Midway through Placement

I have now finished my third week of placement and it has been great. 

In the day centre they had a summer fete for all the students where their carers and family can come in to meet everyone. Despite the weather looking a bit iffy (rain, wind and sunshine) it ended up a really nice day.

The summer fete was a little fete that the day centre holds every year. There are many stalls that the students have crafted things for to sell and the staff have assisted with. Their families and friends donate things that can be sold and the students help man the stalls if they so wish or can just go around looking and buying and taking part in the activities. 

We had a tombola, hoopla, arts and crafts stall, sweet stall, badge making, flowers and even an opportunity to throw wet sponges at staff standing behind a frozen board (or just take a photo!)

This was made by staff, it looked amazing.

Here is me and an adult nursing student from another university modelling the board!

It was a lovely day where we had a band in playing music, a barbecue and plenty of snacks.  It is a day the students really enjoy and can look forward to. It marks the end of their classes in the day centre before the summer scheme begins. 
Half way through our placement we have a midway review so we can discuss with our mentor what we would like to achieve before we finish and how we have found placement so far. I have focused on communication and improving my Makaton skills in this placement as our students range from profound and multiple disabilities (PMLD) to more higher functioning and independent students. I have been able to make myself a folder containing lots of Makaton information that I have able to do from resources provided by the centre then from the Makaton website.

Here is a sample of the Makaton information I have that may come in useful as a nurse!

Summer scheme starts next week and I am really looking forward to that. All of us nursing students will have the opportunity to accompany the staff and students on outings around the local city and just beyond.  I've been told the activities include a city tour, a trip to the local cat and donkey sanctuaries, a trip on a boat, bowling, cinemas and many more. 

So I am looking forward to that! 

Of course I won't be able to upload any pictures of the students but I shall try and take photographs of the activities.
So far it had been such an amazing learning experience and I have been able to meet adult nursing students that have been very active in learning about learning disabilities and the various conditions and syndromes that can present in people with learning disabilities. 
Active learning is the best kind of learning! 

Learning Disability Week

It's Learning Disability Week! 

15th - 21st June 2015

What does a learning disability really mean?

So...

What does a learning disability nurse do?

Please see the above link for an interview with Helen Laverty, a Learning Disability Nurse and lead lecturer at the University of Nottingham. 

Learning Disability Week is all about raising awareness of Learning Disabilities.  Not just the term as such, but those individuals who have a learning disability.  The term Learning Disability is fairly recent.  In other parts of the world, you may hear the term intellectual disabilities.  Some years ago, you may have heard the term mental retardation, or retarded.  This is deeply offensive today, but back in the 1960's (yes only a short time ago) it was the norm.  Even mental retardation was considered  politically correct and replaced terms such as idiot, feeblemindedness and freak.

Learning Disability Nursing is about recognising that those individuals have just as much right as any other individual to having specialised nursing care.  As I may have mentioned previously, just as there are respiratory nurses, cardiac nurses, oncology nurses etc, then there should be learning disability nurses.  Each individual has the right to health care, and that care should be the best possible for them.  If there are nurses that are specialised in that field and that can ensure those people have access to that care so they are looked after then why not? 

It is important that you as a Learning Disability Nurse ensure that their care is the best that they can have and that those around them can help with delivering that care. 

For Learning Disability nursing, there are Twitter chats that take place on a regular basis. 

If you are not on Twitter, see the website here for a transcript of previous Twitter chats.

For a guest blog, please see this post on the Mencap page. If you think you may recognise her, it is because she has been on our television screens a lot recently! 

I have always loved my chosen field of work. Since I entered Learning Disability Nursing I have found not only has my passion increased for the branch of nursing that I am doing, but that I have learnt a lot in my first year of doing Learning Disability Nursing.  I am now one third of the way through to becoming a qualified nurse.  In this time, I have been able to get to know many health professionals involved within the field.  I may sound biased, but I do not know of any other field that is so prominent on social media and in helping one another!

I have found Learning Disability Nursing to be so enlightening for my own education and learning experience.  I have learnt a lot from those service users (or clients), I have been able to champion Learning Disability Nursing in many ways. I started this blog not for myself, but to raise awareness of what Learning Disability Nursing is.

