Getting organised

This week I have been full of cold so have appreciated my bed when I can finally crawl into it.  It is usually when I settle down to sleep however, that I suddenly remember everything that the day’s events have put to the back of my mind, which is why I sleep with a notebook and pen close to hand.

I’ve always considered myself to be an organised person, but even with my colour coded diary, there always seems to be something that prevents me from sleeping until I have scribbled it down in the semi darkness. 

When you start university, you will be reminded that you are an ‘adult learner’ on an almost weekly basis.  This means the investment you make in your education is much greater than it ever was at school or college.  Although the tutors want you to pass and are incredibly supportive, there is no spoon feeding of information.  They will provide you with the basics so you are safe in practice, but if you want to get a good grade, then you have to be self motivated and put in a lot of work yourself. 

When you are a health care student, not only do you have written assessments such as essays and exams, you also have the added pressure of clinical placement and your practical assessments.  This all means organisational skills are key.  Below are some of my top tips;

Get a diary
I would be lost without my diary, which is covered in post-it notes and coloured tabs.  Along with black pens, a diary with plenty of room to write for each day is an essential purchase for any health care student. 

Early to bed, early to rise
Not only will you catch the early worm, but you will also be more productive and healthier!  Too many times I have tried to burn the candle at both ends, with a 05.30am alarm for an early shift and then staying up until the small hours.  The result was burn out.
 
Make lists
One of the simplest joys in life is to cross things off your to do list.  It is often a good idea to break things down to smaller tasks which are manageable rather than popping down ‘dissertation’ and then carrying it over from day to day.  

Plan your day, week and month
During busy periods I have been known to plan my day hour by hour, but that is just me!  It is important you have an overview of what your month looks like so you can book in time for my last point…

Remember to rest
There is such as thing as working too hard!  It is important you take time to slow down and enjoy a day off.  Go for coffee with a friend, watch a film, stay in bed until 1pm, take the dog for a walk, however you relax, but make sure it has nothing to do with your course.  Otherwise, it is very easy to get lost down the rabbit hole.

Hope that has been helpful. See you next week. 

On a final note, if you get a chance to watch Childbirth: All or Nothing on BBC iplayer, I recommend you do.  It makes very interesting viewing and has sparked debate within our cohort. 

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!

Back to Basics

Early in November last year I attended a Midwife Study Day in London about pre-eclampsia (hosted

APEC

by APEC).  Sandwiched between the morning coffee break and lunch was a presentation about the importance of accurately measuring blood pressure and urinalysis.  Now, I can’t have been the only person who was internally rolling their eyes.  These are skills we master in our first year of training, and I was surrounded by a wealth of experienced midwives practicing in a range of clinical practice areas.  Why had we travelled all this way to be taught a basic skill by an obstetric physician who, by their own admission, probably had a hundredth of the practical experience of the delegates?

But as I listened, I realised that for as much confidence I had in my ability to accurately measure blood pressure and the optimum conditions under which to do it, there were a number of details I had forgotten.  It is like learning to drive; when you are under instruction you diligently check every blind spot before starting off, you mentally chant “only a fool breaks the two second rule” to ensure you are travelling at a safe distance from the vehicle in front, you tell yourself, “it’s a speed limit, not a speed target”. But soon after you pass your test, and once you get over the initial thrill of flying (well,

Being a midwifery student is a bit like learning to drive

driving) solo, you start to cut corners, although not literally hopefully!  You quickly glance in your mirrors (and maybe over your shoulder) before you pull out into traffic, you get slightly closer to the slow moving car in front of you, well, the speed limit is 60 down that road!

It dawned on me as I sat in that air conditioned basement of a conference room, that I was guilty of doing the same thing in my clinical practice.  Not on the big things of course, I’m not confessing negligence.  Nor am I suggesting that I know everything – far from it.  However, as I reflected, I realised how my confidence in practice may also be limiting me.  Skills like taking a blood pressure I now do without thinking, whereas I used to listen intently for the quiet dub dub dub of the heart beat.  I used to excitedly pull my sterile gloves over my shaking hands as soon as the women first involuntarily pushed, thinking the baby was imminent, but now, I wait until I see the hair on the

Midwifery 101

baby’s head before I open the delivery pack!  How many times have you driven home and as you park, realise you have no memory of the journey? 

