Asian Adventure Awaits...

So today is the day that I embark on my International Placement experience. I am feeling excited, nervous and perhaps a feeling I am not even able to express. When I originally set off on my travels around the world in 2011, I had this exact feeling and what I learned to realise is that it is the fear of the unknown. Fear can be a dominant feeling, in the respect that it impacts my sleep, my thought processes and how I am feeling within myself. Reflecting upon my original adventure I am now able to absorb this fear more easily and perhaps even empower it and turn it into something else. I am able to focus on my inner self and take time to consider a more relaxed and calm way of thinking which in turn relaxes my physical state of being. 

In society and routine of life especially in the UK we love structure, fast-pace, organisation and having set patterns to everyday life. In planning for this trip, I began to realise that the way of life in Asia is very different to the UK. I was liaising with my link at ChildFund Laos consistently and at times asking for particular aspects of information. When I did not hear back from my link immediately, I would fret slightly and then begin to worry. However, once the information arrived and was confirmed a couple days later, I reflected upon how urgent I felt I needed the information when in fact it was not needed immediately and that perhaps I am caught up in a way of feeling urgency, speed and closed-focus. It enabled me to consider the Asian culture and particularly in Laos, life is a lot slower paced and aspects of routine of life can be a lot different; almost the opposite at times to the UK. So, a small voice expressed to myself....take a breath, relax and take my time. Time importantly for myself, being able to not feel so uptight but more laid-back yet still in control. This approach in my planning process will hopefully help me once I arrive in Asia to settle into way of life and embrace all aspects of culture. 

I will begin my journey will my allocated annual leave. This will enable me to have time to relax, recoup and reflect upon my life both professionally and personally. I am sharing this journey with my partner and will excitingly meet up with my best friend and her partner in Thailand at the beginning of our trip. Quality time to share life stories, ponder upon life and explore Asian cultures together is an important element I am thrilled to embark upon. 

I will then venture back towards Bangkok and begin my journey upto Laos. Laos is an enchanting country and one that holds a special place in my heart. Laos is relatively untouched and being landlocked between China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar it is at the heart of South East Asia. The Mekong River traverses through the whole of Laos and plays an important role in the life and living of the Lao People. The population is small around nearly 7 million compared to it's neighbour of Vietnam who stands around nearly 90 million. The country remains communist and standards around healthcare and education remain extremely poor. Despite these factors of hardship upon such a aesthetically pleasing landscape; the power of beauty the people express is phenomenal. The people are so caring, compassionate and deeply thoughtful. The focus is within the community settings and community living is strong, embracing traditional approaches to beliefs and cultures across all aspects of life. 

I know my natural apprehensive feelings will be extinguished the moment I arrive and I am excited and happy to begin my journey as a student nurse. I will be reflecting deep into my own soul continually as I open my inner self up to the wonders of Laos. I will hopefully keep you updated on my journey, experiences and reflections (internet dependent) once I arrive in Asia. I promise to stay safe, absorb, embrace and enjoy it all. 

The beauty of the landscape in Laos

The majestic Mekong River

The villages within rural Laos...I am excited for my village stay!

Life is connected to the power of the river

Reflecting upon my original Laos experience

The natural untouched beauty that awaits me

Enchanting memories and excitement grows as a embark on another journey

Feeling happy and connected to Laos...the moment I knew this country had a place in my heart

Let Third Year Commence...

After a wonderful couple of weeks break from university, I have now transitioned into third year and embrace the new journey ahead. Reflecting back to the end of my second year, I was feeling ready for the break, I was drained mentally and physically and going through what many other student nurses will feel at certain points during their own course...exhausted! 

I did enjoy many 'Lazy Laura' days, which I felt was just as important as getting out and enjoying some culture and arts on my break. I can not begin to describe how lovely it was to stay in my pyjamas all day and do nothing but sort out my university files, breathtaking bliss. So after many enjoyable sleep-ins and tourist days around the city and countryside, I felt ready to get back to my university reflective student nurse mode. I must be honest, as my first week approached I did feel a pang of slight anxiety, not so much around university but more so around the fact that I would be a qualified nurse within the year. I will become a fully qualified, accountable, hardworking, motivated nurse in practice and this was something I felt put an instant smile on my face. 