With Learning Disability Week 2015, I hope that not only do we get out there what Learning Disability Nurses do, but that those with Learning Disabilities can still face discrimination and inequalities on a daily basis.  If you are reading this, then chances are you have seen this or know about this.  We can all advocate for those who cannot speak up for themselves.  By saying no to inequality, by saying you will listen, by telling others to be patient, by showing others by example, you are making a difference.  By educating others on what a learning disability is, you can help to end discrimination to those with a learning disability.

When I began writing this blog a year ago, I never envisioned I would know what I do today or I would be where I am today.  However, I am here. I couldn't be prouder of my patients / students / service users / clients / and what they have taught me. 

As I progress, both in my course and in my knowledge of learning disabilities, i find myself more and more aware of those out there who need our support and help as learning disability nurses.

 In relation to this, i have written a guest blog post on the BMJ for Learning Disability Week. 

You can find it here.

So what can you do for Learning Disability Week? 

Speak up! Shout it from the rooftops you are proud to know about Learning Disabilities and that you do what you can to help any individual wanting to know about learning disabilities and how to help those who may have a learning disability.  It is an amazing branch, it is life changing. It is full of surprises. Most of all, it is a branch I love and a branch of nursing that I feel so privileged to be studying. 

Final Placement of Year 1

Hi all!

I have finished two weeks of my final placement of year 1 already!

It has been amazing.

For my final placement I am in a day centre for adults with learning disabilities. The day centre is brilliant. There are a big mix of students in their abilities and likes and dislikes.  As it is a day centre, I do not have the opportunity to do clinical nursing care, but it is still nursing care all the same.  

So far I have assisted with personal care, eating and drinking and assisting the students (this is what the service users prefer to be called) in activities. 

I have been able to see the students take part in cookery activities; art; snoezelen; music therapy; sensory activities; going to clubs outside of the day centre and soon there will be summer activities as part of summer scheme.

The day centre is big and there are over 150 students on the books.  The students are lovely and so very welcoming to us nursing students! 

There is such a range of learning disabilities and syndromes that the students have, so it has been invaluable as a learning experience.  My mentor has also been able to give me information on the syndromes and how this may affect the students physical health as well as their mental health and well-being.  Each student has a care plan in the day centre that is put together by the centre staff and a learning disability nurse that comes into the centre.  The students may come from referrals or be transitioning from children's services to adult services.  

Each student comes in for short periods to begin with so they can get to know the centre and the centre's routine.  They may go around various rooms to decide which they like better or they be allocated a room depending on their needs and wants.  Each room has different student in it, with differing activities that it is centred around.  I am in a room that does a lot of arts and crafts and hands on activities. There are other rooms, for example, IT (Information Technology), skills and sensory.  There are various rooms and the students have the opportunity to have taster sessions in the other rooms and take part in activities in them.  

I am on placement with 3 others from my cohort so it has been nice being on placement with others that we know so we can all help one another.  It also means we can share knowledge of the room we are in for when we see the other students around the centre.  

I have also had the opportunity to talk to another nursing student who is on placement there as part of their 'out of field' placement.  

Recently, I was able to take part in a focus group for the NMC in relation to the nursing course, the structure and what we were happy or unhappy with.  It did come up that many people are confused about what we do as Learning Disability Nurses. Many of us felt that for those that are having their out of field placements, they should be in those challenging behaviour settings or those who may also have mental health needs.  As there has been some students from other years that said they have heard remarks that Learning Disability Nursing is not hard, or it is like being a 'glorified baby sitter'.  Of course, placements come down to a lot of things, but, by saying such things as the aforementioned, those people are creating inequalities.  Therefore, we want people to experience the challenging part of learning disability nursing.  Not so they may see us as Learning Disability Nurses in a different light (not all people have this view, just a small minority) but so if a person with a Learning Disability is admitted to A&E, or has to use what we may deem as mainstream services, they are given the appropriate level of care for them.  The staff will have a greater understanding and the individual with the learning disability will have a less stressful hospital stay or less waiting time, or even just a more understanding and knowledgeable practitioner in understanding their communication needs.  

So, if this day centre has taught me anything these past 2 weeks, it has been this;

Always get to know the person and be patient. 

Individuals with learning disabilities are amazing people. They may need extra support or they may need a helping hand every now again. 

And more often than not, you'll learn a lot from them!