My original title for this blog site was too many hats as I felt that I was running from once place to another!! However, whenever I tried to google search it, everyone's blog but mine came to the search engine! So I changed the name to blue wellies!
However, I still have too many hats and I have now decided to start to sell them off - to the highest bidder but I fear that no one will pay for them!!
Guiding is a big part of my life - too big according to my husband! I currently have 3 roles - Brownie guider in charge, brownie outdoor activities advisor - pack holiday advisor really but with a fancy name now! - and a job share as a district commissioner.
I will never give up my brownie pack - there are too many of them and not enough leaders to go round!
The pack holiday advisor role was given to me by the previous advisor who had offered to take on the district commissioner role, then an argument broke out between her and another leader of a unit in the next village and she resigned all of her posts bar the unit she was leading!
This left no one as district commissioner for a few more months then another person stepped in only to be hounded out of the village a few months later with a hate campaign about her and that she should not be trusted. It turned out that it was a big spat about rent not being paid on houses that she had lived in but as she was also an assistant leader with the rainbow unit it all turned a bit nasty and she left the village very suddenly and moved back up north!
Again we were left without a DC for a few more months - at this point I decided to offer as I was already doing it informally for our 4 units in the village, but someone from the other village had just pipped me to the post! However, she was an unwell lady and asked the County Commissioner to appoint me as an assistant DC. They don't have those anymore she was told it will need to be a job share. Both of us were happy with this - that was then this is now!!!
So the fun began!! Two months after I was appointed the other DC was taken in to hospital for a planned operation - a fairly major one which took a fairly long recovery. Since then she has been besieged by illness and multiple deaths in her household - both family members and animals!!! Each death whether human or animal has been dealt with in the same way!!
I am sure that in the background, she is doing lots of things I am unaware of - the purpose of a job share is to communicate with each other regularly and to keep each other up to date - I regularly send her emails with what has been happening with things I have dealt with, but it doesn't seem to be a two-way street with her!
We have had to computerise the way records are kept in Girlguiding UK recently - she still can't work out how to use the database and trust me it is simple. It just takes a morning to sit on it and play around! She doesn't work and is at home all day - she must be able to find some time to do it!!
We DC across two villages - both have thriving Guiding and Scouting movements, both have huts associated with the movements. Ours has only recently been used - it was shut down about 18 years ago but due to financial issues of the Scout groups in the village it was seen to be a better option to do up and use. The Guiding side in our village have chosen not to return - you can work that one out for yourself if you know Scouts!!!
The other village - which is where she lives - has a fantastic hut which is used every evening by the multiple groups in the village and currently just needs some TLC - a new boiler, a bit of paint, you can also work that one out for yourself!!
This better hut called a hut meeting back at the beginning of April, all leaders who used the hut were asked to go to air and share. I went out of interest but thought as I job share and the other DC is bound to be ill at some point in the future when meetings would be due, it would be good to know some of the other leaders from Scouting. She didn't even bother to turn up!!!! In fact there was only me and the Division Commissioner - her unit uses the hut - there to represent Guiding! I was embarrassed to say the least. Things were sorted and a letter written to give to the parents - guess who had to sort that one out for her?
The week after the parent hut meeting I was talking to her about something else when she asked about the next hut meeting and to make sure I would be there! Now the Division Commissioner had already told me not to get involved in this as she said I already had too much to do!! So I stated quite clearly that as the hut was in her village and that I also had a hut in our village which would soon be calling on me to help run, I would not be involved in this one! She seemed quite taken aback! Surely she can see why??
Anyway, I am rambling on!!!
This weekend I have been on a county training weekend at Waddow - what a lovely place!! -and have shared a room with the Division Commissioner and one of my unit assistant leaders. The assistant leader informs me that the previous brownie holiday advisor is interested in taking it back on - this is the one role which takes the least time I might add - but you know? my appointment finishes in February - what the heck, I will email her and see if she wants to pick it back up in February - I am currently planning a large scale sleepover at the national space centre and would like to finish with a bang! You only go to 3 - 4 meetings a year and assess holiday homes once in a blue moon!
I also took the bull by the horns and spoke to the Division Commissioner over breakfast on the Sunday to say that I wasn't happy with the job share as I felt I was doing the majority of the work and I never knew what she was doing! I said that I felt I should step down for now as when our appointments end in 18 months time she will have 2 trained Commissioners in the District who will not be able to be used and this way when the other's appointment ends, I could pick up the rains again!
