Phase 1 - Complete!

Apologies for the long gap in updating you all!

But that's my first phase of university done. The last two weeks have been a little mad. 

We had our presentation and exam to do, then found out in our tutorial we had to prepare another presentation. Just to keep us on our toes! 

So yesterday I had a presentation, an assessment and then an exam. It has been rather manic these last two weeks getting together with my group and then revising and preparing things as well as sorting out an order I had done for everyone. So it's been a busy couple weeks. But I've thoroughly enjoyed it! 

I hae been in touch with my placement and I have organised my hours with them and if I need to wear uniform or not. I have collected that last week and I have collected my name badge. I have my fob watch and I have a little notebook to put in my tunic pocket as well. So I'm all organised. I'm just going shopping on the weekend to get some food in for lunches while I'm on placement. 

It's has gone so quick it's unbelievable. I have learnt so much already and there's a lot more to come!

It has seemed so stressful but so worth it. I'm still awaiting my score on our presentation but for my exam i got a first so im happy as whoever Larry may be with that!

It has gone so quick and it is worth noting, revise as you go. It soon sneaks up on you all those deadlines that you have and what you need to do to keep organised.  University has had such an impact on a lot of people and it is sad when we see people having to leave to return next year due to unforeseen circumstances.  However, as it has gone so quick you do need to take everything on board and a little more. 

Make the most of it as I am sure before I know it, I will have finished first year! (Thinking positive) 

I start placement on Monday so I am sure that will be eye-opening.  I cannot wait.  A few people are a little nervous and dont know what to expect. This in itself is to be expected, especially if you have not had any sort of care experience before. It can seem a little daunting.  But you do have staff on placement to help you as well as the university staff.  So if you do struggle with anything, all I can say is make the most of the help available to you.  That's the good thing about doing a nursing course. The staff and others know that you're human. You can only do so much and you can only cope with so much. To have that support there is fantastic.  

So here I am, looking forward to another 6 weeks of work on placement, completing my portfolio and making sure I can get my skills and competencies ticked off. I have been told to read up on anything I am interested in and asking if i can observe and assist in procedures if I feel I am confident enough to do so. So there is my homework for placement! 

I am going to be trying to do as much as I can when i can and make the most of the 6 weeks. As if the last 6 weeks (7 if you include induction week) are anything to go by, I expect it to fly in. 

Good luck to everyone submitting applications, it is stressful and even more stressful waiting and not knowing.  But that in itself is a learning curve for you and how you cope under pressure and waiting for such a long time.  So make the most of the free time you do have. It is a luxury when you get any at university! 

Ignorance is not bliss.

So only a few more weeks to go until induction.
I've been trying to get my blog out there and make and more people aware of the learning disability branch of nursing. Especially when I am still seeing articles of health care professionals (hcp's) not understanding or even trying to, those with a learning disability. It has to be one of the most annoying things that those who are meant to be trained and work following the 6 c's of nursing ignoring all that?
In the past week I've had 2 very recently qualified adult nurses talk about how l.d is all community and how we don't do anything clinical and how we can't do iv's and we can't take blood and we can't do x, y and z.
It shows that even the most recently trained of nurses can still be ignorant. I have been told communicating isn't hard and how l.d is not a hard subject.
It does take a lot for me to not bite people's heads off at such things! In the years I've worked with people with l.d and the hcp's that liaise with them I've seen appalling communication! Talking to me and not the individual, pretending to understand then looking to me for clarification, just simply nodding and agreeing, hoping that the individual may stop talking. Constantly asking other hcp's for help when the person may be showing a behaviour that may challenge.
The list can go on and on.
Yet it is the carers and the health care professionals that work with the individual on a frequent basis that will know most about that person. And there are many conditions that people with learning disabilities have that many people have not heard of. All of this needs to be publicised more and to give those with a learning disability a bigger voice. There is only so much the parents or carers can do. They need the likes of learning disability nurses to assist them, to enable them to look after the individual to their best ability. They want the public to know more, the doctors, the nurses, the psychologists, the speech and language team, everyone needs to be made more aware.
Learning disabilities are not going to go away. They won't diminish and they certainly will not stop happening.
If you're scared there's not going to be a job at the end of the degree, don't be.
People are living longer, they're living fuller and sometimes riskier lives. People are having children later on in life, people may experience medical trauma. All of the above and more can contribute as to why someone may have a learning disability. And these people need qualified knowledgeable professionals to help and assist in their care.
Learning disability nurses can deal with newborn babies, premature, and inutero.  They can deal with children and adults. Learning disabilities do not discriminate with age. They can affect anyone. So in being a learning disability nurse you are experiencing a wide age range. A variety of people. And that makes you just as qualified as any other branch.

Why Learning Disability Nursing?

I suppose when most people ask me why learning disability nursing, i always reply “Why not?” 

It isn’t something most people think of when they think of nursing. Or a field that people may think needs specialised nurses. But the reality is that as we live longer, as we progress in medicine, as we find new cures and new medications, as we advance as we species, there will be new diseases, new learning disabilities and new immunities. 

And there are many, many people that have learning disabilities. It may be mild, they may be very high functioning in that they lead a reasonably independent life. Or it may be that they have such profound learning disabilities that the individual needs care with every aspect of their daily life. And for that reason, i want to help shape the care of the future for those with learning disabilities.

