Oooooops, I haven’t updated this blog for a while, have I? Since January in fact. I recently received that comment on this very blog! It was very well timed… the day I received it I had just been mentioning how guilty I felt that I hadn’t updated my blog for a loooong time and how I just needed to find the time from somewhere to write. Well….I got the time and the motivation that I needed and here I am!
So, in reference to whether I really really haven’t written anything since January the answer is both yes and no. I really haven’t written this blog since January but that’s because I have been super super busy writing and doing all these other bits and bobs!
– I had to finish my last placement in A&E and with District Nurses – after spending endless hours writing patient notes, care plans, referrals, handovers, discharges etc.. my motivation to write blogs goes walkies! That’s understandable isn’t it? I know that my intention when I started writing this blog was to update it weekly, or more frequently than that.. I can’t really remember to be honest but I must have been deluded, just cannot manage that at the moment. I hope that if nothing else, my blog is an online record of all the opportunities that are available to student nurses if they are able and willing to grab them with both hands…and well.. I’m sort of too busy doing that to have the time to write about it all!! I really didn’t expect that the world of nursing would be so flipping exciting and full of wonder! I want to make the most of it all whilst I still can.
Anyway, back to my list of things I have been writing and doing!
– Writing a 3000 word assignment whilst also in placement – imagine all of the above, plus having to muster the energy to also research, read and read and read and critically appraise (contrast and compare) evidence and write an essay. Sounds like hard work, doesn’t it? It was, it was tedious and it took over my life for a good few months.
– In addition…I have also been writing approximately 25 x 1000 word reflective essays for my portfolio – this is in addition both to placement and to my assignment! That is a loooooot of words! It hurts my brain writing reflections…having to be open and honest and self-aware of your own feelings and behaviours is a lot more difficult than you would think! Ignorance is bliss as they say but alas, not in nursing! For good reason too.
– Writing, reviewing, modifying and re-writing my first ever journal article! Watch out world! Author Ruthie has landed! I originally submitted my article in November last year, and it has been updated every time I had feedback for reviewers, sub-editors and editors which equates to around 10 re-writes in total. Frankly, it looks nothing like the original article now but I hope someone enjoys it nonetheless. I am so super proud and cannot wait to be able to reference myself in an article – because I am sad like that 🙂
– Writing notes, reading, watching videos and revising for my one ginormous exam of the year. “That’s all you have?” I hear you say! Yes, that was all I had…one single exam that covered 18 hrs per week x 9 months of work, on any part of the human anatomy and physiology, on anything on major chronic and acute conditions out there. Easy peasy lemon squeazy. No? Exam was actually ok, although I did have a few head scratching moments but it wouldn’t be an exam if it wasn’t a little challenging! Will find out in the next week or so if I did enough to pass!
– Oh yeah, there is the small matter of attending uni full time too! And also working, I have two part time jobs…which reminds me! I work so so so so hard that guess what? I am the best super hardest worker at my uni:
So you know….sorry that I haven’t written my blog in a while. I have been a little preoccupied! I will try my hardest to do better.
Sometimes I wonder how I will cope doing all this when I qualify – working full time, shifts, having a life, sleeping, eating (though incredibly I always find the time to eat, several times a day, every day- my weight is testament to that!). But then I realise that when I qualify I won’t be working full time, studying, volunteering, writing journal articles and working another 2 part time jobs at the same time. Having a full time job may actually be a little easier – plus I’m sure the pay will soften the blow somewhat 🙂
Chat soon! I promise 🙂
notanotherstudentnurse 