The Division Commissioners comment - everything will fail if you stop!!
So what do I do now???
I have told her how I feel, maybe I should make more of an effort to contact the other DC on a regular basis - but shouldn't she be doing this as well??
I feel really frustrated!!
Maybe things will work out over the next few months - a miracle may happen and the other DC may finally work to her full potential or it all may just carry on in the way it has done.
I will just have to wait and see!
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Being thankful for the simple things
I have been with my husband for almost 19 years now - married for nearly 12. In that time we have had great times, sad times, a couple of rocky periods and lots of just normal times!
To me this is what a normal marriage is all about.
I have met one of my oldest known friends today for lunch. I haven't seen her since my birthday meal at the end of January. We met when we started working together just a week apart in 1994. She then bought a house in the same village as me the following year, I was bridesmaid at her wedding and am godmother to her youngest daughter. She married her husband a year before I married but then left him in 2006 as she could no longer deal with his mood swings and was concerned for the safety of herself and her 3 children. She moved about 20 miles from where I live now and started a whole new life. I have every admiration for her - I don't think I would have found the strength to do this. She has now divorced him, and met a fabulous bloke - albeit 15 years older than her - and he makes her happy. The children think that he is ok too - bonus!
I had had a weird text from her at the weekend saying that she was moving again - back to the marital home! I replied saying we needed to meet for lunch ASAP!
So lunchtime arrived today, we meet in a pub we used to have lunch in all the time and started to chat.
Ex husband has split from new long-term girlfriend and has now rented a 1 bed roomed flat in the city close to us - about 30 minutes drive from their village. He has also started a relationship with the mother of his first-born child again - this child is now 16, has been in trouble with the police, has been to court twice, charged with ABH and is now tagged!
Friend has moved back into marital home - it is a pigsty - it looks as though no cleaning has been done since she moved out! She is having to clean every surface, bleach everywhere and has a garage full of old boilers - ex-husband is a plumber and has used the garage to store the stuff he takes out of his customers houses!! The master bedroom alone filled the dyson!
My friend also works full time plus extra hours due to the demands of her job.
Her youngest daughter - my goddaughter - has had lots of problems since birth and at present has been kept back in the Reception class when she should be in Year 1. She has many developmental problems, along with social and motor skill problems. She is also lacking in communication skills, is 6 and half years old and still not toilet trained. Her school is not helpful and this has left my friend having to struggle with the "do I or don't I" problem of having her statemented. Will this leave her stigmatised? Will it label her? Will it affect her development further if she is moved to a "special school"?
We talked through lots of options and what to do next about the house, her partner, her ex-husband and the 3 children and how everything is affecting them!
At the end of lunch, she says "what about you and your husband and son - how are things?" I replied just plodding along really, nothing as dramatic as you!
We said our goodbyes and she went back to work - she had taken a two hour lunch break the joys of being the boss! - and I came home to my husband who was on a day off.
Once I had told him the dramas that my friend had been going through since I had last seen her, he came out with the usual reply - "you don't know how lucky you are having me"! For once, I didn't give him my usual reply about him being lucky to have me. I stopped and thought about it and then said - "I do know how lucky I am and I am so glad our life is simple with only the odd drama to deal with!"
Sometimes, things do seem mundane, but then again, I am just thankful that I am where I am, with what I have and that I am thankful for the simple things.
To me this is what a normal marriage is all about.
I have met one of my oldest known friends today for lunch. I haven't seen her since my birthday meal at the end of January. We met when we started working together just a week apart in 1994. She then bought a house in the same village as me the following year, I was bridesmaid at her wedding and am godmother to her youngest daughter. She married her husband a year before I married but then left him in 2006 as she could no longer deal with his mood swings and was concerned for the safety of herself and her 3 children. She moved about 20 miles from where I live now and started a whole new life. I have every admiration for her - I don't think I would have found the strength to do this. She has now divorced him, and met a fabulous bloke - albeit 15 years older than her - and he makes her happy. The children think that he is ok too - bonus!
I had had a weird text from her at the weekend saying that she was moving again - back to the marital home! I replied saying we needed to meet for lunch ASAP!
So lunchtime arrived today, we meet in a pub we used to have lunch in all the time and started to chat.
