HAPPY NEW YEAR! exams are over lets start off with some nursing ”waunderlusting” (urban dictionary: a strong desire to travel) shall we….

Nursing abroad, Its something that’s on all our lists of things we would love to do as nurses right?

Well I got to fulfil my dream of nursing abroad in my second year elective and I couldn’t encourage you more to go and do the same at some point in your nursing career!

Read away: (this is also featured in the school of health sciences news letter for last term, first publishing of my nursing career! WOOP!)

In March 2016, I travelled to Mannya, a community in Southern Uganda, to complete my elective placement.

My first impressions of Uganda were great! Everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming and the vast green landscapes showed just how beautiful Uganda is.

I spent the majority of my placement at St Bernard’s Health Centre, a facility established in 2007 by the Cotton On Foundation with the support of St. Bernard’s Parish, Australia. My mentor, Vincent, ran the centre and introduced me to life in Uganda. At first I was intimidated by the cultural differences between Uganda and the UK, in both everyday life and nursing practices, but I quickly realised that I was only going to derive as much from this experience as I was willing to put in, so I quickly starting making the most of it!

The working conditions created unique challenges, for example I was in an impoverish area of Uganda where running water and electricity were limited and turned off at 10pm meaning work sometimes had to be carried out in the dark. I soon got used to my surroundings and grasped all the opportunities I was given.

I experienced such a wide range of cases during my placement; I encountered many different tropical diseases, situations and uncommon causes of death. I came into contact with many young patients; I nursed malnourished children and cared for orphaned causalities of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I also got an insightful experience when I worked at a specialist HIV and malnutrition unit in a nearby district. I was also involved with the antenatal care of pregnant women, performing physical examinations, assisting with minor surgical procedures, ward rounds and the consultation of patients. I got a chance to perform baby immunisations against diseases such as polio, diptheria, tetanus and pertussis. But by far the most rewarding aspect of my trip was learning how to deliver babies with very limited resources; I helped to deliver many babies, one of which was named Olivia after me, an honour and a special experience.

I found it to be such an amazing experience to see first-hand the medicine in a rural Third World community. I was inspired by the way the nurses maintained a high standard of care and showed a wide range of skills and practical ability with limited resources. They are always wanting to learn and enhance their knowledge to ensure their own professional progression and a better care for their community.

Leading up to my trip I raised money to purchase a new delivery bed, and other vital medical equipment needed for diagnostics such as an autoscope. I was involved in seeing how the money was put to use and actually help to construct the delivery bed!  Since my trip I have kept in contact with my Ugandan family who have told me that in October 2016 there were 16 babies born on the ‘Olivia bed’ – it feels amazing to know the fundraising I did is making a real difference in the community. Continuing to raise money is vital for the future of the centre, I continue to support the Cotton On Foundation in their aim is to work with the local community to help build a healthy and sustainable future for the people of southern Uganda. Even though the people of Mannya have so little, they are full of hope, joy and love; they are truly inspirational.

I encourage everyone to participate in an international elective during their programme. Not only has it enhanced my career prospects in finding future employment as a nurse at home, but it was also a humbling, eye opening and life-changing adventure!

That’s me! if you ever want to chat about how I organised my placement abroad don’t hesitate to ask!

Just an update on my 3rd year schedule: I’m currently on placement 9-5 in a clinic, working weekend bank shifts, doing my dissertation in my spare time and looking for jobs = EXHAUSTED!

However I passed my Drugs calculations exam! YAY! top tip make NHS Sn@p your best friend for a few weeks, learn your formulas and you will be winning!

Liv x

Christmas time, mistletoe and wine… and revision in the student world!

Congratulations to all the first years for completing your first term, surviving freshers, 9am lectures and freshers flu! Second years, well done on completing your first placement of year 2!

As for third years (like myself) we are up to our eyes in dissertation writing, reading and reviewing. However that has not dampened my Christmas spirit!

Surgical ward Christmas party

I’ve completed my Christmas shopping, ate too many mince pies already and cannot wait to binge on Christmas TV, Quality Street and pigs in blankets! This week I went home to Devon for the start of my Christmas festivities with my family before traveling to Belfast to have Christmas with my boyfriend and his family!

