good evening guys, so now its the end of the semester and also not only that but the end of second year, whewww. It’s been very stressful, i know i heard many people say that second year is the hardest and that’s very true, but with determination and hard work, it def pays off. So now for my personal insights:
Professional Experience 4
Tbh, this subject was interesting. Went on placement to the renal and mental health wards for a month, two weeks in each specialty and whilst i might say it was insightful still pretty much mediocre.
Mental health—> so this ward was really chill. I was in Older persons mental health and it was really quiet most of the shift. Learnt to conduct MSE’s and interact with the consumers . When i first heard i was going to the mental health wards, i was a bit worried because i wasn’t sure what to expect with unpredictable behaviours but i adjusted really well and it wasn’t that scary. It was important to maintain a judge free attitude and mindset when going into this environment and interacting with the consumers. But more importantly to be cautious as well because things can happen and can be violent so what i was introduced to on the ward was to carry a duress alarm at all times with me but tbh I really enjoyed it so much. It was such an insightful and great placement.
Renal/ Haemodialysis—> This was pretty much the same just with medical specialties, saw a mix of rheumatology, immunology and neurology as well which i didn’t expect to see in a renal ward because all i thought bout renal was kidneys but the ward i was on tied all specialties together. It was such a great placement because I was still taking patient loads and managing them, handling new admissions and paging doctors to chase up with meds, ordering new meds, making IVBAX, giving handover to night staff and just doing overall nursing duties that a normal RN would do on a daily shift. However didn’t see any wounds so minimal practice on wound dressings but thats okay. Personally when it comes to wounds I feel like it is so under looked in nursing school because apart from the mannequin practice that I had in our CPU’s at uni in first year, there has been minimal exposure to it and even in placements i expected to at least see many but have only come across three cases since starting this degree and i feel like thats not good. Wound management in nursing is big and it should be prominent in practice class. It is important just as we highly regard our vital signs. Bed sores , pressure injuries and IAD are more common than we think but maybe it might be the wards i have been exposed to thats why i think i have less experience in that field. OTHER specialties definitely have more exposures.
anyway apart from placement, finished all my osces and the threshold exams and done finally so now i can breathe. PPE4 is okay just a continuation of PPE3
Health Variations 2
so this subject was more about chronic conditions such as parkinson's disease or disability’s and was just tedious to study for because of the amount content to study. Studying all the pathophysiology if different diseases is tiring. Assessments : in class exam and two written assessments. overall 4/5 , it was a breeze to cruise through
Health Variations 3
One word to describe this subject: HARD so much study involved, had a threshold final exam, results still pending but sure I passed, anyway learnt about COPD, stroke, O2 therapy, CKD, ACS and many more, too much to remember for the final exam and having assessments too submit during placement did not help but all the same its finally completed. Overall 3/5
Promoting mental health and wellbeing
This was the best subject this semester hands down, really enjoyed it, tutor had interesting stories to tell us and the mental health placement i had helped consolidate my understanding in this subject. Loved it 5/5. Had group assignment to present, quiz and a written assignment.
so now that second year is finished, its a bit scary how fast time is flying by, because i literally remember starting this bachelor like it was yesterday and now here we are moving into our final year. It feels so surreal, and definitely comes by quick. The responsibility grows bigger as we progress through the PPE courses like PPE1, PPE 2 and so on,
in first year placement: minimal requirement is to take at least 1 patient load
second year placements: minimum is 2-3 patients per shift
Third year is: minimum 3-4 patients per shift
Taking a patient load basically means doing all cares for the patient under supervision of RN, doing notes,, showers ADL’s meds, etc etc. I think one thing that people may not know is that when going to placement at the hospitals, 1. the group you are in is appointed a clinical facilitator (usually someone who has 5 yrs+ experience as an RN to supervise you) and 2. you are examined on not like a written exam style but on certain things like giving medications, how you interact with patients, sometimes if you are lucky and have a great facilitator they a lenient and let go of small mistakes like handovers and stuff cuz for example we are supposed to follow an ISBAR style and when thats not done accordingly they can let you go , thats just an example of a small part of many things that we are tested on, if unlucky and have a bad facilitator they can make your placement a living hell, kinda like what i went through on my 1st sem 2nd yr placement but prefer to not put a lot of insight into it and just focus on the positive side of what i got out of that placement, another thing to consider is 3. the culture of the ward, not all nurses are nice, lots a mean and will test you but it is patience and resilience that help and if it becomes overbearing best thing would be to report. So these are certain insights that i personally didn’t realise before going into nursing and two years into it wanna lay some info for future people who might wanna pursue to consider these. Okay now done with my TED talk lmao 🤣
Next semester subjects are as follows
Professional Practice Experience 5
Indigenous Australian Health, Wellness and Culture
Health Variations 4- Acute Life Threatening Conditions
Health Variations 5- Palliative and End of Life Care
for now going to enjoy my holidays hahahah byeee , will update as usual
