First year almost over..........a bit of reflection......
Anyone interested in reflecting on their year??
I am so glad to have this first year almost over and under my belt!!!
I am pleased to say I have pleasently suprised myself with how I have managed to juggle uni, 3 kids, a husband and a household whilst maintaining decent grades.
I do worry how I will manage the next 3 years especially the last 2 when I have to work regular shifts to make up my Mid placement hours and what I am going to do in regards to a grad year, but I suppose I will figure things out when the time comes.
I am suprised that things are sticking in my head and I can actually recall information when I need to and really should be trying to cram more information in there now in prepairation for my exam on friday
I have realised I am a procrastinatior but am not as bad as some of the others in my classes
I am not super organised but am organised enough where it counts!!
Even though I am not super interested in being a nurse (and would only do Mid if it was offered in my area but its not) I am finding it fairly interesting and am kind of glad I am doing the double degree. The placements are interesting enough.
I am hanging out for my Mid placement in two weeks time and have started my follow throughs (although not officially) and need to recruit some more mums. I am reading The Birth Partner again as a bit of a refresher in prepairation to support my mums and their partners. And I have had to help one of my mums through some sadness at the loss of her angel at 22 weeks which reminds me I must visit.
So that has been my year.
Anyone else want to share their first year, or second year, or third, fourth, fifth............
just want to say well done! I am about to start my 5th year in 2012 with 2 kids under 3 and I know how tough it is! (doing my midiwifery masters) and I also have to do 24 hours a week unpaid so I know how hard that is too! keep going, it is so worth it in the end. You will be surprised how fast it actually goes. Also I was an RN first and trust me, it is good your doing the double degree. You would be surprised how many patients have told me they prefer someone who is also an RN to deliver their babies or look after their bubs in special care. Best of luck with your exams and your 2nd year!
I am finding the double degree quite hard going. Academically it is fine but the nursing is so far from anything I am interested in. I locked myself in the loos during my last placement and had a little cry before I could go back out and continue. Maybe it was just the nurse I was buddied with but I woke up every morning having to persuade myself that it would be unethical to throw a sickie, and I would just have to make up the hours anyway. I contacted another uni about switching to direct entry but I can't take all my credits from this year with me so I would still have 3 years to go and with the extra travel to Melbourne I just can't justify it.
However the mid more than makes up for it, and I am just hanging out for my grad year when I can drop all nursing and get on with my career. Only 3 more years...
Traveller: The nursing will get better, first placements were always horrible! its all elderly people and yes the nurses in medical wards are often Biatches and "old skool" But as you go along it will get better, my last placements were in Gold Coast emergency on schoolies! and in Coronary Care unit and in antenatal clinic, once you can do more than shower and make beds it gets more interesting, having said that it still isn't everyones "thing" hence why I am doing midwifery after only 18 months or nursing! Best of Luck and hang in there!
It sucks when you have to force yourself to get up and go and I thought for sure that would be me too but I haven't come across a bad buddy nurse yet but some of the others have.
I have also been picking small-ish hospitals to do my placements so that I get to see more and do more and not just hygene and old people (even though 80% of patients are over 70 around here). It's the way I am getting through the general nursing. The smaller hospitals around here let you go to theater and casulty and if there is a birth or CS on the shift they let you go in if the mother is ok with it. (I haven't been fortunate enough but a couple of the other mid girls have). Sometimes in the big hospitals you see the same thing everyday and there is no variety because of the ward you are on. Not sure how I am going to go with the 4 week placements next year because I'll have to stay local but I still have a couple of hospitals I can choose from that are small-ish without being tiny that I haven't been to yet.
I am leaving the big hospital for all my mid placements!!
I have got a fellowship place with a small private hospital so there will be the option to see some more interesting stuff (one girl got to see IVF during her placement, and lots of other interesting surgeries because they were so quiet). Also our facilitator is really nice and very flexible so when I had to be late on my last day because of childcare issues she was absolutely fine about it. I think I prefer a small hospital to the big one I did my last placement on, and the patients are in general really lovely. I don't mind looking after old people, wiping bums, giving showers, etc, and I got to remove staples, give meds and do dressings and things which was interesting. I guess it's hard to put my finger on why I hated it so much. I think maybe because you are dealing with illness and death, instead of new life. The nurses discussing that of they were in the position of one particular patient they would kill themselves didn't help though. How can they provide care for someone when they don't think their life is worth anything?
I found it hard to listen to how much the nurses hated their working conditions and in some cases - jobs and how the management just expected things from them without actually taking the time to ask. And it's hard to work with people who are unhappy, but I just decided not to dwell on that stuff because I've always been of the opinion if you don't like what you are doing then make a change.
But I know what you are saying about nursing being all about sickness and death, instead of life and creation. I often think about that too. How the two professions can be a part of the same organisation but can be so different, but then there will be times when we will have to deal with that too. And I suppose a nurse there would be times when you get confronted by illness or death and feel your own mortality. I know even just studying for a year and learning what we have learned, I am scared about getting old and how my body will fail and then where I will end up.
But I am looking forward to getting into the nitty-gritty of mid next year and I often think about what my long term plans are for after I finish and where my career will take me. I think my path will lead towards educating women about birth as a natural process and something that doesn't have to be feared, CMP, maybe VBAC education and support for this region. I just want to get these next 3 years done and some experience under my belt and then focus on changing the perception of birth as a medical process to a natural process Open peoples minds that it doesn't have to be the scarey most painful experience that is so often portrayed.
Ahhh gotta love some personal reflection on goals and aspirations to get the juices flowing..........pity it's at the end of the semester and not the start
First year almost over..........a bit of reflection......
which reminds me I must visit.
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so I know how hard that is too! keep going, it is so worth it in the end. You will be surprised how fast it actually goes. Also I was an RN first and trust me, it is good your doing the double degree. You would be surprised how many patients have told me they prefer someone who is also an RN to deliver their babies or look after their bubs in special care. Best of luck with your exams and your 2nd year!
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