Tuesday 3 June 2008

Placement Two

Tomorrow morning I start a new placement on my new ward. This placement is on an Acute Medical Respiratory ward. This is much more my style. My last placement was incredible however the specialty really wasnt for me. Orthopaedic Surgical Elective? well I think orthopaedics is just carpentry. I have based this on the drills, hammers, chizels and nails they use. Surgical wards really dont interest me too much either. Surgery is more anatomy than physiology. As much as I love anatomy I find physiology far more interesting. This is where I am hoping this placement will interest me. Medical wards focus on non-surgical care and thus take a much greater consideration of the bodies mechanical, chemical and electrical processes(physiology).

In theory I was meant to start today, however two of my mentors are on leave and the remaining one is only part time so they rota'd me as a day off today giving me a chance to relax after yesterdays exam. This placement is considerably longer than the two months I worked on my last ward. I'll be there until the 19th of August. Somewhere in there I have a week or two off.

Given my previous ward experience was on a laid back, elective surgical ward I am a little concerned that I'll be unprepared for the intensity of an understaffed acute ward. Especially given in times of medical emergency my mind falls back to its training which does not include my new role as "student nurse". Whilst mthis role should protect me from having to do anything other than observe in a medical emergency, my enthusiasm and apparent aptitude for those situations usually leaves people forgetting I am just a student.

As soon as I finish this placement I have four weeks in lectures then I start my next placement. I have no idea where that will be but it will only be a couple of weeks long.

Hopefully this placement will give me lots to learn, experience and blog about .... whilst abiding the rules of the Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Professional Conduct(2008) in regards to confidentiality of course.

Wish Me Luck

2 comments:

Sage said...

Good luck and keep a low profile with the blog in your life.. if we are about to lose Mousie I would hate to see you go the same way.

Asclepius said...

:) thanks.

I think mousie will be ok. But its a fair warning to all of us on professional registers that we have to be careful because pretty much anything can be twisted and misinterpreted. Better not to give the ethics boards fodder to use against us.