I was also invited to my last placements ward Christmas party… just because we’re nurses doesn’t mean we can’t party! I felt so grateful to be invited and I loved seeing all my colleagues again. Still it’s a funny feeling seeing your colleagues out of uniform and singing their hearts out to the Pogues Fairy Tale of New York!

This year feels a bit nostalgic, it’s my last Christmas as a student and the prospect that I won’t have Christmas off next year makes me feel so sad! I’ve spoken to some of my friends who are now qualified nurses and graduates from City about how they feel about working over Christmas and their approaches to dealing with work over the festive period – I’ve summarised 3 main positives they all emphasised on:

1. Spend quality time with your families – it doesn’t have to be on Christmas day.

2. Embrace the good work you are doing – you’re making a huge difference to someone’s life who is sick and away from their families at this festive time of year.

Happy Christmas!

3. Always smile and keep positive! You won’t be working Christmas day every year.

Being with family at this time of year is very important to me, that is something I will take forward as I become a qualified nurse. It’s not about the day or presents it’s about spending time with the people you love, and we are going into a hard profession which makes us all HEROS! Speaking of which, I’m going to go open a tub of them!

If you haven’t already done so, check out the Adult Nursing newsletter for the autumn term… it has some great content and features me and my experiences in Uganda! I will be doing a blog post about it in the New Year, so for all those eager to do a placement abroad watch this space.

Happy Christmas to you all and a happy new year!

Liv x

Organisation is definitely something that is drummed into us from the moment we start university. We sit and nod our heads and think ‘yes, I know what I’m doing’… well, I thought I had good organisation before I started third year – oh how wrong I was!  So where to start on trying to organise the busiest year of your life… so far?

Yes, I felt the need to by a over priced KIKKI.K diary to keep me ”organised” haha

Get a diary! Whether it’s on your phone calendar, book or bedroom wall, if it’s not in the diary you’re probably end up not doing it because either you’ll forget about it or because you’ll double book yourself! I also find post-it notes useful for prompts or reminders. Stick them on your mirror or somewhere you will look daily to keep those important tasks at the front of your mind.

Since being back in theory I have had to be disciplined with my time management and organisation. I’ve had lectures to attend for two modules, one being my dissertation and the other being my management and leadership module, both really important and coming with a lot of independent work and wider reading which I have to factor into my weekly schedule. I have goals each week that I want to achieve to ensure I’m on track and keeping up to date with work deadlines. I have a separate dissertation timetable which can be daunting to look at but a must-have to ensure everything is done efficiently and in good time.  I also have to factor in paid work as the bills won’t pay themselves! I aim to work 2-3 times per week, whether that is doing bank HCA work or student ambassador shifts. It’s exhausting and can set me back in my educational aims if I do long shifts but it’s a necessity. It’s also the time of year where there are a lot of nursing recruitment fairs coming up. I attended one recently (Nursing Times Live) and it was incredibly helpful to get an idea of what hospitals have to offer us as newly qualified nurses and when their open days and interviews are (something else to put in the diary).

Or scale a climbing wall in Northampton square to let your hair down!. Some of the easiest things to forget to schedule are things that you enjoy doing most like sport, going to the gym or a crazy night out at the SU – remember you are still a student!

I had my first meeting with my dissertation supervisor last week, we discussed my question and set goals for how my dissertation writing and research should progress. This has really helped me to set clear aims and objectives. I will prioritise my time from now until Christmas on my dissertation aims and will factor in all other activities around that!

In terms of organisation and time management, being at university has taught me that if you don’t tackle deadlines or projects head on and in plenty of time they can become so over whelming you lose motivation and put yourself under immense stress. So from someone who has been there and still occasionally slips up, get organised stay on top of your goals. Good luck with any January exam revision or essay deadlines looming pre or post-Christmas! Make sure you enjoy Christmas, get organised and you will feel a lot better for it….it can also be a new year’s resolution (….too early?).

Liv x