Ex husband has split from new long-term girlfriend and has now rented a 1 bed roomed flat in the city close to us - about 30 minutes drive from their village. He has also started a relationship with the mother of his first-born child again - this child is now 16, has been in trouble with the police, has been to court twice, charged with ABH and is now tagged!
Friend has moved back into marital home - it is a pigsty - it looks as though no cleaning has been done since she moved out! She is having to clean every surface, bleach everywhere and has a garage full of old boilers - ex-husband is a plumber and has used the garage to store the stuff he takes out of his customers houses!! The master bedroom alone filled the dyson!
My friend also works full time plus extra hours due to the demands of her job.
Her youngest daughter - my goddaughter - has had lots of problems since birth and at present has been kept back in the Reception class when she should be in Year 1. She has many developmental problems, along with social and motor skill problems. She is also lacking in communication skills, is 6 and half years old and still not toilet trained. Her school is not helpful and this has left my friend having to struggle with the "do I or don't I" problem of having her statemented. Will this leave her stigmatised? Will it label her? Will it affect her development further if she is moved to a "special school"?
We talked through lots of options and what to do next about the house, her partner, her ex-husband and the 3 children and how everything is affecting them!
At the end of lunch, she says "what about you and your husband and son - how are things?" I replied just plodding along really, nothing as dramatic as you!
We said our goodbyes and she went back to work - she had taken a two hour lunch break the joys of being the boss! - and I came home to my husband who was on a day off.
Once I had told him the dramas that my friend had been going through since I had last seen her, he came out with the usual reply - "you don't know how lucky you are having me"! For once, I didn't give him my usual reply about him being lucky to have me. I stopped and thought about it and then said - "I do know how lucky I am and I am so glad our life is simple with only the odd drama to deal with!"
Sometimes, things do seem mundane, but then again, I am just thankful that I am where I am, with what I have and that I am thankful for the simple things.
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Day to myself
Well 7am saw me in a layby in the next village on, waiting for the coach which was to take my 10 year old son on his first Scout hike somewhere in the Peak District along with about 49 other Scouts and their Leaders. Now, I am slightly worried as he is probably the youngest person going and to me had the heaviest rucksack on his back!! He moved up to Scouts when he was still only 9 as he was bored with Cubs and all his friends were moving up. However, as the saying goes - the grass is never greener on the other side and 3 months later he's telling me that he's bored at Scouts and wants to leave as they never do anything good or fun anymore - the Scout group had not long reopened but only had 1 female leader who isn't very good at discipline and the Scouts were all year 6 and 7 with no older ones to lead by example. Used my connections as a District Commissioner and got him into a Scout Troop in the next village - result - one very happy child who has been on a night hike within his first 3 weeks, today accross the Peak District and in March a night hike with camping when they reach the destination! This is fun Mum!!
However, because he is so young, I am worried - I am a Mum who never worries about her son as he is a mature young lad who is quite thoughtful about those around him, but can become excitable at times - today I feel will be one of those days! I'm hoping that he will listen to "Big Chris" - the leader who has gone with them - and follow his instructions. 7pm tonight I suppose I will find out when they return - school tomorrow will be another thing to worry about.
So, my husband has gone to work, and this leaves me with a day to myself. What shall I do? Sit in my pyjamas and watch One Tree Hill all day? No such luck.
It was my 40th birthday last week and we're all off out with the girls from work next Saturday - 21 of us in total. I need to pop along to the resturant and pay our deposit and give them our menu choice.
I have already done the sauage casserole and that is now in the slow cooker awaiting time to eat tonight. Veg just to peel and cook.
I have washed the last of the washing in the basket - that is now hanging to dry in the spare bedroom.
I do have 3 lots of uniforms to iron for work/school for tomorrow morning - that will be one of my afternoon jobs.
I have already checked over the GO! system for Guiding and made a list of all the things that need sorting out by HQ tomorrow - need to send the email.
Have made a list of all the people I need to get References for to validate them for the GO! system.
I have made a list of all the people who need CRB's - there are lots. May need to speak to the Division Commissioner to ask her to have an open morning again for the CRB's to be done - this worked well on New Year's Eve - there about 15 though that need to be done!
I am expecting at least one person to pop round this afternoon to do her CRB - Mum will bring her.
I need to check my Brownie accounts to then take them to a mum who will audit them for us.
I need to write my Brownie Pack annual report.
I need to chase the other Units in the District to find out where their accounts and annual reports are so that I can then write a District annual report and complete a chart with info re accounts on which then needs to go to HQ.