Now this has been an interesting start to my third year, as we have just all experienced an election in the UK and the introduction of a new government, which I know most definitely will influence, impact and have massive changes within the NHS currently and on future plans and policy. We all have our own opinions and beliefs and we all have the right to our own political views but I feel we will begin to see a huge shift on nursing practice as well as nursing education. Change is sometimes that hardest thing to experience; change can instigate a mixture of emotions and feelings whether it be in our personal or professional lives. I am a positive and empowered person to champion for change, however before change is possible we must perhaps consider what are the plans being proposed and most importantly will the new changes work. Many people I have spoken to have expressed a sense of apprehension around the future of the NHS and even the field nursing practice. As I embark on my nursing career within the next year, I am trying and almost forcing myself to remain positive and engaged, however acknowledgement must be made to the anxiety, apprehensive and perhaps even negative atmosphere that permeates around the profession at the moment. I almost sense a feeling of uncertainty, therefore I feel now more than ever is a time when people need to connect, engage, work together and develop a solidarity of support and strength to be proud of and ensure the NHS remains one of the best healthcare systems within the world (I am a secret unionist through and through). I know I know, I am slightly bias here in saying one of the best in the world, however from my own experiences of travelling the world and spending time in developing and developed countries, I must admit our NHS and practices in my experience have been nothing but the best. 

I am currently task avoiding....I know it's not the most productive and motivated outlook, but I am task avoiding focusing on my assignment. I am a person who enjoys the process of research and writing an assignment however I find I work well in mornings and as this day is moving towards my afternoon nap, I shall reschedule my assignment writing to another day. I have really touched lucky with my assignment, I have chosen to focus upon a scenario that involves a patient being treated with COPD. Reflecting upon my last community placement, I feel so happy to have had that experience and now relating back to my theory I can truly value and appreciate how much I did actually learn whilst out on placement. 

I am due to venture out on my next placement in the next six weeks, I am feeling excited and also nervous, perhaps a normal response for any student nurse embarking on a new placement experience. It is good to sometimes be nervous, as it enables me to research around the area, organise myself in order to feel fully prepared for placement and more importantly ensure I am engaged and attentive to the area I am set to work within. My placement will be a shorter one this time, therefore I will need to ensure I am fully organised in achieving all my learning outcomes and achieving competencies in practice. I will then embark on my 'Asian Adventure', spending my time on placement in Laos working alongside ChildFund Laos to support in developing and improving standards of healthcare and education to the people of Laos; more specifically in the Nonghet District where I will be based as a student nurse. I have all my paperwork cleared and have been given full support from university, which has ensured my experience of arranging the placement a lot easier. I am now in the process of organising a schedule to work around whilst I am out on placement, evidently the whole experience of being in Laos is making me extremely excited.

Another exciting journey I have embarked upon and I am hoping to incorporate into my practice is becoming a new SQA. A student quality ambassador is a champion who works with many trusts and organisation around the North West of England. I attended my induction at the beginning of the month across at Manchester Metropolitan University and was able to network with fellow student nurses and also other health professionals such as speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, midwives, medical students and many more. Now, I need to focus upon applying my role as a SQA into developing best practice in my theory sessions at university, out in my next placement area and most significantly introducing the SQA role to Laos. I have a sense this new journey is going to be something pretty special...

Calming Chaos of university work...

Perfect Preparation...all ready to commence third year

Embracing my new role as SQA

Enjoying the Community...

My last placement of second year is based within the community setting focusing upon COPD. I was really excited to begin my placement as I felt covering the topic of COPD would develop my own understanding and knowledge of a long-term chronic condition that currently impacts many patients within society. Therefore, I felt my previous placement on a diabetes medical ward has informed my student journey and this respiratory focus has developed my student journey. 

If I am honest, my initial week was quite unsettling for me as I wasn't sure what I would exactly cover and how I would explore my competencies as a student. The whole team welcomed me warmly and I felt at ease with so many friendly people and friendly faces, this always helps on placement, as it instills an openness to feel connected to the team and be able to ask questions and perhaps show the real me. 

After the second week, I realised I had found my feet and seemed to have a growth in confidence in what I was doing and how I was learning to adapt to the community environment. I noticed a slight shift in dynamics in comparison to an acute setting, therefore, it perhaps was time I needed in order to settle into my new placement and for me to adapt to the community setting. 

The community offers a more patient-centred approach and I feel collaboration within MDT is more apparent, which enhances patient experience and care. The patients I have met along my journey have all been friendly and really welcoming to myself as a student. I have really worked on trying to connect with my communication skills, really working to apply the right type of questions and more importantly how I am asking those questions. 

I had an experience in clinic where a patient asked me why I was asking about his lower limbs and whether any oedema was present. This was a question I was not necessarily expecting, therefore felt slightly unprepared but with the support of my mentor, I answered the patient explaining about identifying and looking for signs of heart failure. The patient seemed happy with my response, as did my own mentor. I felt happy with my answer, but afterwards it made me realise how perhaps I am not fully prepared or informed on what I am asking and exactly looking for within an assessment. This learning experience has allowed me to know consider the small details of the reasons behind why I am asking certain questions and how it can help patients become empowered and encouragement to monitor their own health. 

