Hey guys,
From the third year on, my nursing course exists of placements only. It really puts the focus on practical learning which I find the most interesting and most important of my course. Placements allow you to put theoretical knowledge into practise and to really learn the fine bits and pieces of the nursing profession.
On my previous placement I got my first taste of health care in a hospital setting. The most diverse and dynamic setting, but because of this also my favourite setting. Last placement I familiarised myself with care for patients with lung, cardiac, general, and neurological problems. So that was pretty diverse. Now this placement would be diverse as well, but a completely different setting and an even more different patient group. This one however turned out to fit me perfectly and it was my best placement so far.
This placement was on the obstetrician-ward. The ward pregnant woman come to with their problems during pregnancy or to give birth naturally or by c-section. This means we have to care for pregnant women with a broad spectrum of health problems but also women who have given birth or had a c-section and their newborn babies. Really specific care that is but oh boy, it was incredible.
Over the last few months I worked with an incredibly nice and fun team, who challenged me, accepted me, and helped me grow. I have learned so much from them and felt so accepted, it was literally as if I was a part of their team instead of a student on placement. A feeling I never got to experience before. Then I also got to witness some of the most special moments in every parents lives, the birth of their child. Together with my colleagues we helped the mum through the birthing process, took care of her child and her after and made sure they both came out well. These natural births and c-sections have been amazing, you have to work together so well as so many factors can go wrong so it keeps you communicating continuously. The obstetrician ward is definitely something else, but oh how fun it was. Then there was the care for the mum and newborn baby after the birthing. I got to wash both mum and the baby of which I obviously preferred washing the baby, to give it it's first ever bath together with mum or dad. You get to witness so many first things, the first feed, the first bath, the first full diaper, you name it. It really is something else.
I remember my first weeks, being really insecure with the mum and the baby. Not quite sure on how to handle them, how to hold them, or how to help with the feeding. And look at me now, I participated in a breastfeeding audit as my colleagues found me capable of doing so. Today, on my last shift, they even told our manager to tie me to a chair and not let me go until she had given me a diploma and contract as they didn't want me to leave. Now I'm not that good with compliments so I spend the entire day just thanking everybody awkwardly and blushing because the compliments just kept on going. Guess I really did something right over there.
It was an incredible experience, and definitely a ward I'll consider going back to. This ward, and placement have proven to really be something special, I felt welcome and accepted, never having to introduce myself as a student to patient and the patients being surprised when I did. I learned so much, also that birthing and breastfeeding isn't the pink cloud a lot of people imagine it to be. But it was an incredible placement and it will stick with me forever. Colleagues, patients, babies, thank you so much for teaching me so many amazing things and letting me teach you so many things as well. I'm starting to sound like a broken record here but it was something special.
Sometimes life as a nurse isn't all that bad you know, this placement showed me how good and fun it can be.
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
Hey Guys!
For two weeks now I've started my third internship, and it's in the place I've been waiting to have an internship in for two years now! My current internship is, you might have guessed it already, in the HOSPITAL! Yes, I am enthusiastic about hospitals, well at least about having my internship there. Ever since I was a little girl the hospital has been one of the most intriguing and fascinating places I've ever been to. Yes, this does sound a bit weird, I know. Anyway, I won't bore you with the story why I'm so fascinated by the hospital, if you want to know more about that click here for a jump back in time to the blogpost I explain it all.
Let's get this party started. In my opinion internships are a fantastic way to learn more about your profession and learn new skills, especially in a practical profession like nursing. However, there are some cons as well, like not giving yourself any time to get used to your internship, or being tired all the time, and of course the crazy (amount of) assignments school thinks you can manage beside your 32 hour internship. But besides the con I think there are a lot more pros to having an internship so, go internships!
As I mentioned before my internship is in a hospital, an internship I've been waiting for ever since I started my nursing course. Now I secretly wished for an internship on the child-department, however the lung-department, the department I'm on now, is pretty interesting as well. And who knows, maybe in the future I will end up on the child-department after all. But back to the lung-department. It's a rather interesting department to work on with a dismissal / death rate of about 70 / 30% which I personally think is pretty high. This also kind of crushes my original idea of the hospital and what I liked about it so much, the idea of people entering being ill and leaving when they're better. The death part, is something I never really gave much thought to, especially as a child. But that so many people would die, I never would have thought.
Now it's kind of logical once you start looking into it. A lot of people that are in the hospital are very, very ill and most of them are pretty old as well. On the lung-department, I see a lot of cases of pneumonia, which some call: "the stairway to heaven for old people", and I guess this is kind of true. But on the lung-department I work on we also have our own cancer centre, so a lot of the patients we have on our ward are cancer patients as well. But still, the pretty high death rate hit me pretty hard, and I'm going to work very hard on my skills to deal with deaths as well this internship.
However, we also have a lot of patients that do meet my original hospital standard of coming in ill and leaving when they're better. And this makes me really happy and proud of my job. When people leave and are ready to go back home again, then I know why I wanted to become a nurse in the first place. Healing people, making people better and maybe even leave a lasting impression on the people with your positive spirit and good nursing skills. Yes the profession of a nurse is very diverse but it's, in my opinion, one of the most interesting, honourable and appreciated jobs in the world. From both a nurse and a patients perspective.
