Friday 16 October 2015

Halfway through Phase 4....

So I have now finished my first 3 weeks out of 6.
Then I go to placement 4....Yes 4!

It is honestly flying in and I struggle to know where the time has gone!

Just wanted to update you on what we have covered so far.
We have managed to cover a lot in evidence based nursing, looking at different types of research and searching for research papers. We have then recapped our nursing models, but gone in to greater detail about the relevance of these within the learning disability field and then how we can apply these when assessing and assisting those with a learning disability.

We have also had our practicals, where once again we were assessed informally on our basic life support and what to do should we ever come across an unconscious patient.  We then covered the emergency trolley and its contents.
We looked at the different types of airway (which I have covered in a previous post) and how to assist the doctors in inserting and maintaining an airway. We will go into greater detail about this soon when we cover tracheotomies and how to suction these to maintain a palpable airway.

We have also been able to cover a lot of nursing care and nursing models within learning disability nursing.  It has been a fast few weeks and straight away it was discussion about placements and our assignments.  It is also important to maintain our skills and keep these up to date where we can.  

Very short post, but these 6 weeks are a lot of theory behind learning disability nursing, assessments and care plans and health facilitation. 

A good book to read on this is;


This book has a lot of theoretical information in it that is very useful for learning disability nursing.  
A lot of what we have covered has recapped last year's lectures and then gone into further detail.   For example, we covered Roper, Logan and Tierney last year.  We have then gone into further detail about the model this year covering Activities of Daily Living.  There may be 12 listed, but in learning disability nursing, you can cover up to 15, including mental health and personality.  This is especially important if the person you are looking after may be non-verbal and / or have difficulty communicating.  This ensures that those reading their care plan have as much information as possible to help facilitate good, all -round care for the individual.  
A very short post, but I don't think there is a lot for me to write without sounding like I am writing an essay or lecturing you! 

Monday 5 October 2015

And classes are under way...

So second year has officially begun!

First week has flown by and we are straight in there.  Last year we had welcome week as our introductory week and then although it was very full on and very quick, there was still that little bit of leeway and understanding if we were struggling with finding things or learning how to search the literature and so on. 
This year...

It's more or less, you've been here a year now and you have completed your placements and your assignments and been successful. So, keep it up, kick it up a gear and head down.  We have been given our structure for the year and what we will be covering. 

As this year we really focus on our field, i'll give you an idea of what we will be doing...
  • The background and history of learning disabilities, the principles of such etc
  • Legislation covering learning disabilities
  • Behaviour
  • Mental Health
  • Communication (including Makaton)
  • Supporting and Promoting Optimum Health
  • Maternity
  • Play
  • Alternative Therapies
  • Multiple Complex Needs
  • Criminal Justice System
  • Nutrition 
  • Partnership Working
Then in our practicals, we will be covering:

Basic Life Support
The emergency trolley
Venepuncture
IV Fluids
Tracheotomies
Suctioning
O2 Therapy
Spirometry & Peak Flow
Catheterisation

This is just for our first semester for our practicals, so I'm not too sure what we will be covering after Christmas! 
But hopefully that gives you some indication of what us as learning disability nurses can cover and will need to know.  Every university is different and will teach their own courses in their own way. But we all need to cover what the NMC states as minimum standards for when you graduate.
The pre-education standards for nursing education are available here on the NMC website. Scroll down to page 31 where you can find those specific to learning disability nurses. 
There is a big difference in what each field is learning, but we all still have our evidence based practice lectures together which cover research and why we need to keep up to date with our training and our reading as we progress through out our careers. 
It is great being back, but we already have our first assignment titles, our exam periods for next year and what it is we need to be focusing on!

On the up side however,

I have my ticket for Positive Choices!
There are a few of us going from my university from the different years of the learning disability course.  So I am really looking forward to going. Some have even booked their flights and accommodation already! So it will be good to see some of you there and put a face to the names of those who have emailed and tweeted me etc.  
So I will be looking out for you there!

I am also officially a member of my nursing society committee too so I am already being kept very busy. A lot of it this year is about being an amazing juggler, so much so I should maybe take up a role in the circus.  As I have mentioned previously, I am a member of St John Ambulance. So I have been keeping up with that as well.  That has taught me a great deal that I may not cover in university or that I will. 
So it is great revision, if nothing else a lot of good fun out on duties and always surprising people when they see a woman driving an ambulance (!) Yes...I still see some shocked faces at that - in 2015! 

Hope everyone is loving their courses so far and keep up that hard work. You know how hard you have worked so far to get where you are.