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Becoming a Mental Health Nurse

OSCE … Dissertation … PICU … Over the horizon …

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So what’s happened since the last post? … In my mini list I’ve ticked off two more items.  I did my final OSCE, which was a teaching one.  I had a 1st year Children’s Student Nurse and the aim was to teach him how to do a temperature reading and measure pulse.  Results are back in and luckily I passed – I didn’t do great but as they say, a pass is a pass!  My reflection on this is I hate the exam environment!  I know I didn’t demonstrate the teaching techniques as well in the exam environment as I’ve done in actual practice!  It makes me wonder whether the teaching OSCE should be moved out into the practice environment – this is currently done in the post-grad nursing course.

On Monday my dissertation was submitted and it felt like a big fat monkey was no longer on my back!  My dissertation in a way marks my progression through the issue of women’s mental health.  My first ever Ward based placement was on a women’s ward and since that time I have seen the ever increasingly evidence for gender specific diagnosis and treatment.  My journey towards my topic choice was an ever winding one – initially I wanted to look at how menopause effects women with an existing diagnosis of bipolar disorder.  Due to the paucity of good, recent research this topic became, how menopause could be a trigger for the onset of schizophrenia/bipolar disorder.  Then following my placement with the RAID Older Adult team, it looked at menopause and the longer term impact on women’s cognition and dementia.  Until finally my topic became an examination of whether hormone therapy could serve as an effective treatment option for menopausal women who had depression.  Guiding me on this journey was Professor Salmon, who helped ground my ambitions to a topic area that was realistic for this level of study.  For prospective students, this is one of the benefits of City – you get to explore an area that has great meaning for you and are provided with supervisors who span a multitude of areas and are recognised often nationally and internationally in their specialities.

Into my third week now on the PICU Ward.  It’s proving to be a brilliant environment for making me into what I hope will not only be a competent mental health nurse but also a good one.  One of the major points I’ll take away from my time at City is best summed up by my OSCE Lecturer of the last three years, “What type of nurse do you want to be?”  In the ever changing workplace with diminishing funding and increased pressures on staffing often the point of why we do this role is lost and we forget that its about the patient/service user.  In a way I couldn’t find my balance in my first two weeks of practice and took this to the PPD session where we discussed how best to manage this nursing dichotomy – the need to provide person centred care but also undertake a mountain of administrative work.  This week I was able to achieve this by creating fixed time periods where I did one or the other type of tasking – in this way I was able to get the paperwork filled out but also had some quality one-to-one sessions.

For me and my nursing degree, “the end is nigh!”  In February I went for an interview and was offered a job.  The final confirmation came through at the beginning of this month, so in October I’ll be starting my new role at the Central and North West London Mental Health Trust.  It’s the only job I applied for and while I did give a lot of consideration to the trust I train in, on the balance the development programme offered by CNWL was critical for my final decision.  CNWL provides an 18 month development programme which I believe will assist in my transition from the student role to that of a staff nurse.  As I write this I wonder why more Trusts don’t make a similar investment!  It’s been a bit of a slog and at times I wondered why I walked away from one life to enter this one but at this time I am seeing beyond the horizon and it is looking good!

About Raymond

I'm one of those "mature" students who is giving this education "thing" another go through the medium of Mental Health Nursing. It's been a roller-coaster ride but well worth it! Read and enjoy ... View all posts by Raymond →

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