Nerve wracking week........

Interview at the local hospital this Saturday coming. Have been shopping for a suit and have been reading around current issues in nursing and the NHS is an attempt to feel prepared! However, no amount of reading is going to make me feel confident about Saturday!
The interview process starts at 9am and finishes at 3pm......first off we have a maths calulation exercise followed by some group work on a sceanrio and finishing with a 1 to 1 interview. To be honest, as much as I'm nervous I am excited! Hopefully this ends well and by the end of next week I will know if they are going to offer me a post as a Staff Nurse! However, roll on Saturday evening, I think I will be rewarding myself with a few glasses of wine!

Just an update on my dissertation, I am now writing up my findings and discussing my themes. Every word, sentance, paragraph and chapter is painful and slow, BUT I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and I know I will be proud as punch once it's printed off, bound and handed in! :)

I will be back to post again in the next few days with news on my management placement and to say how Saturday went! Wish me luck peeps! :)

And I thought I had February to concentrate on my dissertation......

Wowsers! The weeks seems to be passing by in the blink of an eye and my 'to do' list keeps growing and growing!
So following the celebration of good results, I honestly thought I had some time to concentrate  on my dissertation before my final 2 modules need attention! How wrong was I??

Extra job 1) One of the modules involves a group of students teaching a 3 hour seminar each week. Our group is first up! So we have lots of work to do on accountability and delegation. We have decided to compose some sort of game based on scenario's where we can look at both aspects of our topic. For the 2nd half of our session we are going to hold a debate. All in all, this is eating into my timetable much more than I anticipated that it would.

Extra job 2) So we were visited by the recruitment team from our local trust. Fab session...the trust has so much to offer a newly qualified nurse, with a great preceptorship programme! Great! So we all need to apply....closing date in 2 weeks! Arrghhhh! Interviews planned for the end of the month! Argghhhh! So, Personal statement to write and interview preperation to consider.

I've written my personal statement and I'm really happy with how it reads. Just really hope the interviewer can hear my passion and eagerness when they read it! Fingers crossed I get short listed and get the chance to show how enthusiastic I am in an interview!

I need to re-plan my time so I don't feel like I'm drowning in jobs! 6 weeks left until my dissertation is due in so I really need to make this a priority.

I shall keep reading and researching current nursing issues and I shall have to have a good think about my own strengths and weaknesses so I am prepared for interview, alongside dissertation writing. Busy busy!

Just remembered, job 3) I need to buy a suit and practice my handshake!!

But the end is in sight.....6 months to go!! :) :)

3rd Year, Semester 1, Results Day......

So thrilled, excited and proud to say that I passed all 3 modules with 2 A's and a B+. Have felt in a bit of a daze all day because I had convinced myself I would get a resit for the Medicines Management OSCE! Never did I think I would get an A!

So my overall average at the moment is 71.5....this means if I can keep it up I could possibly finish my degree with a 1st! However, that said a 2:1 would be just as amazing! 

In other news, my friend and I have been busy working on our Dissertation....it's all coming along nicely. I'm actually enjoying writing it, you learn so much about your chosen topic area. The hardest part was constructing a decent research question but once you've got that the rest seems to fall into place. 

So, 2 more modules and the dissertation to conquer, 12 weeks on management placement and that's it....3 years training done and dusted! I'm allowing myself to get excited now....feel like I've survived the worst part of the year and I'm now on the home straight!

Feel so excited for the future right now! Can't take the smile off my face today! :)

Dissertation Underway......

3 days into working on my dissertation and I've already lost the will to live! After changing my research questions umpteen times since September.....I thought I was finally happy with my decision but who would have thought finding research studies would be so flippin' hard?!?!?

We use the databases all the time to write assignments, but for some reason I can just not find what I need! It's driving my nuts!

Hence why I am updating on here....I'm hoping a little break and 10 minutes distraction will clear my mind and I can return to searching with fresh eyes! :)

On a side note.....went into uni yesterday to hand in hours and competencies for my last placement. My link lecturer had a look at my feedback and praised how well I had done in a difficult placement. She asked if I had thought about applying for a job there....I told her I thought I should get some experience on the wards before heading into ED, as this is what I have been advised previously. Her response...."that's an old fashioned view, get stuck in, no reason why your first post shouldn't be ED".......this has now got me thinking.....what to do? What to do? Argghhhhhh! Think I will wait to see where I end up for my management placement....see how I get on and go from there. Who knows where I will be this time next year?