Don't get me wrong, confidence and familiarity is a good thing.  I would be worried if I still had the apprehensions and hesitations I did in my first year, and so would my mentors and tutors!  But on the other hand, I need to ensure the care I give is still as diligent and considered as it was when I was mastering the skill. So, as I continue with my final year of study, I have made a promise to turn my focus back to basics.

Well, hello to you!

Who wouldn't want to study here?

Welcome to my first blog.  I couldn't really think of an exciting way to introduce myself, so I thought I would do a short interview.

Name: Cat Cracknell

Age: 27

What are you studying at the University of Bedfordshire?
BSc Midwifery (Pre-Registration)

Why did you choose the University of Bedfordshire?
When I was applying via UCAS, I decided if I was applying to one university, I may as well apply to as many as I could.  My sister was studying at the University of Bedfordshire, so I thought I would apply here as well as she had had a good experience and liked the area.  The course structure and facilities available at UoB are also excellent and really made my decision very easy!

What did you do before your current course?
I have a degree in Drama from Loughborough University.  After I graduated, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do so I worked as a teaching assistant for a while before moving to London and working for the National Youth Theatre for two years.

We are all a little bit crazy!

Why midwifery?
Many of my family and friends work in the NHS in various roles.  I wanted a career where I could care for people but didn’t feel nursing was right for me.  I felt drawn to supporting women during their journey to motherhood.  I also thought I had the right personality and character strengths to be a good midwife.

What is your favourite aspect of your course?
I have the most fantastic job in the world! I have also made an amazing group of friends who share my sense of humour and support me through the ups and downs of being a student midwife.

What is the hardest part of your course?
It’s never nice when a tragedy occurs, but the support you receive as a student is second to none.  You also have the usual stresses of being a student, such as having no money, assignment deadlines, balancing work and having a life!  It is absolutely worth it though.

What is coming up in the next few weeks?

RCM

The dreaded dissertation writing! Our unit is also being visited by Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the RCM which is exciting.  Lots of new experiences for me to blog about…

So that’s me.  I am looking forward to blogging about the last few months of my course and hopefully give you an insight into life as a student midwife at UoB.  See you next week! 

A final farewell

Happy Weekend All!


Well, this is my last blog to you and I feel it has come along so much quicker than I had expected. It doesn't feel like long ago I was applying for this role and writing my welcome post, but here we are!

Firstly, I was hoping to have some good job news to write about today to tie up everything but unfortunately I am still awaiting news. I telephoned the contact for the vacancy on Tuesday and was told that they would be finalising the interview panel midweek so although I was hoping to hear by the end of this working week, at least it isn't bad news! The other position I applied for closes tomorrow so they kind of both are happening at the same time, I will just have to wait and see (I'm terribly impatient in these situations!)

I have started to pack up boxes and organise furniture to start the big move to Somerset with my partner hiring a van on Monday to get things going. We also need to spend a few days building our new Ikea flat pack furniture which could means make or break for us by other peoples account of the stress attached to such a task! Wish me luck!

I still have six weeks remaining leave and have a number of plans booked in. A final farewell to living within such easy access of London (we will be doing the complete tourist thing of tour bus and Harrods). I am also heading over to the Isle of Wight next weekend for the end of Cowes Week with fireworks and cocktails (again...hard life!). Other than a few things I am taking it as it comes. I have settled into the routine of running the family house making sure the housework is done and meals are cooked to take the burden off of my mum, and am spending quite a lot of time next door getting my grandparents' house ready for putting on the market, so I do have some uses.

Looking back now it feels like such a long time since I was in Uni and I guess it has been since my last lecture was back in March. I am also slightly nervous about starting work next month (if I can make a decision on a job that is) as I will be starting at a completely new Trust with new systems and ways of doing things. Not only this but after a few months off from practice I will suddenly be a staff nurse as opposed to a student which is huge!

Other students at the University have recently had their Graduation ceremonies, but we should hopefully be getting our invites for ours in November by the end of this month. It feels rather strange that I will be seeing all of my class/cohort next month for one day only, so this will both be a catch up and a good bye. I still don't know how I am feeling about this!

So yes...this is my final goodbye to you. By now you will know if you are coming to the University in September and if you are, enjoy! Make the most of your remaining time off this Summer (if you have time off that is) but I wish you every luck in the world for starting the course. Enjoy the highs, work through the lows and glory in the relief of submission dates!

Thanks for listening and Good Luck!

Em x

Welcome to my penultimate post!

Evening All!

