' its only because i cant see myself doing anything else, nursing is the one for me)

JUGGLING ACT

My life seems to be so so busy at the moment, I’m here, there and everywhere.....but I LOVE it!

I’ve never been on for lying round doing nothing, i don't like relaxing too much, the evening is my relaxing time but during the day i like to keep myself busy. It's weird most 17 year olds can sleep till 1 in the afternoon but the latest i can sleep in till is about 7:30am, i sometimes think I’m an adult trapped in a teenagers body, i swear!

Anyway, it’s the summer holidays are in a weeks’ time, god how fast this school year has flown by so much has happened, I’ve learnt so much just in this last year. I actually don’t like the summer holidays though i miss my friends too much, as without school i don’t get to see them every day plus i get bored there's only so much daytime TV i can watch, don’t get me wrong i love this morning but after 2weeks i get so bored i just want to be back at school.

However, for the second year is a row I’m having my own little school at home. The plan is to spend an 1 hour at least every day:
- practicing level 1 British sign language.
-working through my biology book, writing notes and doing the practice questions.
-read my list of books; the scarlet letter, A thousand splendid suns, Atonement and The remains of a day.

On top of that I’ve got to start writing my personal statement for UCAS which I’m really nervous for writing but I’m going plan it beforehand and get a couple to check my spelling and grammar etc. Hopefully I will be starting my volunteering at my local general hospital so that’s good, I’m really excited! Plus I’ll have work too, but I’m it an okay job I get to talk to new people and its fast paced and never boring so I can’t complain and it gets me one step closer to my savings goal.

Last but not least, I’m going to YORKSHIRE, for a week. I love Yorkshire it’s so beauty and the people are so friendly, it’s miles away from where I live (literally and metaphorically). A well-deserved good old British family holiday, nothing beats them!

Nursing Conference

Late last year, i discovered a leaflet in the sixth form common room about a Nursing workshop conference, my eyes were instantly drawn to the word 'nursing'. I took the leaflet home and asked my parents straight out if they would let me go. In all honestly they had to say yes, i'm hoping to go to university next year when i'll be away from home for months on end so a 2day course should be a piece of cake, they finally accepted on the condition I paid which to me was a given and something that i would have done anyway.


Months went by and in the mist of all my exams and coursework, i did actually forget about the course all together. But it was soon the 6th July and i was packing my bags and heading for the train station for the 2 hour train journey from Corby to Nottingham. I got there through all the flooding and raining and had made it all in one piece, just a very wet one.

I got their at around 11.30 and went straight to sign in and got my key for my room, phoned my mum and had lunch as at 1:30 the lectures started.
FRIDAY 6TH JULY 2012nursing courses and careers- Liz RobsonI found this session very helpful as Liz talked about the differences between all the fields of nursing that clarified that child nursing is the nursing field for me!

Physical Examination and Diagnosis- Workshop teamThis made to be my one of my favourite sessions of the whole conference! the lecturer, James Ridgeway was AMAZING  he made me laugh and smile which was good as i was a little nervous for the conference as everyone else had come with friends from school and i haven't so knew nobody but i did manage to quickly made friends. Anyway James was amazing the way  he communicated with the audience was inspirational, it truly was. His story and background was even more inspiration and made what he was saying about you can do it, much more believable.

Opportunities in community Nursing- Sarah Corby
i had never previously been interested in nursing within the community as the hospital environment had always appealed to me more, however it was an interesting sessions as in many ways it prepared me for what to expect if i do become a nurse and go on placement as some of them will be the community so in that sense was very helpful.

Clinical Nursing- Tiffany LloydIt was clear from this session the changing role of a nurse and how much it has progressed in recent years. Many people have their own idea of what a nurse does however many of this perceptions  are very far from the reality of being a nurse.

Nowadays nurses do what more that just the basic nursing like; personal hygiene, dressing, dental hygiene, nutrition, mobilsing, toileting, wound management, all of which are still very important as they are the basics, the foundation however the role of nurse has now built from that and now includes; adminstation of intravenous meds, prescribing meds, venapuncture, cannulation, catherisation, requesting xrays, sutyring, plastering, ECG's, defibrilation, minor surgical procedures, all of which many people, (myself included as only couple of years ago before i really knew that nursing was the one, i would have thought the same) would have assumed such activities to be a doctors role.

The student Nurses Tale- student nurses
yet again a very helpful session. They talking about the interview, what to expect, what to do if you dont get in, starting the course, accommodation, money etc.

