Occupational Health

Last week I had my occupational health appointment at the university.
Luckily I started my hepatitis b course back in March as I knew I'd need it. I got this free through work, but if you go to your doctor sometimes they make you pay for each injection. But the hep b course is 3 injections. You have your first one, then another a month later, then another one five or so months later. You can have the accelerated course which takes place over 3/4 months.
I was due my last injection this week so it's has fallen quite good! So I had my injection, then the nurse then checked over my hands, arms and elbows to look for any skin conditions that could be irritated by frequent hand washing. I was asked a few questions to ensure what I had put on my form hadn't changed. Then i was done! Now i have an appointment in a few weeks to have a blood test to see if the Hep B course has worked.  This will test my immunity and see if i may need a booster.
So now it's just waiting until we start.
I had my last day at work on Friday which was a little sad but also a very good day knowing I'm moving onto something I've wanted to do for years now. Work were lovely and so supportive of my leaving to do nursing.  It's nice to have that support around you. I think it makes such a difference.  I was given flowers, a gift card, a bottle of wine and a card. I got many hugs from the students (service users of the facility) and many requests to come back and visit! So im hoping i can pop back in and keep them up to date with how things are going.
It's exciting knowing I'm about to embark on a new chapter in life that is the beginning of my career. The anticipation is amazing. But I'm sure In a few months after I'm so tired from working and revising my mood may be a little different! But I have this blog to look back on and to remind myself of just why im doing this and how hard it's been to get here.
Reflection is something you have to learn to do, and do well, for your course. So a blog is ideal. Of course I didn't start this blog primarily for that, but for the gap I've noticed in the wealth of information that is out there.
Despite trawling books, blogs, journals, Internet site after site and asking many people, there isn't a great deal of information relating to learning disability nursing. I can only hope that this blog is informative and can help others in deciding what branch they want to go and study and practice in. People do change their minds and life paths change, sometimes due to reasons beyond our control. However, after being in this field for the past 4 years I can say it's something I love doing and enjoy going to work. Not waking up with that dreaded 'Monday feeling' is great!

Enrolment - Part 2

So i've now enrolled online and keep checking my university emails.

Enrolling was pretty straight forward, follow a step by step system of inputting names, addresses, emergency contacts and how to pay your fees. As i am doing a nursing course this is currently still funded by the NHS, so i don't have to worry about fee payment. 

That does make me feel a lot better as going from a full time salary to a small bursary is difficult.  I have been budgeting since i knew i was successful in gaining a place. 

Feels weird now having to do that, after graduating 5 years ago it's beginning to feel like another lifetime. 

So much has happened since then. And it does sound so clichéd but time definitely seems to go quicker as you get older!

And now it is enrolling down at the university. Since i have organised our study and all my paperwork, all my certificates, from my GCSE's to training at work, are all in one folder. This meant i could take the folder down to university and let them have a look and see the originals. TIP: Never lose any certificate you are ever given as even years down the line they may be needed! I completed my GCSE's over 10 years ago and i still have them and still need them!

Enrolment is fairly straight forward, it's remembering to bring everything with you. 

Your university will tell you what is needed, in terms of ID, certificates, if you need to bring a photo or if they take one on the day (don't turn up hungover looking worse for wear!).

We had our photo taken and our certificates checked.  We were then measured for our uniform and had to pay for that (remember the cheque book) and then through to confirm our enrollment.  We had to go through our details and ensure we had certificates if they were needed. From this, through to yet another room to get our photo taken for our student card. 

It was all very straight forward and the staff helping us out were students at the university so we knew we were in good hands! After that we were given a time for our occupational health check by the university. This is next week. I don't know exactly what they are going to do but i can't imagine it being much different from my occupational health check for work. But i am sure i will let you all know! 

So now i have my student card that says i am a nursing student, i have my timetable (this is posted online) and i have my uniform ordered. Seems to be getting very real now!

I also have gone down to the library and being a little ahead of everyone else got a few books out :D 

Only because i know once we have our reading lists everyone will be straight to the library to get them out or to buy them. So through research i have taken out the basic ones which i had taken out a while back (mentioned in a previous post).  

Now its stationery and bag buying time! 

Enrolment - Part 1

So in the last few days i've received my welcome pack from university as well as my starter pack. 

Its starting to make it feel a little bit more real now, although i don't think its really going to sink in until i get my student card and im sat in our induction lecture. 

Our welcome pack detailed when to enroll online and what to do. It gave us our university email address (time to start using that to get student discounts!) and information about what is happening in Welcome Week, which is also listed on their Facebook pages. 

These were sent out to all students, and the starter pack is individual to our school. 

For example, as i am doing Learning Disability Nursing i am part of the School of Nursing. 

So then our starter pack has been sent out detailing uniform times, enrolment times, our welcome week timetable and what to do for occupational health. 

So we have to log online to start our online enrolment, fairly straightforward and our welcome pack details how to do this. 

And then from there we attend our enrolment appointment at the university.  This is where i have to take evidence of all my previous qualifications, which should be fun trying to find them all and putting them all together.  Luckily i'm fairly organised anyway but after moving they are all still packed in a box somewhere! 

And once enrolment and our uniform is sorted we then need to attend an appointment for occupational health.  Once that is done we can then look forward to Welcome Week!

Welcome Week is the infamous Fresher's Week at most universities.

The university organises events for everyone to settle in and get to know one another.  During this week your school will also organise for you to go to induction lectures to give you your timetables, module information and your tutorial groups etc.

This is usually a time where everyone is feeling just as nervous as you probably are and everyone is in the same position.  

Luckily, today we have social networking sites where people can get to know one another a little before they meet at university. At the risk of sounding somewhat old, when i first attended university Facebook, Twitter etc weren't really up and running as such then and i went to university completely blank. I didn't know what to expect, who was going to be there and what was going to happen.  But i put myself out there and purposely went and knocked on other flat doors in the halls of residence i was in. This way i was able to meet people and l made some good friends this way. 

I can start my online enrolment next week (this is earlier than other students as nursing and midwifery students start earlier and we also are at university longer during the academic year).

It still doesn't feel massively real but it is exciting and unbelievably exhilarating knowing i have gotten this far.  

Work hard and you can achieve anything.