As I am currently half way through my placement journey, I am feeling motivated and happy for the positive learning experiences I am gaining. As the weeks pass me by, I realise I am now even closer to the real situation that in a year's time I will be graduating and beginning my career in nursing. This thought scares me at the moment but also excites me at the same time...I have a feeling I may not be the only student nurse feeling this way at this time in our study. I will continue to enjoy my placement and will shortly be making plans for my future international placement trip in the summer...I feel each experience and opportunity on placement now will inform my future experiences as a student nurse enabling me to continually grow. 

"What we think, we become"

Temple in Laos for Reflection...

Positive Placement Experience...mind and motivation

I must firstly apologise for the lack of update and responsiveness on my reflective blog for the past few months. I always remain open and honest...I enjoyed a lovely summer break and around that embedded myself within my practice placement, thus not having a focus on time or rather quality time to spend on my reflective blog.

I embarked on my practice placement into a medical diabetes ward, feeling apprehensive but motivated on my initial shift. After day one, I knew I would enjoy this placement and the main reason being; a supportive mentor. I had a mentor who was not only friendly, approachable, constructive and supportive; the mentor was an exceptional adult nurse. I was able to participate in many learning opportunities from day one and almost instantly felt a sense of belonging not only to the ward environment but most importantly to the team. This enabled me as student nurse to feel confident and self-aware when caring for patients and thinking much more multi-disciplinary in my approach when delivering holistic care.

Within a few weeks, I was growing...building up my skills and developing internally as well as externally as an individual. My mentor one day suggested I manage my own bay. Well, the shock and horror on my face...I gasped and instantly felt my heart-rate increase to 120! With a little bit of warmth, comfort and guidance from my mentor; letting me know she was there to support me every step of the way...I spent that whole shift managing my own bay. At first I was nervous but I soon realised I was getting on ok and knew I could ask as many questions as I needed. This was a positive experience in knowing that I could ask as many questions at any time, no question was tedious and all had worth. I noticed I developed not only in my patient-student nurse interaction and communication but I also felt more confident in my nursing skills. A good balance in developing and enough experiences to feed my thirst to learn even more.

As the weeks passed by, I could feel I was beginning to change...perhaps a change in a sense of growing, adapting, shifting and moving towards a greater sense of being, perhaps a developing and continually improving student nurse. This is something I felt proud of and each shift felt a sense of accomplishment in what I have covered that day. I had opportunities to explore specialist area teams, to support patients with feeding and personal care, communicate and continually assess patients health and well-being and really get to grips with the notion of documentation and care plans. The list is endless but I feel more empowered now to care for wounds and how to apply treatments, I was able to attempt to save a patient's life and performed cpr one shift. Most importantly, I was able to spend quality time with my patients. Time is an element that can sometimes escape a nurse or healthcare professional on any busy ward, however, I remained true to myself in making my own time in managing my bay and ensuring my time was spent assessing, caring and engaging with each of my own patients. I always attempted to be compassionate in all the tasks I completed, from large leg dressings down to making a good cup of tea for a patient! It is sometimes the small things that mean the most to a patient on the ward.

After arriving back to university after a positive placement experience, I feel energised and engaged to connect my mind to embark on a critical appraisal of research. I am currently exploring many aspects of research and continually find I am amazed in how the process of learning evolves no matter what field we are within. I spent time outside my hub placement both in the community and a week in a neurological research centre, where I tasted a sense of research nursing and how the research of today can make such a vast difference to the practices and methodologies of the future.

I am currently in the process of organising my elective international placement through ChildFund Laos, an amazing charity that works within Laos to help improve healthcare and education for the people of Laos. As I settle in for a day of reading research and day-dreaming of the Nonghet region mountains, I will share some images I have from my previous visit to Laos and as I reflect; they will provide me with even more motivation and inspiration to deliver care to people who have limited resources in life yet will always offer you everything they have and more...

The beautiful land of Laos

I am inspired to reach out to the rural villages of Laos and support as a student nurse

Embracing the culture and spirituality of Laos

Working collectively in partnership with locals to improve health and well-being

Leading by example...