Here is the list of the student nurses survival tips:
-make the most of holidays
-keep an eye of your money
-try and get along with mentors and staff
-try and make time for family and friends
-learn to say no
-treat yourself once in a while
-look after yourself
-use resources wisely
-take deep breathes and count to 10
-have fun and meet new people
and the most important of all when in doubt just ASK!
The edge Session- Workshop teamOne word and one word only, AMAZING!from this session we covered:
-a UCAS form that stands out
-excellent report from school
-improving your grades
-who interviews and what what ask
-how to give a brillant interview
-what if my grades are poor?!

Lectures finished at 11:10 at night, so i went straight to bed as i had a another long day ahead of me, along with an early start.

SATURDAY 7TH JULY 2012a&e nursing- Sharon Sandersonwhat can i say, a&e nursing is fast-paced, diverse and challenging all of which i love, i hope i do get the opportunity to work in a&e hopefully as a placement, as i really want to be nurse so im not giving up!
Midwife: community or hospital- Caroline Farrari personally have never been interested in midwifery but found the session very interest anyway, as being a woman i may have before pregnant in later life, who knows.


Paediatric Nursing- Caroline Farrar.
from this session i learnt about the many factors that nurses have to keep in mind when dealing with a patient thats a child

MEDICAL: their medical history, what is currently wrong with them
SOCIAL: diet, upbringing,  environment (parents smoker?) finianal status
FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES: parents job, size of family, family set up (step-parents, siblings etc)
CULTURAL: religion and beliefs.
and most importantly communication!

overall the whole conference was amazing and very helpful, i learnt so much about not only nursing but about myself and on top of all that i made so really good friends, who i hope like all the other people of the course fore fill their dreams wheather that is to be a nurse or midwife etc. :]


Lansley launches scheme to recognise 'NHS Heroes'

"A new scheme to recognise the work of NHS staff in England was launched last week by the government.

The “NHS Heroes” recognition scheme was launched on Thursday to mark the 64th anniversary of the health service.
From now until mid-September, anyone working for the NHS who is nominated by members of the public, patients or colleagues as “going the extra mile in their work” will receive a recognition certificate.
Announcing the scheme, Andrew Lansley said: “Staff across the NHS in England carry out fantastic work every day. The NHS Heroes scheme is a chance for everyone to formally recognise these staff and thank them for their hard work, passion and dedication.”
NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson added: “I hope that NHS staff also get involved, and nominate those people who support them at work to give world-class NHS care."

I personally think this scheme is long over due it's an amazing idea especially with all the bad press the NHS has been having recently.

Many NHS staff work UNBELIEVABLE hard everyday and they truly do deserve recognition  as the public (myself included) only every hear about the bad NHS staff which in reality is a one a very small group of the total NHS workforce, it's  unfair to paint everyone with the same brush.
'their hard work, passion and dedication.” this article couldn't have summed up the qualities of NHS staff any better.

My view of OBE's and knighthoods is also similar to this, the public should be recognised and awarded, not celebrities but real 'normal' (if there is such a think!) people who also do amazing things.

 if you know of anyone who you believe truly is a NHS hero then please get involved and nominate them: http://www.nhsheroes.com/ 

The beginning.

  (I love this illustration copyright of Katie Daisy 2012, she is a very talented girl)
check out her flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewheatfield/6707620057/in/photostream

Blogging is something i've wanted to do for a long time but always thought i was too boring to do so. But finally i've got something to blog about, i'm about to embark on a journey as this is the year i will be applying for university!

I don't feel as though i look like am old enough to be going to university, the bus driver still gives me a child ticket for goodness sake! I've been on a few open days; Sheffield Hallam, Leeds, Nottingham with a few more planned, everyone looks like little mini adults and in comparsion i feel about 5 years old, their all like 6foot tall and there's me at just a modest 5ft 1, ohh well not my fault i'm short.

As you have gathered i want to be a paediatric nurse and the open days have proved very helpful as i have about 100 questions i want to ask and they give me the opportunity to do so. Not only that but it's also helped my confidence, before i would have never went up to stranger and asked them questions i would have gotten my dad to ask the questions for me instead, now i feel comfortable just politely asking the staff and student nurses a few questions.

The main questions that have been stuck in head just swimming round have been:
-Entry requirements; are BTEC's in  health and social care accepted?
-Work Experience: how much work experience should a student have?
-Gap year: do you recommend students take a gap year in order to gain experience?
-Medical; will my medical history put me at a disadvantage?

(things regarding my medical history as well as other aspects of my life will become clearer as i continue to post as i have promised to set aside 10 to 20 minutes everyday to write a little post of my blog)