I have been asked to create a District Brownie waiting list - I have a bit of paper with all the info on, it just needs inputting on GO!
I need a new pair of work shoes - mine have falled apart at the heel.
I need to get some new socks for work.
I need to go to Boots for bits and peices - mainly make-up - I threw all of mine away in my big clearout prior to being 40!
I need to arrange new car insurance.
So, my day to myself will not be quite that I fear.
Oh well, maybe I will be able to use one of my last remaining annual leave days and spend the day in pyjamas and watch One Tree Hill all day sometime next month!
Here's hoping.
However, because he is so young, I am worried - I am a Mum who never worries about her son as he is a mature young lad who is quite thoughtful about those around him, but can become excitable at times - today I feel will be one of those days! I'm hoping that he will listen to "Big Chris" - the leader who has gone with them - and follow his instructions. 7pm tonight I suppose I will find out when they return - school tomorrow will be another thing to worry about.
So, my husband has gone to work, and this leaves me with a day to myself. What shall I do? Sit in my pyjamas and watch One Tree Hill all day? No such luck.
It was my 40th birthday last week and we're all off out with the girls from work next Saturday - 21 of us in total. I need to pop along to the resturant and pay our deposit and give them our menu choice.
I have already done the sauage casserole and that is now in the slow cooker awaiting time to eat tonight. Veg just to peel and cook.
I have washed the last of the washing in the basket - that is now hanging to dry in the spare bedroom.
I do have 3 lots of uniforms to iron for work/school for tomorrow morning - that will be one of my afternoon jobs.
I have already checked over the GO! system for Guiding and made a list of all the things that need sorting out by HQ tomorrow - need to send the email.
Have made a list of all the people I need to get References for to validate them for the GO! system.
I have made a list of all the people who need CRB's - there are lots. May need to speak to the Division Commissioner to ask her to have an open morning again for the CRB's to be done - this worked well on New Year's Eve - there about 15 though that need to be done!
I am expecting at least one person to pop round this afternoon to do her CRB - Mum will bring her.
I need to check my Brownie accounts to then take them to a mum who will audit them for us.
I need to write my Brownie Pack annual report.
I need to chase the other Units in the District to find out where their accounts and annual reports are so that I can then write a District annual report and complete a chart with info re accounts on which then needs to go to HQ.
I have been asked to create a District Brownie waiting list - I have a bit of paper with all the info on, it just needs inputting on GO!
I need a new pair of work shoes - mine have falled apart at the heel.
I need to get some new socks for work.
I need to go to Boots for bits and peices - mainly make-up - I threw all of mine away in my big clearout prior to being 40!
I need to arrange new car insurance.
So, my day to myself will not be quite that I fear.
Oh well, maybe I will be able to use one of my last remaining annual leave days and spend the day in pyjamas and watch One Tree Hill all day sometime next month!
Here's hoping.
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Too little time
I have now been blogging for 3 months and have managed the princely amount of 6 blogs in total!! I find that I have very little time and when I do have a topic to share with you all, I am unable to get to the computer as my husband is hogging it!!!
Time has been frantic in the lead up to Christmas and when I read the friend's blog who inspired me to start blogging, I wonder how she finds the time! Her life has been even more frantic recently with her husband being admitted to hospital a good 90 minutes journey each way and not in the most desirable of towns!! His stay was for 5 days and then he had to return each day for blood tests once discharged!!
I plan to continue blogging but know that I won't be here every week, today I have been lucky that I have had to borrow a laptop from guiding and so am able to access my blog without having to rely on my husband vacating the home computer for a while - he is unaware that I am doing this!!!
My life continues to be busy - a mother, daughter, sister, wife, guider in charge of a unit, a pack holiday advisor for the division, district commissioner -although this is a job share but I will write about how successful this is soon!! - I also work full time shift work and run the family home, but with a very supportive husband, so I am very lucky there!
I hope that one day, I will achieve a follower - the highest accolade I feel, but until then, I will write for my pure pleasure!
Happy Christmas one and all - I'll never get back on here before then!!
Time has been frantic in the lead up to Christmas and when I read the friend's blog who inspired me to start blogging, I wonder how she finds the time! Her life has been even more frantic recently with her husband being admitted to hospital a good 90 minutes journey each way and not in the most desirable of towns!! His stay was for 5 days and then he had to return each day for blood tests once discharged!!