I have always tried to lead by example and give back to society in every way I possibly can. Back in 2008, I signed up as a blood donor and began donating. The experience was perhaps not the most enchanting. Let me reflect upon how I feel about blood and needles...Even though I am training to be a student nurse, I do not necessarily like needles or the sight of blood. Sometimes, I have felt queasy and faint around these two...which is not good for a student nurse! So, when on my placement in my first year, I have immersed myself in opportunities of observing injections, giving injections, shadowing venepuncture procedures and anything that involves bodily fluids. I am attempting to overcome my anxiety and perhaps psychological fear. This is something I worry about greatly and I am facing my anxiety head on and working to overcome my fears and with time and practice hopefully become at ease around needles and blood. Not in every situation has this occurred, therefore I am working on my own area to develop...psychologically challenging my inner self!

Now, heading back to the giving blood experience, I do not like the feel or sensation of receiving a needle, however, I felt the process of donating and helping save lives was much more important. As I have a rarer blood type, I feel even more so committed to helping give back. As a student nurse, I will no doubt come across blood transfusions in my time of practice, therefore we need to be donating and help support the cause of saving lives. 

After reading an emotional article about one man's journey of battling cancer and trying to find a bone marrow donor match to save his life. This ignited lots of internal emotions, thoughts and feelings within myself and enabled me to reflect on why am I not on the list. I could be a potential match for an individual whose life is threatened and I can make the difference through enrolling on the bone marrow donor list. The application was slightly more detailed than I had anticipated and the eligibility to become a donor is quite stringent. However, through spending 10 minutes of my time completing the application, I instantly felt overwhelmed that I was doing the right thing. Now, becoming a bone marrow donor is not always an easy or quick decision to be made, if you are a potential match, the procedure you must go through could be painful and take up a lot of your time, however, I feel the fact that you have the opportunity to potentially save a persons life outweighs all the small discomforts to my life. A week later, I received a test kit which was simple to follow and I literally had to just spit into it, pop it back in the envelope and return in the post. A couple of weeks later I received confirmation that I was now an official donor on the UK stem cell register and I felt instantly proud. I now have my own donor card which sit comfortably in my purse and I feel proud to be within the nursing profession as a student nurse and actively promote the need to reach out to other potential individuals who could help save lives. I do wish I had registered years ago but now that I am donor, I am going to help promote becoming a donor and highlight the work that is done by the brilliant Anthony Nolan charity. 

Now, as I work away on my two assignments, one due tomorrow and another in four weeks time...I feel happy and proud to spread the word and express a thought to ponder upon...all other student nurses if you are eligible; why are you not on the list? I do understand it is personal preference and I respect every individual has a choice, however within a profession that strives to provide care and compassion, shouldn't we be leading by example and become involved in any project or initiative that can potentially save a life. 

So proud to now be a registered donor

Saying Hello...Holistically

Hello, my name is Laura Newman. I am currently in my second year on the Pre-Registration Masters Programme in Adult Nursing. I am really interested in developing my knowledge, understanding and skills to become a reflective student nurse. I admire and always adhere to the Nursing and Midwifery Council's Code of Conduct, appreciating the guidance for student nurses. I am really excited by the new implementation of the 6C's into nursing care and practice, fundamentally helping to show compassion and caring within the NHS. I have a passion to care for human beings, ensuring each individual receives patient-centred care that remains holistic throughout the journey of nursing. 

My background is focused within Creative Arts and focusing on the elements of Performing Arts, Dance and Choreography. After graduating from Liverpool John Moores University in 2008 with a First, I opted to work independently as a dance artist to create performance works. As a creative and resourceful individual, I have a passion for creative approaches and work to develop holistic practices in all aspects of working with individuals. After graduating with a PGCE from University of Central Lancashire in 2011, I spent time working within education teaching national curriculum and developing creative projects. Within the educational sector, I worked alongside organisations and council's to co-ordinate and produce creative performances and projects within the community. Many of my creative projects liaised with primary and secondary schools to assist children to develop the creative self and reflect upon their own imagination, health and well-being.  

I have previously spent 13 months travelling around the world, embracing cultures, cities and cuisines from diverse countries across each continent. I assisted in SE Asia with healthcare and educational projects and worked at a local orphanage in Cambodia. Through the valued experiences of meeting and communicating with new people from all over the world, I have developed in my own communication skills and have the confidence to embrace all new opportunities. My travels have given me the deepened valued sense of being, an intrinsic feeling of myself, getting to know who I truly am...as a female, creative practitioner and student nurse. 

Now I hope I have given you a sense of who I am as an individual and most importantly begin to sense you are getting to know the real me...Laura. I am going to be using this blog as a reflective tool for my own ongoing learning journey as a student nurse. I am going to remain professional, reflective and creative in all my experiences and opportunities. I hope you will remain with me on this journey, as I share and reflect upon my own ideas, feelings and experiences as a student nurse in 2014. 

"The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your study, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can."  Neil Gaiman

Cambodia, 2011 - Laura Newman