Anyway, must get back to research! :(

2014 Comes to an End.......

Lot's to catch up on.....have not posted in so long as the first semester of the 3rd year has been what I can only describe as INSANE!! I honestly think the semester was designed to either make you or break you! Thankfully, I'm still standing and marching onwards! :)

So, a quick recap of what has been going on since September........

• Assessment - Presentation. I did this on the role of the Health Visitor. I feel it went really well and the time I spent with the Health visitors on placement really helped me to put together a thorough presentation. I actually enjoyed presenting much more than I thought I would.
• Assessment - 3000 word essay on Using Evidence and Making Decisions. Didn't really enjoy writing this essay....really enjoyed the taught content however, found it really difficult to pull all the information together in a way that fitted the marking criteria for the essay! 
• Safe Medicate - 100% First time!! Fabulous! :)
• OSCE - Practical Medication exam. Drugs I was tested on: Nitrofurantoin, Paracetamol, Bisocodyl and Sodium Valporate. Didn't go too badly but I totally forget to talk about the cautionary labels for Bisocodyl!! Resit in February!! Nevermind.....I now know these drugs inside out! :)

Results due in at the end of January......Hopefully the only resit I will have will be the OSCE! :)

So on to placement. Have just spent the past 10 weeks in the Emergency Department. Absolutely loved every minute. Was totally exhausting but I learned so much that the 12 hour shifts whizzed by! A few highlights include:

• Taking part in CPR.
• Mastering the art of chin thrusts to maintain an open airway.
• Triage of patients in Majors - Learning to ask the right questions!!
• Lots of time spent in Resus - invaluable experience of gaining confidence in recognising  a deteriorating patient.
• Great mentor.....she had loads of time for me and enthusiasm.....makes such a difference to a placement!

Back to the current day.....Enjoying the Christmas holidays with my lovely family! I know this time is precious....next year I am sure I will be working over the festive season so adjustments will need to be made! 

Plan for the next few weeks ahead.......knuckle down to my dissertation. 12 weeks till the deadline!! Arghhhhh! Only in uni one day a week so going to have to be strict with myself and treat every day as a working day so I'm not scrabbling around towards the deadline trying to finish this 10000 word essay! ;-)

Anyway, as I bring this post to an end (It's New Years Eve....time to play some games with the kiddie-winks!).....I would like to wish everyone a fabulous New Year!! 2015....the year I (hopefully!) qualify as a Staff Nurse!! :):):):):)

First day of the last year.....

So today we had an introduction to the year and the modules we will be doing this year. All in all it's a majorly busy year but it seems like it is going to fly by! 2 placements left to do....can't wait to be a third year student nurse on the ward! I'm excited to progress and experience exactly what it's going to be like to be a staff nurse! 

It seems like group dynamics have changed quite a bit at uni, people appear so much calmer and more focused....like the realisation that this is it has hit....not much longer left in the security bubble of being a student! 

So, 7 weeks at uni ahead, in that time we have a presentation, Essay, Safe medicate and an OSCE to do then it's back on placement for about 9 weeks. 

Time is going to have to be well managed to fit everything in, but I'm ready and excited to crack on! 

Arrggghhhh....3rd year is sounding crazy already!......

Module guides have been made available for the first semester of the last year! Eeeek! So between September and December we have an assignment, a presentation, a medicines OSCE and Safe Medicate exam to tackle....on top of placement an a dissertation! All sounds a little overwhelming but I know once I get stuck in it'll all come together....hopefully!

Am going to spend the next 4 weeks cracking on with my dissertation.....if I'm honest I'm actually quite eager to get stuck in!

After a lovely week with my hubby and kids in Tunisia I'm feeling refreshed and relaxed.....looking forward to booking another holiday for next July.....and by then I will hopefully be qualified!! Yay! :)