Well, this is my last post but one and I am well into my summer leave (and rather getting into the swing of it!). I have had a rather chilled past week; gardening and sunbathing, cleaning, cooking, throwing away things prior to packing my life into boxes and general helping out around the house. All of my family are getting together next Sunday as an 'end of an era' kind of thing at my grandparents house prior to putting it on the market, so it may be the last time we all have the chance to get together. I am the youngest in my family and with me moving to Somerset, my sister living on the Isle of Wight and my mum planning to relocate at some point in the future, we will be all dotted around England so it could be rather difficult to find the time to see everybody. It's sad really as I grew up living next to my grandparents and in the same road as my cousins and we were all really close but things change, sometimes for the good and other times not so good.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, my Gran was part of the reason I applied for the nursing course and she died before I started, and my Grancher passed away earlier this year. Quite a number of other students also experienced tough times throughout the three years of study. Sometimes it was homesickness, sometimes illness to those close to them and other times loss of a loved one. On some of those occasions student's would leave the course to spend more time with their family, or look into re-joining the course at a later date. Others applied to have extensions on their work submission dates just to take a little time out. In one way I was luckier of having more time to come to terms with my grandfathers illness. I would spend time on placement then come home to help with housework to free up time for my mum to see him more. I had time to come to terms with what was happening and made a point of doing all work early as I couldn't predict what would happen. With many people there is no time to get ahead of the game so to speak.

The main thing is to know that when you start the course, there are always avenues at the University to help. There is a big team at the main campus who can assist with many issues, such as financial, extra support in study, etc. When it comes to something more personal such as a family issue the lecturers for nursing are there to support and can meet with you to discuss options such as an extensions with work. The main thing is to ask for the help before it gets too much and to know what options lay in front of you before making any sudden decisions. I hope nothing bad happens to you or your loved ones throughout the course but if you do need help, the Uni definitely can assist. 

I look back on my three years and can't see how I got to this point. I still see Facebook posts from other students I have met through placement who are in  a year below me writing about how tough things are and panicking about work and remember writing almost exactly the same things. We were told that from the end of Year 2 things would fly by and I shrugged that off, but trust me...it really does! The main thing to remember is you will need support at some point, so make sure you take time out for family, friends and uni mates too. They will all be going through the same thing, and everyone will have different strengths and weaknesses, different ways to tackle their workload, but at least your stresses will be the same!

And on that note, I must depart to sleep. Will see you next week for my last post!

Em x

P.s. still no news about the job I applied for....nail biting wait!

My first week in no man's land

Sunshine!!!

Hi All!

Well the heatwave seems to have come and gone and the thunder and lightning has set in. Anyone would think we were having a typical British summer!?

I have so far had one week off from life as a student. My hair has been chopped and coloured (rebelling to not having to tie it up for work for the next two months hoping it will grow out in time for September!) and I am settling in nicely into a routine of later nights and longer lay in's. 

Camping disaster

On Monday I set off to Wales with my other half for three nights of camping by the seaside and it seems to be a developing habit to never start our trip smoothly. On arrival at the site (and after over two hours of driving) we started to unload the car only to discover that something had been forgotten-the camping poles. Following a minor debate about what could be done (drive home or invest in a tent) we decided to buy a new one that fortunately was ex-display and was sold cheaply to us as the salesman seemed to take pity on us. After a few days of chilling out with a BBQ and driving around the countryside we headed home, then went to Thorpe Park yesterday in the random heatwave. I don't know if I am getting old, but after a morning of rides we decided that queuing for 2 hours for one ride sounded daft, so now you find me typing from Leicestershire visiting my mother in law. 

Well I'm still awaiting news from the job I applied for...closing date is on Thursday so really hoping to hear something by the end of the week just to put me out of my misery. Until then I will just need to keep my fingers crossed!

Well Graduation for us Nursing students is still four months away, so I can't really get excited about that until nearer the time I guess. We also won't be getting our official grades until September so there is nothing else to do but sit back and enjoy the time off. I managed to sell off a few of my Nursing books on eBay the other week as no longer need a student nurse handbook as have now invested in the newly qualified nurse handbook...still doesn't feel real!

Well I have a rather dull week ahead of me now...fun things like catching up with family and my washing after being away (I can only assume how jealous you must be at this description!?) I think I only have two more blogs to write before signing off from here so not long now. If you do have any questions or general comments about anything I've written over the past eight months or maybe something about your upcoming studies, I'm happy to answer to the best of my ability! Until then, have a good week and I will talk to you soon :)

Em x