I plan to continue blogging but know that I won't be here every week, today I have been lucky that I have had to borrow a laptop from guiding and so am able to access my blog without having to rely on my husband vacating the home computer for a while - he is unaware that I am doing this!!!
My life continues to be busy - a mother, daughter, sister, wife, guider in charge of a unit, a pack holiday advisor for the division, district commissioner -although this is a job share but I will write about how successful this is soon!! - I also work full time shift work and run the family home, but with a very supportive husband, so I am very lucky there!
I hope that one day, I will achieve a follower - the highest accolade I feel, but until then, I will write for my pure pleasure!
Happy Christmas one and all - I'll never get back on here before then!!
Justified!
Well, so I'm not an evil witch after all!!! The student who I have previously written about failed her dissatation for the second time which is an automatic discontinutation of training and I now feel justified in all of my concerns! It took another 3 weeks for her to stop her training but we got there!! I feel sorry for her to have come this far and to fail at the last hurdle, but when I ask the questions "would I want her looking after me when I am ill?" with the answer being "not in a month of Sundays," then this is definatley the right way to go.
Maybe she will think about trying again sometime in the future or maybe she will now realise that she just isn't cut out to be a nurse.
Can't wait to see what the next student is like!!
Maybe she will think about trying again sometime in the future or maybe she will now realise that she just isn't cut out to be a nurse.
Can't wait to see what the next student is like!!
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Am I an evil witch??
Another of my many hats is my career in nursing. Give or take a couple of months this has now been my vocation for 20 years. I've worked all of my nursing career between 2 cities and only moved away from my training hospital group 3 years ago when all of the financial crisis hit the NHS. I've been to the lonely heights of a ward manager and beyond, but now am happy being just a worker ant.
Part of my role is to mentor students. We currently have 2 students on our ward. The first is a first year student on her first placement. She has bundles of enthusiasm and is keen to see and do everything. The second of our students is a third year student on her final placement due to qualify on the 31.01.10.
I am mentoring the third year along with another nurse who has been nursing even longer than me!!
This student has had to move her training university due to being pregnant in her third year and has moved into our region as she has family up here. She actually lives 90 minutes journey time from our hospital but unfortunately none of the other training hospitals/universities closer to home will accept students who transfer in their third year.
Our student's due date is the 3rd Feb 2010 - 3 days after her completion date. She already has another young child at home. She is currently 32/33 weeks pregnant, travelling 3 hours each day and in her first 3 weeks has managed to be sick for 5 days out of 15. She has to complete her nursing portfolio by this Friday - 2 days away - with me signing it stating that she is competent to be a nurse.
Now in the 13 days that she has managed to make it into work, I am quite clear that this is just not going to happen.
After a long discussion with her other mentor last week, I had the delightful task of sitting her down and explaining that I felt she would be better off pausing her training now, resting until the baby is born and then returning to complete her training once she was happy that the baby was OK to be left.
She accepted this and then spent the following day at the university trying to sort this out. I also contacted the university link tutor to explain to him why we felt this way and also sent him an email.
I arrive at work on Monday to find that everything has done a 180 degree turn and that she is going to continue and that I am being forced to say that she will be fine so long as she can get a two week extension on her portfolio!!!!
I then had to write an extensive action plan for her and gave her objectives to be achieved in stages leading up until the 18th December - the new deadline. It was agreed that if she could achieve all of this, then she would pass her placement.
I sat with her, explained the objectives, she agreed them and signed them, and a copy given to the ward manager who had already expressed some concern that she was going to continue.
The plan was to work towards her first objective and to have achieved it by this coming Monday. She was to think about how she would achieve her goals each day on her long commute to work and then we would sit and reflect on how things had gone at the end of each shift. Yesterday went slowly and she made a few basic errors but altogether not too bad. Today however was a different kettle of fish.
We were extremely busy and had too many patients for our beds. This meant that we had to work fast to get them through and to get the next lot in. The first patient she went to admit she took an hour to do! This should have taken no longer than 15 minutes for a student - if it had been one of the qualified nurses - 5 - 10 minutes at the most.
