Mentors

One of the biggest apprehensions I had when starting clinical practice, aside from my lack of clinical skills, was the relationship I would have with my mentor.  I didn’t identify this as a concern during the application and interview process.  It wasn’t until the first day of my course when we were discussing our hopes and fears in groups that it seemed to be a recurring theme. 

I hadn’t really considered it until this point.  Not that I was completely naive – at no point did I think I would be left alone to deliver a baby, I just didn’t then rationalise this would mean working with a midwife.  Or that there was a chance we wouldn’t get along. 

Mentors; guiding the way

Not to boast, but I am quite a likable person.  I have over 300 friends on Facebook I’ll have you know! Of course there are certain people who I would choose to spend my time with, but there aren’t many people I can’t have, at least a working relationship with.  So, you can probably understand why I was confused as to why all my new classmates were so worried about meeting their mentor.

As far as I was concerned, midwives have to be nice, right?  It's part of the job description surely.  Why was everyone so intimidated by them?  However, as the induction process continued, I started to get more and more fixated on this as yet faceless person who I would be shadowing. 

The lecturers made us aware that are mentors would be watching us from the very moment we started working with them.  If that sentiment isn’t enough to send shivers down your spine, I don’t know what is.  We heard phrases like assessment, grading, cause for concern, and very little about the nurturing and guiding relationships I have come to know from my mentors. 

For that is what mentorship is all about.  True, they are marking your performance and assessing you against set criteria, but they are also moulding and shaping you into a midwife of the future.  Each midwife works in a slightly different way, and as a student you have the unique opportunity to soak up all these styles and create your own from the best of each.  I know for a fact that I still carry out my postnatal checks in exactly the same way as my first community mentor.

Learn from them you will

It is also important to consider what it must be like for the midwife to be followed around by the questioning and scared novice you will undoubtedly be as a first year.  And still as a third year, come to think about it.  Everything that you do, they are accountable and responsible for.  That is a lot of trust for them to have in someone they have only just met.  Perhaps they should be more scared of the students than the students are of them!

As I am nearing graduation, I have been thinking a lot about the sort of mentor I will be.  I hope I am half as good as the mentors I have had throughout my training.  See you next week.

Heroes

Beware of Syler!

Let it be known, if I fail my degree, it is all because of Netflix.  My latest obsession is the 2006 hit show, Heroes.  Most of the time I have been completely lost as it jumps around in time and location but it got me thinking about the notion of heroes.

We all can think of at least one person who has inspired us, someone who we consider to be a hero.  Be it a prominent person from history, a family member, a friend or a teacher.  The most recent person who has inspired me was a community midwife: my mentor on my first ever placement.  She was so knowledgeable, calm, kind and passionate - every day I was able to work with her was an honour.  I couldn’t imagine I would ever be able to advise and support women with the skill she possessed.  She was born to be a midwife.

In my humble opinion, all midwives are heroes.  We enter women’s lives at a monumental time, often

Our new uniform policy

when women are extremely vulnerable.  With the skills and knowledge we have at our fingertips we bring new life into the world, encourage, comfort and educate.  Even though we don’t wear our pants on top of our trousers, women will always remember how we made them feel and the care we gave them.  We are trusted to be advocates for women and their babies and to have this responsibility is a privilege.

So, I have concluded, we don’t necessarily need to have super powers to be super heroes.  See you next week!

Another assessment complete :)

Happy weekend everyone!

I'm once again sat at my desk (with back to sunshine ignoring the warmth) playing with my final essay. I am planning to submit on Tuesday so I have a busy long weekend ahead of me.

I have had a really lovely week of placement, which involved a good mixture of ward management and being allocated my own set of patients to look after. It has been refreshing to work so closely one on one with the same patients for a full 13.5hr shift, as I have then been able to handover my patients to the following staff and be able to answer questions about them off the top of my head. It really doesn't feel long now until I finish!

I had my intermediate (midway) assessment with my mentor on Wednesday, which you will find happens on every placement. It is a good opportunity to discuss how you are finding the experience and progress you are making. You also are required to grade yourself on where you think you are at, as well as your mentor grading you. This is quite an interesting thing to see whether you are over or under estimating your abilities! My mentor graded me an A- which I am absolutely thrilled about, so I hope to work on this before my final assessment and bump it up maybe to an A.

Relaxing day at Wrest Park-15min drive from Luton

I managed to sacrifice an essay writing day yesterday for a day out with my partner just relaxing and switching off. I think I needed it as I woke this morning and have been rather more productive than usual! You really do need to take time out to recharge once in a while!

So yes...in 4 weeks and 6 days time (not that I am counting) I will be on my last ever day of placement. I will be meeting with my personal lecturer the day before to get the OK on my nursing portfolio, and hope to submit that along with my assessment from this placement the day after placement finishes. The day this happens, I will have eight weeks off ahead of me. A number of these are consolidation which is used for assignment and examination redo's, but any student who has completed all of their work and all of the hours required on placement can just sit back and await their final degree grade. I will spend some of the time revising a number of things in preparation for my new job, but I am determined to have the most laid back summer ever! I wont ever get that much time off to myself again...until retirement maybe?!

All of the other students in my class have either been offered a job or are in the process of applying for jobs. The hospital I am currently working at had their maths/drugs calculation tests last week and for those who pass the test will be interviewed over the next week or so. Some are considering further studies, and I have heard a few contemplating applying for a further year of study for a Masters at the University of Bedfordshire.

