Student Nurse Blog Week 9

October 21st 2004

This week we had our Trust induction.

It took place at the training centre at the WRH on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and ran from 930am to 4pm. Over the three days we covered all of the basics. This covered blood pressure (how to take a blood pressure and the theory behind blood pressure - what it is, the two readings we take, why we take it, what else to look for when taking it, things that affect it, etc.), Temperature and pulse (again covering theory as well as practical).

We also covered the Mental Health Act briefly and common psychiatric disorders, nutrition, customer services and teamwork, asepsis, and hygiene. We even had a practical on bed baths - very important - and on hand washing. The hand washing was great, because we had this special dye put on our hands, then we washed them and then we checked them under UV light to see how well we had washed them. Luckily I had washed mine really well, except for a couple of small spots at the end of two fingers!

Although most of us had previous experience within the health care setting the induction was very important and valuable. It reinforced the knowledge a lot of us already held. Some people didn’t learn anything from the sessions at all, but it was mandatory and necessary to attend. For those who had no experience within the acute setting, or any health care setting, it was very valuable and gave them some insight prior to going onto the wards.

We had our photographs taken on the Monday morning and collected our I.D. badges on the Wednesday afternoon - where they were laid out for everyone to see!!

Today (Thursday) we were back at University. This morning we had ’the implications of regulation’ where we just went through examining our beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviour and the importance behind examining these things throughout our training and then in our professional lives.

This afternoon we had a talk on the concepts of healthcare.

Tomorrow we are in our small classes all day. In the morning we have got searching through professional journals, which we are doing in the library. In the afternoon my class had got a nursing seminar. This is where we meet with a lecturer who just checks to see how we are doing and lets us ask them about any concerns we may have.

Tomorrow is our last day in University until sometime in November. Monday of next week we finally get to go on placement - and I CANT WAIT!!!!!
I have already been to visit the ward I will be on and have met one of my mentors - who just seems brilliant, and the ward looks great (infectious diseases and stroke) and the patients seem great as well!!!

If I don’t get chance to blog tomorrow I will either blog sometime over the weekend, or near the end of next week. I will definitely post a blog mid- to late-next week to let you all know how I am getting on in the first few days of my first clinical placement.

Til then, chat lata Matt

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