The next patient she admitted was a diabetic patient, basic obs include recording a baseline blood sugar - none done, last minute panic to test it prior to going into theatre. Next patient she admitted was on warfarin - a blood thinner and requires a blood test to check how thin the blood is so that the surgeon knows what he is dealing with. Recorded that the patient was on warfarin, but failed to alert any of the nursing staff that the patient would need this test doing - it can take up to an hour to get the result back!!! Luckily for us the consultant was in a fairly good mood and even offered to take the blood himself, but this still delayed the theatre list by 35 minutes, which in turn then delayed the patient going home which in turn then delayed the afternoon patients being able to be admitted.
When I managed to find time to speak to her at the end of my shift - making me late home and late picking up my son - I had to point out her 3 basic problems from today's shift. I also went through the other objectives and explained to her that she only had 3 more shifts left to achieve this first objective and that she was a long way off doing so. I also explained to her that even though she may achieve this objective, she would still be expected to maintain it as well as work towards her other objectives.
I emphasised to her that the objectives would be difficult to achieve in the time span we had and that could she now see why I was keen for her to pause her training??
I also said to her before I left that tomorrow was another day - likely to be as busy as today - and that she would need to have a clear action plan on how she would achieve her objective tomorrow. I'm hoping that she will improve by at least 300%!!
On my journey home, all I could think about was am I being an evil witch and making things difficult for her to continue her training, or am I trying to be a good mentor and encourage her to take advantage of the opportunity to rest before baby comes along?
I do know that if faced with this student at interview, I wouldn't employ her!!!
Part of my role is to mentor students. We currently have 2 students on our ward. The first is a first year student on her first placement. She has bundles of enthusiasm and is keen to see and do everything. The second of our students is a third year student on her final placement due to qualify on the 31.01.10.
I am mentoring the third year along with another nurse who has been nursing even longer than me!!
This student has had to move her training university due to being pregnant in her third year and has moved into our region as she has family up here. She actually lives 90 minutes journey time from our hospital but unfortunately none of the other training hospitals/universities closer to home will accept students who transfer in their third year.
Our student's due date is the 3rd Feb 2010 - 3 days after her completion date. She already has another young child at home. She is currently 32/33 weeks pregnant, travelling 3 hours each day and in her first 3 weeks has managed to be sick for 5 days out of 15. She has to complete her nursing portfolio by this Friday - 2 days away - with me signing it stating that she is competent to be a nurse.
Now in the 13 days that she has managed to make it into work, I am quite clear that this is just not going to happen.
After a long discussion with her other mentor last week, I had the delightful task of sitting her down and explaining that I felt she would be better off pausing her training now, resting until the baby is born and then returning to complete her training once she was happy that the baby was OK to be left.
She accepted this and then spent the following day at the university trying to sort this out. I also contacted the university link tutor to explain to him why we felt this way and also sent him an email.
I arrive at work on Monday to find that everything has done a 180 degree turn and that she is going to continue and that I am being forced to say that she will be fine so long as she can get a two week extension on her portfolio!!!!
I then had to write an extensive action plan for her and gave her objectives to be achieved in stages leading up until the 18th December - the new deadline. It was agreed that if she could achieve all of this, then she would pass her placement.
I sat with her, explained the objectives, she agreed them and signed them, and a copy given to the ward manager who had already expressed some concern that she was going to continue.
The plan was to work towards her first objective and to have achieved it by this coming Monday. She was to think about how she would achieve her goals each day on her long commute to work and then we would sit and reflect on how things had gone at the end of each shift. Yesterday went slowly and she made a few basic errors but altogether not too bad. Today however was a different kettle of fish.
We were extremely busy and had too many patients for our beds. This meant that we had to work fast to get them through and to get the next lot in. The first patient she went to admit she took an hour to do! This should have taken no longer than 15 minutes for a student - if it had been one of the qualified nurses - 5 - 10 minutes at the most.
The next patient she admitted was a diabetic patient, basic obs include recording a baseline blood sugar - none done, last minute panic to test it prior to going into theatre. Next patient she admitted was on warfarin - a blood thinner and requires a blood test to check how thin the blood is so that the surgeon knows what he is dealing with. Recorded that the patient was on warfarin, but failed to alert any of the nursing staff that the patient would need this test doing - it can take up to an hour to get the result back!!! Luckily for us the consultant was in a fairly good mood and even offered to take the blood himself, but this still delayed the theatre list by 35 minutes, which in turn then delayed the patient going home which in turn then delayed the afternoon patients being able to be admitted.
