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Apologies for the probable slide in quality this week; am having an unexpectedly busy weekend and have had to squeeze a TWIM in. I probably should have dodged it, to be honest, but I wanted an excuse to use my shiny new laptop as something other than an expensive – if pretty – ornament. So, onwards. This Week in Mentalists – The Edition No-One is Going to Read Because They’re All Outside in the SunAnd if you are reading this…you may need to speak to someone about your internet addiction. Just sayin’ I started a new placement this week, on a ward that has a bit of a reputation. Now, many (most?) mental health wards have a reputation of some kind (“ohh, they’re so cliquey on there” being the most common complaint around here, although allegations of alcoholism/drug abuse/sexual deviancy are usually a close runner up) but this is one that strikes fear into the hearts of me and my colleagues: They once failed a student. This TWIM, I ‘ave mostly been eating… a Lindt Bunny*. Unfortunately they are very hard to eat with any dignity, so I look like a very happy toddler; yes, the brown stuff down my front is chocolate. And nothing related to the D&V outbreak at work. Anyway, onwards with the mentalism, which is a bit early this week as I realised today I have an irritatingly busy weekend. There’s some emotional stuff out there this week, including references to sexual abuse, so please proceed with caution… My guide to mental health nursing in secure services. Originally posted here. Ok, sorry for the delay in cross posting this, but my head has been up my bum for the last month. Anyway, I finally got round to removing the bits where I whinge about my life, so here is G to I, with J to L coming up soon. Probably. D to F in my somewhat tongue-in-cheek guide to secure MH services… Originally posted here. I’ve started a series of posts over on my blog. It’s a tongue-in-cheek (i.e. not actually intended to offend) ABC guide to secure mental health services, although many of the points will apply to other services I’m sure. Anyway, Z has bullied asked me to cross-post them here, so I am. BTW: My language, as always, tends towards the blue side. Be warned. Sunday, I had one of those odd conversations that only ever happen at 4am on a night shift. I thought I’d share the result. If you have ever wondered whereabouts in the pecking order your job role sits, there’s a fairly easy game you can play to figure it out. It’s called ‘how many [...] I’m almost certain something like this has been done before, but I can’t be bothered to trawl through the archives to check. So, here are a few of my thoughts on coming to the end of a placement on an acute ward. Well it’s been forever since I posted anything. Now, I have two essays due and posting seems like a fantastic idea. As does housework and the gym. Strange that.
Anyway, I’ve now had three ‘community’ placements ranging from primary care, through to elderly day centres and tagging along with a CPN.
So here are a few things I’ve learnt, about myself and the service. Hot on the heels of Z’s post below comes the news that applicants for nursing jobs are to face ‘compassion tests’ in some Trusts (Nursing Times 17-23rd March). Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust is apparently designing a tool to test applicants “on their compassion as well as their reasons for entering nursing”. So far, they’ve set up a day to observe how applicants act with each other in the apparent belief that those who help each other more are showing compassion. Personally, I think this just shows the ability to be professional and work in a team; I don’t have to have compassion for someone in order to help someone out, particularly when you know you’re being assessed. I really don’t know how they plan to measure this objectively. My mind was wandering during a session today (my mentor can be very waffly) and the following little scenario drifted into my mind. So I thought I’d share…. In the interests of research for MN, I asked 100 Staff Nurses* what the worst things some of their students had said were. These were the commonest complaints, in no particular order…. Possibly opening a political can of worms, but here goes.
Having considered the types of student the novice nurse will encounter at university, I thought it might also be helpful to examine the various types of lecturer that will attempt to teach you nursing type stuff during your course. Or at least the ones you’ll have to contend with if you choose to attend my Uni, anyway. Maybe everywhere else has normal ones like Beakie… |
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