It is all a rather exciting time for us all, as once this next essay is in we officially have no more assignments due in. The end really is in sight!

Have a lovely weekend all!

Emma x

Happy Sunny Sunday!

Hi All!

Well as you can see outside it is gloriously sunny! (apologies for those who are not experiencing the sunshine). I am fortunate to have a long weekend off which I feel is being a rather productive one.
I submitted my degree project on Friday and am a bit dubious about how I have done but hey, you can only try your best. I went into town to get my work printed and bound and am rather glad to have saved the document as both a Word and PDF document as the Word version at the printers was different to mine so the layout was completely wrong. Thank you PDF!
I had told myself that yesterday I would be getting on with my next uni work but the sunshine got the better of me (and the BBQ). So this morning I was at the computer at 8.30am to type up my plan and get it emailed over to my lecturer to review before I continue writing the essay. It is due in mid-June but luckily the University has organised for us to be on 30hr working weeks on placement until it is due, so bit of a relief!

The last week at placement has flown by, especially as I was only in for two long days. Five weeks down with eight left to go...quite scary! I have had the privilage of being closely involved in one patients' care for the past few weeks who has really touched me. Throughout your training and career you will meet people who somehow really move you and cause you to go home with them in mind. Don't get me wrong, I care for all of the people I came into contact with, but sometimes just a random thing can touch you such as the way they talk reminds you of your own loved one, or even their family unit can remind you of your own. Sometimes someone affects you so much but you just don't know why. This patient in particular hit a nerve I think as sometimes things happen and it appears completely unfair, and sometimes you feel for them as they just never seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But despite feeling how unfair it is on them, I also feel glad I could have been there for them also. Caring and compassion are essential qualities of anyone going into nursing, but sometimes because of these qualities you have you may find it difficult to not take certain emotions home. I can't say I appreciate my own life more due to others suffering, but I now see that every day is precious, and you have to make the most of it. I find in situations where you feel particularly moved or emotional it is good to talk to people such as your mentor as they can listen, understand and usually tell you an experience they had years ago of a patient who equally moved them and they have never forgotten. We are also encouraged to write reflections to learn from these expereriences, and I guess this post could be described as one of these.
So that is me for another week. Go outside and enjoy the warmth....they say the weather is the subject most discussed by the British so go on, go and relax :)

Talk to you next week
Em x




Stephen Sutton


On another note, I believe this young man deserved a mention as he has done such good in his life and moved so many. Rest In Peace Stephen

Reality hits

Morning all!
 

Well, Christmas is just around the corner with just 16 days to go. The temperature has dropped, jack frost has started to make an appearance on the car windscreen and it is now a treat to see sunlight with my shifts starting before sunrise and finishing after sunset. But I can't complain, have a long weekend off to catch up with uni work and life a bit :) Feeling slightly less festive this year as resorted to doing all of my Christmas present shopping online rather than tackling town, but once this placement has finished i'm looking forward to donning my reindeer antlers and get into the spirit of the season.

So...this past week. I have had three long shifts at the hospital, 8weeks down, two to go. I also had a day working alongside the hospital's outreach team visiting poorly patients who the wards felt required extra input. Throughout this placement I have worked alongside a variety of healthcare professionals including the Parkinson's nurse specialist, discharge officer and endoscopy team. In my first year I felt quite nervous in approaching various teams and relied on my mentors to suggest people to work with, who also helped me in contacting them and arranging dates. But as time has progressed my confidence has built and I have realised that you really do need to embrace these opportunities as you will not have the chance to just take time out to observe when qualified. All wards have lists of contact numbers for each team, so there is no harm in asking your mentor whether it would be possible. Some teams may only take on third year students due to their specialist area, but there is no harm in trying. In year one I went to observe a post mortem and did not know what to expect, but in the end I found that the team in the mortuary were one of the most helpful friendly of anyone I had come across, and as I seem to learn better by seeing rather than writing, I found anatomy-wise it very useful.

 

On Thursday my class and the class 6months ahead of us were invited to attend a final year preparation session. This is where reality hit. We discussed how this current placement would be preparing us for our management placement, and management placement would then in tern be preparing us for being qualified nurses come September. During management we would be expected to assist and support 'younger' students, to be involved with the patient's full experience from admission to discharge, and to assist in the running of the ward. We also spoke about applying for jobs starting around next May time, and what the recruitment process within that hospital would be like. Preceptorship was also mentioned, which if you have not heard of this yet-it is the period of time after qualifying that you work alongside another mentor wherever you end up working to receive support in being confident in all areas of nursing until you can work independently. So basically in four months time I will be on my management placement, and five months until the jobs start appearing. Where is the time going?!

One thing I must say is when you do start your placements, don't worry about knowing everything. Yes, there is a lot to take in, but every area will have its own ways and own specialist area to focus on. You will not be expected to finish year 3 and know everything about every condition and every wound dressing or surgical procedure. So don't panic! Just take as much out of each placement as you can.

Well, on that note I am off to hunt for some more research for my degree project (the exciting life I do live at the moment!). It may be the last Christmas I have off for a while so want to get as much done beforehand so I can enjoy some much needed rest and catch up time with friends and family.

Will see you next time :)