When I managed to find time to speak to her at the end of my shift - making me late home and late picking up my son - I had to point out her 3 basic problems from today's shift. I also went through the other objectives and explained to her that she only had 3 more shifts left to achieve this first objective and that she was a long way off doing so. I also explained to her that even though she may achieve this objective, she would still be expected to maintain it as well as work towards her other objectives.
I emphasised to her that the objectives would be difficult to achieve in the time span we had and that could she now see why I was keen for her to pause her training??
I also said to her before I left that tomorrow was another day - likely to be as busy as today - and that she would need to have a clear action plan on how she would achieve her objective tomorrow. I'm hoping that she will improve by at least 300%!!
On my journey home, all I could think about was am I being an evil witch and making things difficult for her to continue her training, or am I trying to be a good mentor and encourage her to take advantage of the opportunity to rest before baby comes along?
I do know that if faced with this student at interview, I wouldn't employ her!!!
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Missing Mum and Dad??
Of course one of my hats is as a parent. We were only ever able to have one son - who is now 10 - even though we have been trying for abut 8 years for another without success.
Up our way it's half term week and being very fortunate, my parents are always happy to have our son with them for the holiday - they live just over 200 miles away so don't get to see him as often as they would like - win win I see it as!!
We usually meet halfway between our homes and last Saturday after the early morning swimming lesson off we went. Two and half hours later we've met up, transferred what seems like half of our house into nanny and grandad's car and said our goodbyes - see you in a week, but we'll ring every night!
Have dutifully rung each night, but due to work I missed him on Tuesday night - I didn't get home until after 9pm. Spoke to my mum who said he'd been fine. Said I'd ring again on Wednesday - ring before 6.30 as we're going out for a meal with aunts, uncles, cousins etc. OK I reply.
Make the call as instructed at 6.20 - no reply. They had already gone out. Now I was off out with a friend and didn't expect to be home before 10pm, and my mum not being too good with technology, never answers her mobile phone!!!
So I ring this morning - he answers the phone!! Hello monkey I say, I've not spoken to you for a couple of days, are you OK?
Answer - haven't you? didn't realise! I'm OK.
Now, I could take this a couple of ways really - should I be deeply crushed that my son is not bothered that I haven't spoken to him for over 48 hours or, should I be happy that he is enjoying himself so much that he hasn't realised that this amount of time has passed and that he hasn't spoken to mum? Of course I go for the second option. I know that he is safe - although my mum is usually a bit slow telling me that he has had a trip to A & E for an allergic reaction to things!! - I know that he is enjoying himself and that he is a happy and confident young man. Part of me wishes though that occasionally he would ring me and tell me that he's missing me and can't wait to come back home!!
Am counting the hours until Saturday when I'll be trundling off down the M5 to meet him half way and bring him home!!
Up our way it's half term week and being very fortunate, my parents are always happy to have our son with them for the holiday - they live just over 200 miles away so don't get to see him as often as they would like - win win I see it as!!
We usually meet halfway between our homes and last Saturday after the early morning swimming lesson off we went. Two and half hours later we've met up, transferred what seems like half of our house into nanny and grandad's car and said our goodbyes - see you in a week, but we'll ring every night!
Have dutifully rung each night, but due to work I missed him on Tuesday night - I didn't get home until after 9pm. Spoke to my mum who said he'd been fine. Said I'd ring again on Wednesday - ring before 6.30 as we're going out for a meal with aunts, uncles, cousins etc. OK I reply.
Make the call as instructed at 6.20 - no reply. They had already gone out. Now I was off out with a friend and didn't expect to be home before 10pm, and my mum not being too good with technology, never answers her mobile phone!!!
So I ring this morning - he answers the phone!! Hello monkey I say, I've not spoken to you for a couple of days, are you OK?
Answer - haven't you? didn't realise! I'm OK.
Now, I could take this a couple of ways really - should I be deeply crushed that my son is not bothered that I haven't spoken to him for over 48 hours or, should I be happy that he is enjoying himself so much that he hasn't realised that this amount of time has passed and that he hasn't spoken to mum? Of course I go for the second option. I know that he is safe - although my mum is usually a bit slow telling me that he has had a trip to A & E for an allergic reaction to things!! - I know that he is enjoying himself and that he is a happy and confident young man. Part of me wishes though that occasionally he would ring me and tell me that he's missing me and can't wait to come back home!!
Am counting the hours until Saturday when I'll be trundling off down the M5 to meet him half way and bring him home!!
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