So yeah, this internship will give me a lot of opportunities to develop a lot of new skills in different areas of the nursing profession. Tomorrow is another day of my internship and even though I don't really like the waking up early (like 5.45 am) I do really like my internship, the department I'm on and the people I get to work with. The lung-department has a great team and I have a great deal of respect for my fellow nurses. So to every nurse in the world: Keep up the good work, you are doing great!
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
Hello you guys!
Yesterday (the fifth of July) I celebrated my fourth dia-versary. But Renée, what on earth is a dia-versary? Good question, a dia-versary is basically an anniversary but for diabetics and it's celebrated on the day you got diagnosed with diabetes.
Despite the seriously bad conditions I was in that day I still remember it very clearly. For a couple of months my physical and mental condition had been getting worse. I constantly craved food and water and no matter how much I ate or drank these cravings wouldn't get satisfied. Besides the unexplainable hunger and thirst there was also this weird sensation of having to pee at least once every TEN minutes. Oh yeah, I also felt really really warm all the time, it was a bit like a fever but a hundred times worse. If you think those things sound really bad already don't even let me get started on the acidification of my muscles, the incredible bad shape I got in and how confusing this all was to me. During that time my life basically existed of eating, drinking, peeing, sleeping, taking very cold showers and feeling like I was dying. Ah yes, I also lost 10 kilogrammes during those months.
As my physical conditions got worse, my mental conditions did the same. I had no idea what was happening to me and this slowly drove me insane. There were times I felt so bad, confused or helpless I got really mad, mad at myself at my body and at everyone around me as nobody could tell me what was wrong with me. I remember trying to pull all of my hair out and shouting and crying I couldn't live like this any more. It was the most helpless I've ever felt and all of it because I had no idea what was going on, only that it was getting worse with every day that passed. On my worst day my mum and I started looking for a new or more effective way of therapy, we had no idea that what was going on with me was a physical thing as I was getting very bad on a mental level. Thankfully my mum got me a doctors appointment. Well maybe I shouldn't say thankfully. The doctor asked me to tell him what I thought my symptoms were so I started telling him. Hunger, thirst, a lot of peeing, sleepy, feeling very sour, losing weight, dry tongue. I literally named all the symptoms of a hyperglycemia and guess what he told me. He told me I was probably suffering from an eating disorder! A bloody eating disorder. Eventually my mum and I persuaded him to test my blood so we went to the hospital and not even two hours later I got a call. It was a nurse from the hospital, she asked me if I wanted to pack some stuff and come to the hospital as fast as I could.
Turned out I wasn't suffering from an eating disorder, no I turned out to be diabetic. Diabetes type 1 to be exact. Chances to become diabetic out of nowhere, 1 in 25.000.
I had to stay in the hospital for a week and in that week I had to learn how to test my blood sugar levels, learn how to inject insulin in my own body and basically everything about diabetes and how to control it. Out of nowhere I had to change my entire life style. Goodbye freedom, goodbye unhealthy snacking and goodbye eating a lot of chocolate. That week one of the nurses taught me an amazing quote: "Don't adapt your lifestyle to your diabetes, let your diabetes adapt itself to your lifestyle." It's quite contrary to what I said before and what you might think when you hear the word diabetes although I think it is a more healthy way to deal with diabetes.
Back to the concept of a dia-versary. Diabetes is a disease and normally you don't celebrate diseases as they are considered bad things however I don't see why not. For me my diabetes isn't just some disease I suffer from on a daily basis, no it's a challenge, a challenge I accepted the moment I was diagnosed with it. A challenge I happen to deal with on a daily basis and that has become a big part of my life. For me diabetes is a great challenger. When you have some sort of disease or disorder people think you are sick or that you can't do everything you want to do and I absolutely hate that way of thinking. Yes I have diabetes and yes I can't just do whatever I want, I have to watch my health a bit closer than other people when doing things but if I really want to go do something believe me I will do it. My diabetes challenges me to do things others think I'm incapable of or tell me to do something less dangerous. NO! This is my life and it's the only one I've got so I will live it to the fullest. I don't change my life or don't do certain things because I have diabetes, no I will do those things but I'll do them together with my diabetes. Like that nurse taught me while I was in the hospital: "Don't adapt your lifestyle to your diabetes, let your diabetes adapt itself to your lifestyle." This quote isn't just for people who suffer from diabetes, no this quote is for everyone with any kind of a(chronic) disease or disorder. Do not let the disease or disorder take over your life, live your life the way you want to live it together with your disease or disorder!
So yeah, that is why I celebrate a dia-versary. To celebrate how amazing life can be even with a disease like diabetes. Life might become a little bit more challenging once you have diabetes but that makes me even more excited to do things. To show people I'm not just the diabetic but that I'm Renée, a young woman full of energy and potential that happens to have diabetes.
To all people with diabetes or any other disease or disorder out there, stay in control of your own health and remember to live your life to the fullest and do not, I repeat, NOT, let anything or anyone bring you down or tell you there are things you can't do. If you really want to do something you will find a way!
Lots of love!
ThatDutchGirl96