                                             

It is important to recognise the difference between learning disabilities and learning difficulties.

A learning difficulty doesn’t affect general intelligence (IQ) whereas a learning disability does.

Examples of learning difficulties may be dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD.

Learning disabilities on the other hand do affect IQ. And generally to be identified as having a learning disability, three criteria need to be met. These are; early onset (presenting before aged 18 years) ; intellectual impairment and social or adaptive dysfunction.

(Please see BILD for more information)

I recently posted that the reason for me going into learning disabilities is to make a difference. To be more than just an advocate, but to show people that those with learning disabilities need to be included, not secluded. And this is enforced in my mind every day.

I work with adults with learning disabilities, and i have done for the past 4 years. i originally started out as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities. This was after i went out to America to work in a special needs camp. Hands down the best summer of my life!

Well worth doing if you ever have the chance. I met some amazing people, it helped shape me as a person and cemented my career goals and aspirations for working with people who need that care and support.

Anyway, i digress.

Working as a support worker i was able to see how those with learning disabilities function day to day. How they integrate within their local community. How they achieve the most monumental of feats due to support, education and assistance.

I then started to be interested in the ‘what happens next?’

Its okay for people to see the day to day functioning, but what happens when someone with a learning disability is admitted to hospital? How do health professionals monitor health? Especially in those with communication difficulties?

I then began working in end of life care, to gain insight into the more clinical side of care. To see what is needed for people in such vulnerable positions. This was eye opening. I worked with people in their own homes who chose to return there from a hospice or hospital setting. And i loved it. Not many people can work with those who need such terminal care, and some may say it takes a special kind of person. But i, myself, would have remained doing that work for a lot longer than i did. But i needed to progress in my career!

So then onwards to working in a day centre facility with adults with learning disabilities. Some have been attending for years, some months and some only weeks. Some are making the transition from child services to adult services. This again, has been another way for me to see yet another side of the care and support that adults with learning disabilities receive. It is a fascinating job and it is utterly amazing the work the staff do. Everything is monitored from weight, hearing, eyesight, communication, to completing goals and tasks to enable someone to write their own name, to choose their lunch independently, to being able to go to zumba classes or even scuba diving!

The work that goes on in a day centre is massively undervalued. When i have worked in supported living (which i still do), i have met staff that will say they dont know what the staff in day centres do. Or why are they so nosey ringing up all the time? Or why do they get paid loads for doing nothing? The list goes on. But what some of these people fail to realise is that all those involved in the care of an individual need to work together. They need to utilise their abilities to communicate and do so! And by doing so it improves the individual’s quality of life, their care and their task learning.

So from here i now go to university (again) in September.

I get to learn more about the care of those with a learning disability and hopefully get to make a difference to someone, even if it is merely helping them put a shoe on. It is the littlest of things that can sometimes make the biggest of differences to a person.

After all, isn’t that what nursing is about?

What Are Nurses?

Nurses Are Advocates...

I absolutely love this video. 
It's touching, honest and most of all heartwarming. 

And another one that says more than words could...

NURSING. It is what we do, who we are and why we love our job!

Nurses Week

So it’s just been nurses week ..May 6th to May 12th…and i am fortunate enough to know a few nurses (family and family friends).

So all the thanks for the job they do as well as helping me through my application went out to them last week!
Honestly do not know where i’d be without their guidance, help and support. I keep waking up every day with a smile on my face that i am lucky enough to get onto a nursing course that i have been dreaming of first time round.
Now i’m not sure how many of you reading will know the history of nurses, but i am sure you have all heard of Florence Nightingale. There is more than enough information out there about her and her amazing work. And if it wasn’t for that incredible woman, who knows how the education of nurses would have turned out. Luckily enough it has turned out from being a nursing training scheme that she established, to later on nursing diplomas and now to nursing degrees. Nursing has long been a profession that has been overlooked and sometimes ridculed for the ‘bum-wiping’ and the ‘talking to patients’. It is a shame that some people do not and may never see the hard work that goes into becoming a nurse, maintaining that education and role as well as the hard work that goes into looking after patients. Now, for anyone that has ever worked in health care, i believe this is no news to you. But for those who haven’t, talking to a patient and carrying out personal care are 2 basic needs of any person that needs to be met. If that was you, would you like to be left to fend for yourself when you know you cant?
There are many many nurses out there, some more famous than others, who have helped to shape the health care system into what it is today. There are many nurses out there who have set an example, who have mentored students, who have spoken at conferences amongst many other things. And it is these nurses who may go unrecognised nationally for their contributions, that need to be thought of and need to thanked.
I am not going to give you a massive historical blurb about nursing. I’m sure you can find that out if you dont know already!
But what i do want to get across is that nursing is a profession that is not because ‘you are a failed doctor’ or because you weren’t clever enough (yes these are comments nurses STILL get today) it is a profession because you care. Because you want to have the patient contact, because you want to make a difference, because you want to help look after people and to ensure that their care is person centered to them.
It is a vocation, a profession, an education and above all, it is part of who you are as a nurse. Nursing doesn’t define you. You define nursing. By going into work every day, whether it is full time, part time or even on placement as a student nurse, you are leading by example. You are shaping the future of nursing. Every day. And that should make you proud to call yourself a nurse.